Monday, December 26, 2011

Parents of Clairton Education Center: Where's the Outrage

As a 2001 Grad of Clairton High School there are a few disturbing trends as I did a little bit of research from Clairton's Web Page.

We all know that CEC isn't making the grade when it comes to the PSSA(PA System of School Assessment) tests.

But I must ask this simple question, where is the outrage from the PARENTS of these kids? Where are the parents during such events like School Board Meetings, Parent Teacher Conferences, or part of the PTA(Parent Teacher Association)?

On the City of Clairton Facebook Page there are always great discussions, but they are always led by people outside of the city such as Gary Mullen(Leader of the Clairton Restoration Movement), Paul Goodrum, Loretta Sanders, Damon Moore and so on.

The problem is that we can discuss these issues all we want, but we can't change anything until the residents of Clairton are involved.

Here are the facts parents;

From Page 24;

Strategy: PSSA awareness
Description: The district will utilize motivational strategies to inform the student and home of the
importance of the PSSA assessment.
Activity: Parental correspondence
Last Modified: 9/15/2009
Description: A letter explaining the importance of the PSSA is sent to each home on three
occasions prior to the administration of the assessment.
Person Responsible Timeline for Implementation Resources
None Selected Start: 1/1/2007
Finish: Ongoing
-
Status: In Progress — Upcoming

Low Test scores for Clairton has been in the limelight ever since the PSSA was introduced in the 1990's. So you're going to tell me that from the 1st of January in 2007 through September 15th of 2009 this School Board didn't find the need to have someone in charge to lead in this area. There maybe one in place today, but not having one in place for a year and 9 months is, what we like to say in the Navy, UNSAT.

Also as you read their Strategic Plan you're going to notice minor spelling errors and so on. And then you're also going to notice several of their Goals listed as Overdue, or not completed.

So how can we take this school seriously when they're sending this Document to the Department of Education on the Federal and State Levels and they can't spell or have decent grammar.

Most "Living Documents" are only updated when "Goals" are completed. So most of these so called Goals from 2007 are still incomplete and overdue. Which is a shame, because this Admin is failing the future of this great nation.

Again Parents, where is the outrage? This document is on the Schools Web Page for crying out loud. Do you even read the site at all? Parents... get off of your dead asses and turn off your TV's, and lets do something about this problem.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

16 Week Season for the Next 2 Years

The WPIAL and PIAA are simply amazing. Saying that both organizations are stupid or dumb would be giving them far too much credit.

Last Thursday night they was supposed to vote on a 15 Week Season and tabled the vote to Friday Morning-before the State Championship games. In a Tally that needed 21 Yes votes, the final tally came out to 16 Yes votes to 10 No votes and 1 voter abstained-for whatever reason.

While some people was surprised by this ruling I wasn't. Why would a D5, D9, or any other District be willing to cut playoff qualifiers when the WPIAL was still going to be able to hold a 16 team playoff field in all 4 Class's. Fair is fair right.

Its obvious to me that no one cares about the kids and only about their own self interest, but at the same time they want a shorter season at the same time. So compromise needs to be in order somewhere.

So what's the next step in ending the season sooner. The East doesn't want to start the season earlier, the WPIAL doesn't more Class's because of the Heinz Field issue, and doesn't want to cut its playoff field in half.

This is really going to come down to who blinks first.

And lets be serious my fellow WPIAL fans, does a 3-6 Fox Chapel team really deserve a playoff spot? Or how about in some of those bottom tier schools in Class A? I mean what benefit does bringing in 4th place teams really do when they're more than likely going to lose by 30+ in the first round. Why risk injuries to a star player or 2 in these meaningless playoff games? And its really sad that I'm calling a playoff game meaningless for crying out loud.

