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.

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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

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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. What take seriously. We are strong believers in public education, which Iwould you do? we consider to be a defining institution of American democracy. If you had the money, undoubtedly you would send your child At the same time, we are convinced that public education to another school. But what if you didn’t have the money? What if systems cannot effectively respond to the multiple learning challenges this school were your only choice? they face without strategic innovation. They must become more For too many parents in Pittsburgh and surrounding enterprising. Alternative school models, such as charters, are one communities, this is no hypothetical exercise. These sorry statistics important way to do this. By allowing families to “vote with their are real. They were reported by the Mayor’s Commission on Public feet” (and a portion of the tax dollars designated for the education Education in September and, while they characterize student of their child), they create a competitive market force for performance in the Pittsburgh Public Schools, similar statistics can improvement. be found in struggling school districts around the region and Still, there are other concerns about the very young charter the country. movement that bear watching. The most important is whether the The fact that a problem is common, however, does not make it schools can deliver on the promise of better student achievement, acceptable. This is a nightmare with real consequences, and it is and here their overall track record remains spotty. In our own low-income students who typically have to bear those consequences. funding of charter schools, we have learned that they often need Lacking the means to go elsewhere, too many find themselves locked additional help in developing management skills, hiring the most into schools that simply will not prepare them for future success. qualified administrators and teachers, developing their skills and This grim truth has helped drive the tremendous growth setting clear performance goals. nationally of charter schools, a movement that is the subject of two But it is noteworthy that individual charter schools have a of the articles in this issue. Like all public schools, charters are open significant incentive to keep improving: When they under-perform, to any students who want to attend. But they also have the latitude they can be closed quickly—which is precisely what tends to to experiment with innovative teaching and administrative practices. happen. When was the last time you heard of a traditional public The Heinz Endowments has supported the charter school effort school being shut down because it was falling short in its in Pennsylvania for two reasons. First, increasing the educational educational mission? options available to low-income families has been a key component As our cover story on City High School illustrates, well- of the Endowments’ education funding for years. A good example conceived charters can be promising sources of new ideas. And of this has been our support for the Extra Mile Foundation, whose there is some evidence that public school systems, while they Catholic elementary schools serve mostly African-American, non- might not admit it publicly, are beginning to adopt innovations Catholic students in some of the area’s poorest urban neighborhoods. developed by charters in their districts. The Pittsburgh Public As public schools, charters represent another type of educational Schools recently unveiled an online data resource for parents, alternative that low-income families desperately want and need. teachers and administrators to track student performance, which Public demand has driven the creation of 2,700 charter schools was piloted and refined over the last two years at City High. serving some 600,000 students in 34 states and the District of Whether charters can routinely drive innovation in this way Columbia. These schools have waiting lists that education expert remains to be seen. As with any experiment, charter schools are Bruno Manno of the Annie E. Casey Foundation reports could works in progress, at this point still offering a host of unresolved fill another 900 schools. questions. The Endowments’ support for them is designed to help Second, charter schools represent an opportunity to improve our region and country discover the answers. We owe that much public education from within. High public demand for charter to the many children for whom the promise of a quality public schools places pressure on traditional public schools to compete education remains tragically unfulfilled. h for students and the share of school-tax revenues they represent. n September, when Pittsburgh community leaders fourth-floor promenade deck that gathered to celebrate the $375 million transformation cantilevers out over a busy downtown Iof the David L. Lawrence Convention Center boulevard; the enormous suspension cables from “big box” yawner to world-class architectural that mimic nearby bridges; and, above all, masterpiece, there was a lot of ooohing and the views. ahhhing over the completion of New York But most of this had been unfolding in plain architect Rafael Viñoly’s signature sight during the three years of construction. The exterior design elements. surprise hit was the artistry inside. Visitors’ heads were turning As visitors strolled through the center’s cavernous, at all the expected things: 1.5 million square feet of innards on the first fall weekend, the curving, shiny metal art pieces were everywhere, set into the building’s nooks and panels that sweep crannies like jewels in a crown. And—surprise, again—the collec- upward from the tion, which includes pieces with names like “RUG” and “River river; the Rail and Viewing Machine,” is not from the keep-it-safe school so common in public art. No, in this case, the blanderizer was kept locked in the attic. That may be shocking for a city with a history of top-down decision- making on artistic amenities. Taken in its entirety, the collection is inspiring, confounding, humanizing, memorializing and, yes, even provocative in some cases. Added to the culture shock is some awe: The artists featured in the collection are top quality. They were chosen by panels heavy on artists and arts administrators, with a few government and civic officials thrown into the mix, but even they seemed to have possessed a knowledge of art. One of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center’s youngest constituents is so entranced by “Three Rivers Bench,” a creation of woodworker-artist Thaddeus Mosley, that she's wandered away from her family. The surface of the bench, carved of black walnut, is textured to mirror the flow of Pittsburgh’s famous waterways.

