Public Charters

F ALL 2003 Public Charters As Pittsburgh’s City Charter High School begins its second year, nearly everything is different from traditional education—except the daily struggles in measuring student performance. The Magazine of The Heinz Endowments INSIDE: Artistic License Charter Politics America’s Hope inside Founded more than four decades Our fields of emphasis include apart, the Howard Heinz Endowment, philanthropy in general and the established in 1941, and the Vira I. disciplines represented by our Heinz Endowment, established in 1986, grantmaking programs: Arts & Culture; are the products of a deep family Children, Youth & Families; Economic commitment to community and the Opportunity; Education; and the common good that began with Environment. These five programs work H. J. Heinz and continues to this day. together on behalf of three shared The Heinz Endowments is based in organizational goals: enabling Pittsburgh, where we use our region southwestern Pennsylvania to embrace as a laboratory for the development and realize a vision of itself as a of solutions to challenges that are premier place both to live and to work; national in scope. Although the majority making the region a center of quality of our giving is concentrated within learning and educational opportunity; southwestern Pennsylvania, we work and making diversity and inclusion wherever necessary, including statewide defining elements of the region’s and nationally, to fulfill our mission. character. That mission is to help our region thrive as a whole community—economically, ecologically, educationally and culturally—while advancing the state of knowledge and practice in the fields in which we work. h magazine is a publication of The Heinz Endowments. At the Endowments, we are committed to promoting learning in philanthropy and in the specific fields represented by our grantmaking programs. As an expression of that commitment, this publication is intended to share information about significant lessons and insights we are deriving from our work. Editorial Team Linda Braund, Nancy Grejda, Maxwell King, Maureen Marinelli, Grant Oliphant, Douglas Root. Design: Landesberg Design About the cover A weekday morning in downtown Pittsburgh and why aren’t these students headed to school? Actually, the front doors to City High are just a block away, at the same office building used by professionals. The working-world environment is just one of many differences from traditional public schools that have attracted students like these high-octane sophomores, from left, Marlin Sanders, Gwen Shermen, Cherrell Collins and Charnae Zeigler. 4 The Republic of Art Can it be? Public art that makes a bold statement? It’s all about transparency and credibility in a process designed to bring great art to public places. 12 City High At Pittsburgh’s City Charter High, the school day is very much like the professional workday as students follow a dramatically different educational path. A report on the triumphs and the growing pains. Volume 3 Number 4 Fall 2003 24 The Charter Vote In the case of Pennsylvania’s public charter schools, all politics is local as operators and local school boards vie for control of budgets and performance measures. 32 Shared Destiny America must stake its future on the humanitarian qualities of respect, selflessness and connectedness. Excerpts from a speech by Teresa Heinz. 2 Feedback 3 Message 36 Here & There City High, page 12 feedback 2 From Summer 2003 economy. Most low-skills jobs have been Three Rivers Rowing Retooling the Workforce shipped overseas, so there is no more “easy” Regarding your story on Three Rivers Rowing Michelle Pilecki’s piece on foundations’ employment in this sector. Association’s efforts to involve more minorities commitment to supplying a new manufactur- Pilecki’s story may not have made the point in the sport of rowing: Those of us at the ing workforce was right on target. In spite of a directly that companies in Europe, Asia and Western Pennsylvania Field Institute, another public perception to the contrary, manufactur- Canada use the same machines as American local organization whose mission is to attract ing remains a bulwark of the Pittsburgh region’s manufacturers. So what gives us our competi- more people to unconventional sports and activ- economy. What is even less well known is the tive advantage globally? It’s our people. We ities, certainly can relate to Three Rivers’ struggle. extent to which manufacturing differs from need their minds as well as their bodies. Hiring It is difficult to get people to change habits the physically laborious, noisy and dangerous someone to stand at a machine pushing buttons and lifestyles—even more so when no one else industrial work of the past. Kurt J. Lesker Co. just doesn’t cut it; productivity drives profit. from their home community is involved. and its workers profiled in Ms. Pilecki’s article We have to make machines do more than those Three Rivers Rowing