Another thing we need to fix is the competitive balance in esp in Class A and 4A. McKeesport for example is definitely a quality football program but why have them compete with a North Allegheny when their enrollment was 515 Boys and NA's was 1078. NA has more than double the amount of boys than McKeesport has. In Class A its even worse. Schools like Mapletown, Geibel, and Imani has less than 70 boys competing against schools of over 180 boys in enrollment. But the competitive imbalance is very noticeable at the Class A Level.

I'd root for 5 or maybe 6 Class's for the PIAA. But until the WPIAL and its counterparts reach some compromise. And with the way things are going, its not going to happen any time soon. And its a shame.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Some more realignment stuff


I must say that maybe I'm too ahead of my time or something. But this in my eyes looks far better than the clustered mess of 3 conferences of 9 teams and 1 10 team conference. And with Vincentian in the fold we could have 2 9 team leagues and 2 10 team conferences. The WPIAL and PIAA are a JOKE. It is what it is I guess. So here goes nothing... I GUESS;

Allegheny Valley
Apollo Ridge
West Shamokin
Springdale
Leechburg
Riverview

Blackhills
Avella
Bentworth
Char Houston
Fort Cherry
Beth Center

Northhills
Sto Rox
Northgate
Avonworth
North Catholic
Vincentian(Possible for 2012, if not able to field a team 2014 for sure)

Greene County
Mapletown
Carmichaels
West Greene
California
Jefferson Morgan

3 Rivers
Bishop Canevin
Carlynton
Brentwood
Imani Christian(Cannot compete in WPIAL playoffs due to eligibility/transfer issues)
Wilkensburg

Mon-Yough
Clairton
Monessen
Serra Catholic
Geibel
Fraizer

Big 4
Rochester
Western Beaver
South Side
OLSH

Mercer County
Laurel
Shenengo
Neshannock
Union

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Clairton Seeking 47th Straight Win against the Mighty Tigers

Maybe I'm biased, maybe its because Clairton is the lone WPIAL representative in the State Finals this year, but is there a more intriguing matchup this year than the Clairton Bears vs Southern Columbia Area Tigers?

Lets be serious, as dominant Clairton has been these 4-5 on the local and then state levels, Southern Columbia has been that good for 2 decades. SCA had 12 State Title Appearances in 13 years(1994-2006) and won 6 of them including a 5 year winning streak from 2001-2006. Check this, other than 2007 SCA has won every District 4 Championship since 1991.

Coach Jim Roth owns a 330-58-2 record during his span at SCA(1984-2011) and was the youngest Head Coach to ever achieve 300 wins. And in his 27 years at SCA his teams won 10 or more game 24 of those seasons.

The Tigers just seems to have a way with wearing teams down as the game goes along. Both Old Forge and Pius X had 10+ point leads on the Tigers, only to see those leads wither away into 10+ point losses. They're led by 2 1,000 yard rushers in Tyler Laven and Matt Moore and their QB Brad Fegley has quietly been extremely proficient. He's 114 of  167 for 1698 yards, 13 TDs and 0 Interceptions.

What can I say about the Bears that I-or anybody else- has said about them. Its been unbelievable to look at the stats during the 46 game winning streak.

The Bears are led by Safety Jr Tyler Boyd. He has 2182 yards(53 yards short of Deonte Howards school record) on 172 Carries, 386 yards on 16 catch's, and amassed a total of 46 TD's on the season.

There are a plethora of WR weapons in Clairton's arsenol for Sr Capri Thomspon to throw to in 6'3 Trenton Coles(Pittsburgh Recruit), 6'0 Terrence Webb, 6'4 Titus Howard and 5'8 Byron Clifford. Thompson is 79 of 125 for 1701 and 15 TDs.

I have no doubt in my mind Southern Columbia is going to give the Bears the fight of their lives and will force them to earn their 47th straight win. And this is a game of totally conflicting styles, and is this is the ultimate Speed vs Power contest.

Ultimately I'm going with the homer pick because I can. I'm going Clairton 30 SCA 20. 