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Pittsburgh’s acclaimed new convention center has set a new building-design standard that’s all about process. Now, it’s the community canvas for a public-art process that is —get this—all about art. the republic of art

By Douglas Root and Margie Romero Photography by Dennis Marsico High-quality, exciting public art? In Pittsburgh? popular opinion, it most resembled a memorial to How is this possible? some terrible loss of life at an annual bowling At least part of the answer lies in recognizing banquet. It didn’t help that it was erected at the the opportunity. Many of the same visionaries center of a cold, stark plaza bordered by the metal who believed that a community-driven, com- and glass of Philip Johnson’s cathedral-like PPG petitive design process for the convention center Place. The plaza itself suggested inspiration from could yield something unique—a signature addi- Josef Stalin’s landscape architect. But to the relief tion to the city skyline—realized that the same of many downtown workers, the Hillman Co. probably held true for public art on the site. renovated the plaza into a spectacular winter ice “It was about thinking way ahead—how to get rink that transforms into a summer fountain, great art for a great building—then creating a the waters of which dance around the plinth of public-art process that would be there for future the sculpture. projects,” says Mary Navarro, an Arts & Culture “Unfortunately, what stays in people’s minds Program officer with The Heinz Endowments. are the mistakes,” says Navarro. Navarro manages the Endowments’ Civic But there also are those pieces that might have Design initiative, which focuses on excellence in been—victims of a public process that allowed urban planning, public design and quality-of-life them to be hooted down for being too ahead improvements. “Art is a key element in that mix,” of the curve, or worse, for committing the crime she says. “It helps to create identity, but it’s also an of complexity. One case from the mid-1980s integral part of the public realm.” involved a well-publicized row between members But the question always has been how to get of the Pittsburgh Art Commission, a 1911-vintage good public art. However subjective a notion authority charged with approving city-built build- “good” may be in art, some key pieces in the ing designs and public artwork, and a cabal of region’s existing trove of public art clearly do not radio-talk-show DJs and several mouthy politicians. qualify. There are the pieces too boring to remem- One of the many ironies in the battle was that the ber and those so bad that they’re famous. commission’s membership had been updated to Two that Pittsburghers love to hate: the include arts-savvy residents. Critics say they should weathered “French Fries,” an apt street name for have been given freedom to do their job. the 1977 metal sculpture by John Henry in Frank Targeted in the battle was a proposed sculpture Curto Park on Bigelow Boulevard; and “Tomb of by internationally acclaimed artist Mark Di Suvero the Unknown Bowler,” the popular name for an that would have been commissioned with a mix of obelisk—more architectural element than art—in public and private funds and placed at Gateway PPG Plaza. The “French Fries” piece, actually titled Center. One city councilwoman labeled it “junk” “Pittsburgh,” consists of golden-yellow rectangu- and morning-drive-time radio hosts made it a lar ingots plunged into the ground in such tragic cause celebre. The sculpture was never built, but fashion that some take-no-prisoners art critics other cities that were able to accept Di Suvero’s erected a plywood sign near the piece that read work find his pieces among the most popular with “Pilot Error.” The bowler, likely named for a art-loving residents and tourists. sphere that rested at its top in the original form, Advocates for the new public-art process created never caught on with the public. In Market Square for the convention center are mindful of these

Pittsburgh-based freelance writer Margie Romero has reported on the city’s arts and culture scene for years. A former staff writer for In Pittsburgh, she now serves as media relations manager for City Theatre on Pittsburgh’s South Side. Endowments Communications Officer Doug Root is a member of h’s editorial team. Visitors making their way to the convention center’s fourth-floor rooftop are confronted with Pittsburgh photographer Ray Gerard's “You Are Here,” a series of lenticular photo- graphs on plastic panels with figures that seem to move on the terrace. The scenes run through Pittsburgh's history and project into its future, tying together themes of art and music; medicine, science and technology; and industry.