deserves kudos for exemplify manufacturing’s new face. of our foreign counterparts or we won’t be in making the long-term commitment to attract When high school students are asked about business for long. people from all corners of the region to new their career aspirations, many specify attaining I applaud New Century Careers for its activities. It is only over time that Three Rivers’ a good-paying job in a safe, modern workplace. efforts to provide manufacturers with a pipeline Rob Chambers’ work with the African-American They want employers who value computer and to competent workers. Our workforce is community and the work of other staff in the other technical skills, and who offer substantial graying and we need new recruiting sources Asian-American community will lead to a opportunities for individual initiative and to attract intelligent people. We need people critical mass of participants. career advancement. Most would be surprised willing to work smarter, not just harder, to get It’s not easy changing the culture of western to find out that no career sector meets these things done. Unfortunately, hiring people off Pennsylvania to include more outdoor activities requirements to the extent manufacturing does. the street is getting more difficult, since most like rowing and kayaking, especially when we Getting this message out to young people, their have no mechanical aptitude or ability. also have to overcome the stigma associated parents, educators and guidance counselors is In the United States, our convenience- with years of polluting in our local rivers. While essential if local manufacturers are to attract the driven lifestyle is partly to blame. We live in a the rivers are much improved, the initial work smart, skilled workers they need to compete in “disposable” world where things are made to to attract new participants to these sports will a global marketplace. be discarded instead of repaired. Consequently, need to happen one new rower, one new On behalf of SMC’s more than 1,000 most people never learn about simple mechani- kayaker or, in my own situation with the Field manufacturing member-companies, kudos cal principles like those involved in gears or Institute, one new backpacker, mountain biker for casting the spotlight on manufacturing levers. What was considered “common sense” or rock climber at a time. employment opportunities for our region and years ago is becoming less and less common. If, along the way, Three Rivers staff members highlighting its workforce. And many thanks I can’t believe there are some who believe that discover an Olympic-caliber, North Side rower to the Endowments and other local funders the United States can continue as a world looking for a sport other than football and for supporting New Century Careers’ programs leader with only a service-based economy. The basketball, or if they provide the inspiration that train people so well for jobs in the new dot-com era has shown us that, while informa- that brings the next Rachel Carson out of a manufacturing industries. tion and technology are great, eventually you Westinghouse High School, that will be terrific have to link them to a good product or disaster and may even speed the diversity process. Cliff Shannon will result. Although the face of manufacturing But even without such high-profile President is changing, its basic function still is the key to successes, the effort is worth it. To paraphrase SMC Business Councils sustainable wealth in this country. Steve Curwood, host of public radio’s Living Thank you, h magazine, for getting the On Earth, the more people we get to go out- word out. side, the better off we’ll all be. Each new person Thanks to Michelle Pilecki for such a timely who Three Rivers succeeds in making more article on retraining workers for careers in the Greg Chambers active and more connected with the outdoors new manufacturing sector. It’s about time that Environmental, Health, Safety and Training is one more piece of the foundation our someone has written about how manufacturing Manager, Oberg Industries, Freeport, Pa. organizations depend on to build. has come a long way from being “grunt” work. (Editor’s Note: Oberg Industries is a manufacturer Today’s manufacturers need a highly skilled of precision tooling and die components with Mike Schiller workforce in order to compete in the global foreign operations in Germany and Singapore.) Executive Director Western Pennsylvania Field Institute message By Maxwell King President, The Heinz Endowments 3 magine waking up one morning to discover that you are Some critics disagree, arguing that charter schools may merely sending your child to a school where only 46 percent of the weaken traditional public schools by siphoning away scarce children—fewer than half—can read at grade level, and resources. That is an important caution that we at the Endowments where only 39 percent can do math at grade level.

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