PIAA Class A Title Game
Site: Hershey Park Stadium, Hershey PA
Time: 1PM

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Conference Predictions

After seeing the #'s I do know Jeannette, and Aliquippa are indeed playing up but is unsure about GCC so I didn't put them in. We'll find out Monday if they're playing up or not. But here's my realignment(thinking like the WPIAL) without GCC.

 Blackhills:
Clairton
Bishop Canevin
Carlynton
Bentworth
Char Houston
Brentwood
Fort Cherry
Avella
Serra Catholic

Eastern Conference:
West Shamokin                   
Avonworth     
Northgate     
North Catholic     
Riverview  
Wilkensburg  
Springdale
Leechburg  
Apollo Ridge  

Tri County South:
Fraizer
West Greene
California
Jefferson Morgan
Carmichaels
Mapletown
Geibel
Beth Center
Monessen

Big 7:
Laurel
OLSH
Rochester
SS. Beaver
Sto Rox
Western Beaver
Union
Neshannock
Shenengo

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

A Run of a Lifetime

We at Clairton has been blessed with one of the greatest runs in Western Pennsylvania History. We've seen players come through the program like Dana Brown, Kevin Weatherspoon, Desimon Green, Trenton Coles, and Tyler Boyd these past 6-7 years.

What can I say about this program as of late other than WOW, or thats UNBELIEVABLE. Its easy to get caught up in the stats or the current winning streak or the streak of titles won in both the WPIAL and PIAA.

Heck the Bears went down to Texas and competed with schools twice the size of McKeesport and ended up in 2nd Place in a 7 on 7 tournament. I do understand that 7 on 7's aren't the best barometer of a program but to me this proved that Clairton, at least at the skill positions, are as good as any program in the entire nation.

It has been something hasn't it?

We all watch the news or see the negativity of our city on Facebook, Twitter, or in the daily papers. But we always have this football program to make us smile. For 2 and a half hours on Friday nights all that negativity is forgotten as we watch these kids play the game that they love.

But what we must remember is this run won't last forever. There is always the risk of the school closing down or the current run of phenomenal players runs dry. The latter is bound to happen. So lets enjoy this run while it lasts. Sometimes even I gets a little too arrogant when judging other schools after the Bears blow them out. I do think some of us fans has gotten a little spoiled. It happens. The Steelers and Penguins fan base are excellent examples of this.

I hear the 2A chatter. There was a time when I led the charge in this. Matt Popchock of 93.7 wrote an excellent article on this subject matter. In my opinion, with graduation this year, the Bears needs to add 25-30 more kids on top of the 25 kids left on the roster-which is about 7-8 more kids a class. Until then I don't think its a viable option. And thats rather unfortunate because its preventing players like Tyler Boyd from being challenged and taking his game to another level. 

And I do understand that Jeannette and Aliquippa has Single A Enrollment, but remember they never played Class A Ball and dropped from 3A to 2A in the late 80's early 90's.

Honestly, I do think the depth of Class A in the WPIAL and even the state is a little down. Other than maybe 1 or 2 teams, its just hard for even me to get up for conference or even playoff games. If the well runs dry by 2013, why punish that team by playing Keystone Oaks and South Fayette for the achievements of the 2008 through the 2011 teams.

The game against Sharpsville may be yet another blowout, or it could be the end of the 45 game winning streak. We'll find out Friday Night up at Slippery Rock University. The winner of the Clairton/ Sharpsville game will take on the winner of the Southern Columbia/ Penns Manor game next Friday at 1PM in Hershey PA.

Everybody from the Press, to fans of other schools, and Clairton fans themselves needs to simply enjoy the brilliance they're seeing in front of their eyes. This is one of the greatest runs in WPIAL history. Clairton isn't going 2A anytime soon and may simply close down in the very near future. Who knows what the future holds for the Bears. What we do know is that our Bears is primed for a 3rd State Championship.

On another note, on or around December 12th the enrollment figures will be released. Who knows which programs will drop to 1A or jump up to 2A. And around February the new conferences and schedule matrix's will be released for the 2012 and 2013 seasons.