7 lessons from the past. “It is critically important that any process around public art be transparent and have the credibility of artists informing the process,” says Jeanne Pearlman, a senior program officer with the Pittsburgh Foundation and one of the leaders in developing a new struc- ture for public-art commissions. 8 To fund that process, the Pittsburgh Foundation and the Endowments partnered with the Hillman, McCune and Richard King Mellon Foundations to contribute $1 million. The Sports & Exhibition Authority of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, the owner of the center, matched that to create a $2 million public-art funding pool. In 1998, an 11-member Public Art Committee, headed by Pearlman, but also including arts managers, other arts funders, architect Viñoly and city-civic officials with experience in the art world, was formed by the SEA. “The model One family is too taken with the majesty of the that was developed was unique for Pittsburgh in that it utilized the creation of an convention center to note Pittsburgh artist Anne art plan,” says Pearlman. “We did extensive research as to how the public-art Lopez’s “RUG,” another installation on the fourth-floor terrace. The piece, Lopez says, program could best serve the building and the community.” “addresses the psychological aspects of After settling on locations for the art and how funds would be apportioned, the making and decorating, while providing a group proceeded on two fronts—one for commissioned art, the other for purchase of space for the viewer to reach an unself- existing pieces. On the commissioning project, the Committee decided to reserve five com- conscious state of contemplation.” missions for Pittsburgh-area artists and two for internationally known outsiders as part of a juried competition. Consultants were hired to manage the process, and the nine members of the Public Art Jury were selected from a broad pool of artists, arts managers and arts-connected community leaders. When the structure was in place, postcards went out to artists throughout western Pennsylvania announcing the competition and soliciting proposals. About 200 artists responded. “Because there isn’t a lot of public art here, we were afraid that Pittsburgh artists wouldn’t have the expertise to develop pro- posals,” says Navarro. “But it turned out much better than we expected. People were really serious.” From there, 21 final- ists made the cut and, last summer, presented their ideas to the jury. “The quality was really mixed,” says Andy Warhol Museum The long view of Pittsburgh artist Steve O’Hearn's “River Director Tom Sokolowski, who served on the Rail” is likely the most impressive. The artist, winner of a Public Art Committee. “A lot of the pieces were prob- prestigious National Endowment for the Arts grant among other awards, won the convention center commission lematic because they were too small for the vast space of the based on a proposal that would provide visitors with a convention center. But some of it was very good and very specific to three-dimensional view and textural “feel” for landmarks the building.” along the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers system. Fixed In September of last year, the Public Art Committee met to approve the jury’s near the steel relief is O’Hearn’s “Viewing Machine,” which provides a spyglass recommendations and, the next month, the SEA board awarded commissions to perspective of points on the Pittsburgh-based artists Angelo Ciotti, an environmental reclamation specialist; Ray Gerard, North Shore riverbank. a commercial photographer; Anne Lopez, a painter and visual arts specialist; Thaddeus G. Mosley, a woodworker–sculptor; and Steve O’Hearn, a theatrical and environmental designer. The major commissions were awarded to Illinois photographer–sculptor Tony Tasset and to New Yorker Jenny Holzer, who specializes in writing and technology in the public dimension. “I found the process to be honorable and democratic,” says O’Hearn. “It wasn’t based on who you know.” With com- mission in hand, O’Hearn hired three other local artists to help him complete his design. “Work like this allows us all to stay in Pittsburgh and be real artists. Also, having a commission from the convention center on my resume will give me a better chance of participating in other national public-art competitions,” he says. The Art Plan, the name given to the formal process, highlights several objectives to be realized in the commissions: The work symbolizes the region’s renewal, and signals to diverse audiences that the city is strong, vital and creative; it anticipates a vibrant future for the region by noting technological achievement and innovation; it establishes a standard of aesthetics and execution commensurate with the stature of the center’s architectural design; and it responds to issues of site context and civic engagement. Such esoteric language may seem impenetrable to the general public, but artists had abundant opportunities to question consultants and look to the city landscape for clarity. Now finished and in place, the five locally made artworks define the city the artists are connected to in subtle ways: The pieces clearly are based on hard work; they aren’t showy but they exude pride in craft. Mosley, an acclaimed African-American sculptor and long- time city resident, has installed “Three Rivers Bench” in front of a second-floor wall of glass overlooking the Allegheny River. Carved out of black walnut, its surface is textured to 10

A photographer-visitor to the convention center tries to figure out the best way to frame Angelo Ciotti’s “Pittsburgh, An Industrial Garden.” Ciotti, an environmental reclamation artist, has created an aluminum-steel I-beam bench, jutting from a periwinkle- covered mound. The piece is etched with the names of groups that demonstrate the energy, bounty and labor that built the industrial region. ART (IN THE) WORKS For Illinois artist Tony Tasset, who has been recognized internationally for painting, sculpture and photography, his planned “Pittsburgh Magnolias” installation is true to the pattern of his work. Two life-sized stainless-steel reproductions of Saucer Magnolias will be designed to look just like the actual trees at the height of spring blossom. “Planted” near living magnolias, the art trees will “bloom” even through winter when the others are barren. In a piece more directly connected to Pittsburgh’s cultural identity, New York artist Jenny Holzer will use LED technology to project snippets of acclaimed Pittsburgh literary works onto the roof of the new David L. Lawrence Convention Center. Pittsburgh and center visitors will have the impression that tracts from books by notable Pittsburgh-connected writers such as Annie Dillard, John Edgar Wideman and Michael Chabon are floating on air. reflect the flow of the river. While the bench is visually rich, it is also com- of $875,000, “For Pittsburgh” is on track for a pletely utilitarian, functioning as a 16-foot-long seating area. spring completion and will not so much be located Mosley’s piece is quiet, solid and suggestive of some deeper beauty being as projected on the convention center roof. discovered by anyone settling there—very much like Pittsburgh itself. Holzer has specialized for decades in mixing The other four local commissions can be found on the fourth-floor text with eye-popping technology. The artist, terrace, above the fray of conventioneering in the building’s vast exhibit who has a significant international presence, spaces. The landscaped rooftop, a public area, is a pleasant surprise all on its including exhibits at the Venice Biennale and own. But the addition of a mini-gallery of local art adds another dimension. the Guggenheim Museums in New York and Like a grand welcome mat, Lopez’s Bilbao, has pro- “RUG” is a grid of concrete pavers built into gressed from sub- the walkway beneath two rooftop “sails” on versive manifesto the city side of the fourth floor. In a gracious gesture, “RUG” invites writer to civic consciousness raiser. In the visitors to stand at its center, then entices them to look beyond. Viewers early 1980s, Holzer became known for her will be startled by how downtown skyscrapers framed in Lopez’s per- “Truisms”—statements such as “A Lot of spective appear as cubist forms. Professionals Are Crackpots” and “Money Pieces by Ciotti, Gerard and O’Hearn are installed along the North Creates Taste”—which she printed on Terrace, which extends 900 feet at the end of the building overlooking posters and plastered around New York. the Allegheny River. Ciotti, the reclamation artist, has been a teacher at Through the years, her message-writing has downtown’s Art Institute of Pittsburgh since 1970. Like Mosley’s “Three remained, but her medium has become more Rivers Bench,” Ciotti’s “Industrial Garden” serves as a seating area, but it sophisticated, and mainly electronic. approaches the job in a far more unconventional fashion. Visitors are For her center commission, Holzer will invited to sit on an I-beam that appears to have been inserted into a forgo her own language and instead highlight miniature mountain. The dome of soil, which mimics the contour of the —literally—the works of others. Displayed surrounding hillsides, is covered with blue periwinkle. by LED (light-emitting diode) tubes, pas- Also nodding to the natural landscape is O’Hearn’s “River Rail,” a sages from books about Pittsburgh, Annie stainless steel relief of the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers system. For 30 feet Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and John along the terrace’s protective railing, visitors Edgar Wideman’s can run their hands over a carved relief of the Homewood Trilogy bridges, locks and major shoreline buildings among them, will that define Pittsburgh. To increase the interactive experience and play with run down the metal edges of two rooftop “sails,” perspective, O’Hearn has designed a viewing machine for picking out points as if floating on air on the North Terrace walkway. across the water. “Jenny Holzer is providing the conduit, Positioned near “River Rail” is photographer Gerard’s “You Are Here,” literally and figuratively, for human expression,” which features life-sized pictures of prominent Pittsburghers displayed in says the Warhol’s Sokolowski. “This building is very double-sided, 77-inch by 32-inch light boxes. Gerard developed a flipbook powerful and we wanted a bold statement. This effect for the piece, which makes it appear as though his subjects are in piece will make it.” action. Used at the intended angle, viewers will see figures appearing to move What Pittsburgh artists and art lovers are across the walkway. betting on is that the open process that ushered in These five artists received a total of $150,000 for their commissions. In pieces like Holzer’s becomes the permanent host addition, another $125,000 was used to purchase existing works made by for ensuring that future public art is bold and artists living in the Pittsburgh area. beautiful. Working with a budget of $450,000, Tasset will create a piece for the Penn The convention center’s art is the first major Avenue Plaza, which will be constructed in front of a proposed hotel and the comprehensive program for a public building in yet-to-be-built center lobby. His installation, “Pittsburgh Magnolias,” will over a decade. “Of course, we’re pleased with the feature two 10-foot, cast–stainless-steel magnolia trees, painted as if in full great public response,” says Navarro, “but we at flower, and “planted” along with real magnolias. When the live trees are dor- the Endowments hope that the success will drive mant in winter, the steel magnolias will remain in perpetual summer bloom. more demand for great public art, and repeat a In a deviation from subtle and organic art, Holzer’s piece will celebrate quality award process that provides a fair shot for high technology and demand an intellectual response from viewers. At a cost local artists to land significant commissions.” h 7:33 AM City High sophomores Charnae Zeigler and Michael West are enjoying a laptop moment on the 77G bus that takes them to school each morning. Looking on from across the aisle is Mike’s sister, Alisha, in glasses, a freshman at the school, and an unidentified friend, who attends Urban Pathways, another charter school on Pittsburgh’s North Side. 13

HIGHAt one of the country’s most carefully planned charter schools, lofty goals are being tested as educators “get students where they are.” By Christine H. O’Toole Photography by Joshua Franzos t Pittsburgh’s City Charter High School, the mascot will never prance on the sidelines of a sports event, lead a homecoming parade, or take a pie in the face for the team. It isn’t a bear, an Indian or a lion. It’s a gargoyle. Defiantly different, the great stone face embodies an Is it a B? Is it a 10 percent raise in his standard achievement institution whose campus is two floors of a downtown test? Is it his attendance data? Is it his attitude? Don’t open Aoffice building. that can of worms unless you’re willing to delve deeply.” “Our kids are always looking up,” says the school’s But as City High begins year two, the lid containing all co-founder Mario Zinga. His tongue-in-cheek explanation those wormy questions on student learning has not so much aside, Zinga is proud of the students’ choice. been opened as blown off. The gargoyle is an imaginary creature, but that’s the point The tortuous application process alone—City High of pride. These students are pushed to learn well and then officials had to go to court to turn over the Pittsburgh Public pushed again to imagine beyond the expected. Some must School Board’s refusal to approve the school—speaks volumes go much further, pushing past unstable home lives, poor about how defensive traditional public school systems can be academic histories and low expectations. in the face of competition. And City High’s founders have Those darker factors are key aspects of urban student life assured all stakeholders that they’re willing to dig deep on the that this charter shares with the public-school system to student-performance issue. The bearded, intense Wertheimer, which it belongs. Most other features of the institution that 50, along with calm, dapper Zinga, 54, left their Pittsburgh Zinga and Rick Wertheimer co-founded 18 months ago with school district jobs to create a performance-centered school in key support from The Heinz Endowments are markedly which teachers remain with their classes all four years, each different. At City High, the calendar is year-round; students student has a career-goals plan as well as an academic track, are inseparable from their sticker-plastered laptops, and the school days are divided into just three subjects—cultural, 16-member faculty does daily pushing and pulling with the science and work-skills literacy—and Ds are unacceptable. 313 students who make up the ninth- and 10th-grade classes. City High is moving into its second year just as the As the school reaches the halfway point in building to performance bar for schools across the board is being set higher. four grade levels and full high school status by 2005, the Big A charter school must meet the same bottom-line standards Learning Question is looming larger: In a school that acts in reading and math as every other public high school in the different from the public-education bureaucracy, are students state—but it can, without district interference, blaze an inde- learning better? pendent path to meet those targets. The price of that autonomy “What does it mean to turn a kid around?” asks Wertheimer, is more accountability than noncharters. If these new schools raising both hands in characteristic excitement. “Is it an A? don’t meet their goals, they can be closed quickly.

Chris O’Toole is a freelance writer based in Mt. Lebanon. She last wrote about The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh’s internationally acclaimed installation art museum, and founder Barbara Luderowski in the winter issue. City High’s founders and nurturers Mario Zinga, left, and Rick Wertheimer, ended long-standing careers in the Pittsburgh Public School system to forge their own educational path. They ended up taking their former employer to court to win approval for the new school.

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In the six years since Pennsylvania enacted a charter law, “Pennsylvania is in dire straits and we need to do things 12 alternative schools have opened in southwestern Pennsyl- differently,” says Chenzie Grignano, director of the Center vania. One, Thurgood Marshall Academy in Wilkinsburg, for Education Reform at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. was closed in January of last year after the local school district “Charters aren’t a silver bullet. But that system to attract parents and the state Charter School Appeal Board ruled that school and create high standards is what public education needs.” officials had failed to meet basic administrative and education Dominic and Education Program Officer Gerry Balbier requirements. At its peak, the school enrolled about see the foundation’s role as helping the people running these 200 students in kindergarten through 11th grade. schools develop the tools and training to do it right. As of this Parents and students take the leap to charters believing fall, the Endowments had granted a total of $725,000 to City that, even though the schools are licensed by the traditional High alone, but much of that went out the door well before public school board, they are free to set their own courses, the school opened—to pay for planning and performance- enact their own rules and shape teacher–student relationships. directed training. “We believe this school will meet long-term Supporters are convinced that, by fulfilling the charter-law mandate to offer “expanded opportunities” not available in the regular public school district, students are encouraged to be more creative—and to be better grounded in the basics. They also believe charter students get more individual atten- tion from teachers. Critics of charters say that some of the purposes for their creation are dubious and that they drain resources from the traditional public school district. Charter-student test scores are, at best, mixed, and there is a much higher teacher- turnover rate than for mainstream public schools. All these charges are well known to foundations and other charter funders. In fact, some leading assessment studies reporting mediocre performance have been underwritten by supporters. “The Endowments has been a leader among foundations in the charter movement because it’s the job of a program like ours to see beyond the start-up problems and evaluate the long-term potential,” says Joe Dominic, director expectations because of the preparation,” says Dominic. Part of the Endowments’ Education Program. “What we see is that, of that confidence comes from the Endowments’ partnership even in their fledgling state, the mere existence of charters is a in the charter effort with the Richard King Mellon and tremendous catalyst for reform in public education.” The Grable Foundations, along with the Community Loan Fund. oldest sanctioned charters in Pennsylvania are only 6 years old “Our grantmaking goals are tied to those best practices and most have yet to undergo any kind of comprehensive and they feed our expectations for City High,” says Balbier. performance measurement. Yet, they are coming into play at a “The best charters certainly include offering quality education time when half of all public schools in the state aren’t meeting choices to families and pressuring school districts to improve minimum standards in math, reading and other areas. performance. But the core of our strategy is the creation 10:04 AM At City High, Math teacher Lou Tamler has students for one-third of the school day, instead of the 45-minute class periods common in traditional public schools. Educators combine subject areas that relate to one another, so that science and math are taught together in the Science Literacy cluster. The others are Cultural and Work-Skills Literacies. 17 At this time and several other points during the school day, City High’s ninth-grade hallway transforms into study hall, think tank and idea highway for students who often feel more constrained in classrooms. Here, freshmen Alicia Starr and LaTrice Williams work on a class project.

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of school-level autonomy and middle school, was the pair’s first accountability that will enable hire. As chief administrative officer, principals, teachers, parents and she shoulders the mountain of students to succeed.” paperwork, allowing the founders Despite some structural to concentrate on curriculum and weaknesses, many parents who are staff development. fed up with their children’s poor The hiring of the school’s test scores and limited academic nonunion teachers also was based choices are sticking with charters. on a different model. While the Nationally, enrollment has passed nonunion teachers’ pay is com- 600,000 students—six times parable to that of city school the level in 1998—and some teachers, the rankings of apprentice, 102 schools are now operating across journeyman and master levels are the state. (See City Charter Vote, based on performance rather than page 24.) Locally, however, only about 2,000 Pittsburgh-area longevity. The 16 City High teachers have come from as far as students attend charters, compared with 35,000 in the city California, attracted by the opportunity to take responsibility district. But City High is on the national educational map: for their students in ways that would be impossible in most supporters and critics alike are watching closely to see whether urban public schools. one of the state’s most well-planned alternative schools turns “Our market research indicates that school consumers out students who measure up—both in terms of realized value discipline, values, academic achievement and personal- potential and in standardized test performance. ization,” says Wertheimer. Those components fuse in an Standing directly under that glaring spotlight are Zinga and intense focus on a small group. Wertheimer, who are betting that their innovations will help “We learn, but at the same time, we feel like one huge students meet state goals while achieving their own. They’re family—a weird and sometimes dysfunctional family, but a equally confident that their design meets parents’ desires. family nonetheless,” ninth-grader Nicole Faychack told her “Joe [Dominic] and Gerry [Balbier] gave us a push,” says classmates in an impromptu end-of-year speech. Zinga, who, like Wertheimer, came out of a long career in Families like the intimacy of City High. “He loves the the Pittsburgh Public School system. “They said, ‘Take a year. pampering,” says Christine Bethea of son Stephen. When he We’ll provide you with the support. Let’s do it right.’ It was left the city’s Peabody High School last October to attend City phenomenal to have that kind of encouragement.” The two High, his mother recalls “the shocked look of the teachers— educators traveled the country between Philadelphia and like, ‘Wow! He has a choice!’” Phoenix to learn what programs were working—and what Jackie and Dan Hutton liked their son Danny’s enthusiasm errors to avoid. for his technology course “from the first day,” says his mother. “I had come out of staff development,” says Zinga. “Rick This year, they’ve enrolled his younger brother, Brian. Jackie had come out of technology. Neither one of us had ever run appreciates the school’s academic focus—a priority she says a school. Forcing founders to wear every hat is a critical, was missing in Danny’s public middle school—and the critical mistake that many start-up charter schools make.” communication with home. “You can talk to them whenever Maxine Klimasara, a seasoned principal of the city’s largest you call them,” she says. “I called them, and they were on it.” 98 19 Parents and guardians can also log onto the school Web site for daily student work results. Chartering In the world of education reform researchers, who roughly divide themselves into boot-camp or summer-camp propo- nents, the Huttons and other consumer-oriented parents are Timeline summer campers. They argue that making kids comfortable June 1997 Act 22 passed by Pennsylvania Legislature, and nurturing good relationships with classmates and teachers allowing public charter schools. get better results. Boot campers call for single-minded empha- sis on academic achievement. City High follows the lead of December99 2000 City High founders receive $140,000 national study results and presses both rigor and relationships. Endowments planning grant. “It gets rid of the ‘versus,’” says Catherine Nelson, one of November 2001 Charter application filed with Pittsburgh the school’s evaluators. On the academic side, the school school district. refuses to accept Ds as passing grades and demands business attire of all students. On the support side, it places a “safe February 2002 Pittsburgh school district approves application with conditions. and caring environment” at the top of its priorities, and con- tinuously polls students and parents to measure satisfaction. March 20, 2002 School board rejects application, “We liked their intense focus—that each kid was given a 00claiming conditions not met. chance to behave like a young adult,” recalls Dominic of the March 28, 2002 City High officials fight district decision first City High discussions. in court. But as their sophomore year begins, some students are still failing, and the staff must now redouble its nurturing efforts April 12, 2002 Allegheny County judge rules for charter. to help them meet those rigorous standards. April–May 2002 Enrollment marketing campaign begins with 10-second ads at major movie theater chains, Changing the Rules billboard messages and direct mailings. The young Gargoyles who enrolled at City High last July01 2002 About 200 students apply—half on school’s September on a first-come-first-served basis turn out to be a good cross-section of the region. The percentages also Web site—for 156 places. affirm that parents, no matter their income level, are actively August 2002 Occupancy permit granted for two floors searching for better educational opportunities for their of Clark Building. children. Two-thirds of the class qualify for free lunch programs. Minorities account for 46 percent of the class total, about Sept. 3, 2002 City High opens its doors. 15 points under the minority count in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. Also, 74 percent of the class previously attended Pittsburgh Public Schools; the remaining 26 percent come 02 from 14 suburban public districts, parochials and other charters. Rankings on standardized tests given upon enrollment averaged just above the national norm, with 28 percent of students in the top quartile and 15 percent in the bottom quartile. 20

The students make up a typical high school group; their even though the outside world might not be in step. (There curriculum is anything but. was the awkward incident, for instance, when a teacher “If you change the rules, you can get different behaviors reprimanded a jeans-clad young woman in the hall, then from kids,” explains Zinga. “You go to school for 13 weeks, apologized profusely when she discovered the wearer was and then you’re off for four weeks. That’s very different. I can parent Christine Bethea.) complete a unit of study within a 13-week block, which is “We wanted the kids to have to make a choice on daily very manageable. We moved extracurricular activities into dress,” says Wertheimer emphatically. “I don’t believe this is a the school day, so everybody gets to participate.” One sharp minor thing. I need them making decisions like that, because departure from the city public schools is that City High does that’s what we need to practice.” not field athletic teams; fitness classes use the downtown Indeed, City High students are often reminded that they YMCA. Gone is the 45-minute class period. “If you’re going are making daily decisions on how they relate to the larger to do in-depth learning, you need the time to do it,” says world, even when they don’t realize it. “Tuck in your shirts,” Zinga. “We also started to put together content areas that lent says Zinga in his trademark placid tone, as he herds a group themselves to each other. We do science and math together. toward the elevator. On this day, his lunchtime reading club is We do reading and writing in cultural literacy.” going out for fast food—a monthly treat—and a walk to a Each student sets a career-goals plan. Forty-four have downtown arts festival. The response to his directive is imme- already achieved Microsoft specialist certifications in business diate: students grin sheepishly as they smooth out their clothes. software on their laptops, and many have already met mentors Zinga founded the club to shore up weaker students’ in their chosen field. That program will expand to a half-day reading skills. internship in junior year. Says Wertheimer, “I could have filled “I’m beginning to do a lot of work with that group of boys my building with drill presses and band saws and typewriters, who, in a regular school, because they are not disruptive, will but that would be foolish. We prepare them for the work often get ignored. What I basically do is read out loud to world of today.” them,” Zinga explains. His students amble confidently ahead, The school’s professional mindset mandates “business amid shops and traffic. “I’m training the ear, so they know attire,” which, as defined by teenagers, means baggier, how to read for meaning.” With contemporary choices like trendier and altogether more spectacular than what an adult’s Holes, the teen-wise and kooky Louis Sachar novel about a would be. So, at City High, the Battle of the Dress Code camp for juvenile delinquents in a Texas desert town, “I get to is replayed daily. say out loud all these words that I would never say in class,” “They’re 14-year-olds—they’ll complain about anything says Zinga, laughing—“and they love that! I’m developing a and everything,” says Zinga, wearing the calm, seen-it-all- personal relationship. It will take awhile. But we are reading before demeanor earned from his years in public schools. books that are really solid.” On a mid-June day, one young woman cools her heels— At 5 feet 6 inches, the unflappable Zinga sees eye-to-eye shod in pink and white platform sneakers—by the school with most of his students. As they all stroll back to school, reception desk. She’s barred from returning to class without he makes a point of falling into step with a student who’s more formal footwear. In the hallway, Maxine Klimasara is volunteered that he was thrown out of his previous school for remonstrating with another fashion plate: her aqua fishnet threatening a teacher. “I don’t see you doing that here,” he blouse, with matching tank and shoes, isn’t office apparel. says with a tone of surprise while putting his hand on the And the school’s professional dress standards are The Standards, boy’s shoulder. The encouragement is subtle, but clear. 2:46 PM City High freshman Edward Provident emerges from down under during a scuba class at the Downtown YMCA pool. While the charter school has no organized sports teams, students have a wider range of physical education and recreation opportunities than what is offered in most traditional public high schools. 3:21 PM City High sophomores Tanasia Arthur, left, of Brookline; and Jamie Niedecker of Wexford; process mail at Heffren Tillotson, a financial services firm a few blocks from the school. The students work part-time each week as part of a year-long, “Learning & Earning” internship program that provides students with part-time work in a job that develops career skills. City High’s administrators are so attuned to performance and learning benchmarks as determiners of the school’s future that they’ve hired an independent evaluator, Catherine Awsumb Nelson.

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Between the french fries and the “One of the biggest risks for elevator door, Zinga finds the teach- any charter school is that they get able moment. students where they are…,” says Duquesne’s Grignano. “They have The Standards: Coming To Terms to do a lot of remediation. For kids In August, as students departed for a from urban school districts, two, four-week vacation, teachers anxiously three, even four years behind is not analyzed grade evaluations from the third trimester. In April, unexpected. Many schools are stymied by the fact that they at the previous term break, they’d learned that a third of the have to do so much catch-up.” class was in danger of flunking one or more classes by the For its second year, the school has added four academic standard of the school’s GPA threshold of a C– or 1.75. support teachers to shore up subject teachers. The federal funds The news set off a huge faculty debate. “Wonderful!” says to pay them last year were delayed by the state. “Wellness” Wertheimer. Year-end results continued the trend: 16 freshmen staff—psychologists, a part-time school nurse and counselors had failed all three clusters; 23 were failing two of three cluster —also came on board this fall. grades; 17 were failing one. The racial achievement gap that When asked in August to rate City High’s job of “expecting plagues all public schools showed up at City High as well: me to do my best,” 90 percent of students and 96 percent of Half its minority boys were retained in ninth grade or had their parents judged it good or very good. But the students failed two clusters. with the most academic difficulties were even more positive Teachers faced up to the results, but struggled in develop- than their classmates: Nearly 91 percent responded “good” or ing a policy response. “very good.” Evaluators refer to these responses as “buy-in.” “We were very torn,” admits master teacher Sharona Kay, “It’s significant that struggling students feel this expectation 34. “On one hand, the school needs to have integrity. On the just as strongly,” notes City High evaluator Nelson. In contrast, other hand, we know from…schools we’ve been in—if you half the public school teens in a 1996 survey complained that leave a kid behind, they give up. We’ve had them for a year. they weren’t expected to do their best. If we continue with them, rather than give them to somebody For City High’s founders, success is easy to gauge. “When new, we can make some progress.” will we know if we’re successful? A year after they graduate,” The decision: Passing is now pegged at 1.5, or D+. Ninth- says Zinga. “We tell them, it’s all about what happens after graders who fail to attain a C average in one of the three twelfth grade.” major academic clusters by year-end will be considered pro- Wertheimer’s measures are more immediate. “I have bationary 10th-graders this year, and under the gun to pull a 77 Microsoft certifications for ninth grade. That’s better. I’ve C in the 10th-grade–level cluster. Those failing two clusters got kids doing more reading and writing. That’s better. On will be probationary ninth graders. If they can’t make a 10th- July 28, in the last week of school, 40 kids showed up for grade C in the first trimester, they’ll return to ninth grade. after-school study club. That’s better. “We don’t lower standards. We give them one last chance,” “My question is, will they learn something about how says Kay. “We’ll give them enrichment. Not only will their to learn? Will they become accountable for their learning? in-school mentor nag them every week, we’ll add a second If we’ve done that—hey—the next few years are just gonna teacher [to track them]. It’s voluntary, but we’ll nag them take off.” h to death.” 24 Thecharter

voteack in 1997, when a bill to permit charter schools in Pennsylvania was making a tortuous run through the legislature, opposition from the public school establishment

Six years after a was strong and determined. It was led by two often- controversial law put estranged bedfellows—teacher unions and school boards. charter schools on the state’s education But they were joined, too, by legislators from both landscape, the battle parties: suburban Republicans who feared constituents’ has gone local— over performanceB local school boards would lose authority, and urban and control. Democrats who were close to the unions and worried that money would be drained from their already-failing schools. By Stephen Seplow It took months of legislative courting and schmoozing by the Ridge administration, and a series of big compromises that took some punch out of charter-school powers. Chief among them was that local boards, instead of the state, would have the power to charter, and at least 75 percent of teachers in any school would have to be state certified. When these were agreed to, Act 22 finally passed the House on June 12, 1997, at 3:38 a.m. “Given the problems of academic achievement in Pennsylvania, they couldn’t exclude charters as an option to improve the situation.”

Chenzie Grignano director of the Charter Schools Project, Duquesne University

Photo by Amiran White

Photo by Annie O’Neill “[Public-school funding of charters] creates a problem. I’m forcing the locals to pay and they have problems paying their own basic costs.”

Sen. James Rhoades R-Schuylkill County, chairman, Senate Education Committee 26

Now, six years later, there are 102 charter schools in “We are counting on charter schools to showcase proven Pennsylvania, a number that’s been growing every year, with and promising practices,” says State Secretary of Education about half in Philadelphia. Those schools have some 30,000 Vicki Phillips. charter students, about two-thirds in Philadelphia. Their While many longtime charter advocates do not rate record is inconsistent—occasionally better, sometimes worse, Phillips and Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell as avidly pro- often about the same as public schools with similar student charter as their Republican predecessors, Govs. Tom Ridge populations—but there is virtually no organized political and Mark Schweiker and their education secretaries, the opposition anywhere in the state. Even those with criticism incumbents are not regarded as impediments. “Given the acknowledge that charter schools appear to be a permanent problems of academic achievement in Pennsylvania, they pillar of public education. couldn’t exclude charters as an option to improve the Tim Allwein, assistant executive director for governmental situation,” says Chenzie Grignano, director of the Charter and member relations of the Pennsylvania School Boards Schools Project at Duquesne University. The project, funded Association, says school boards still question and want to amend by The Heinz Endowments, offers guidance to charter the formula for funding charter schools, but after that, there school operators. is no real philosophical dispute over their continued existence. Still, Phillips has created a task force to examine the Whenever he’s asked what problems teachers have with state’s charter-school law with the goal of eliminating the charters other than funding issues, Wythe Keever, a spokes- occasional flare-ups between traditional public schools and man for the Pennsylvania State Education Association, says, the publicly funded charters. She also is charging the group “Charters have not been a major issue for us so I have to to develop a framework that ensures all schools are held to refresh my memory.” the same student performance standards, especially as State Sen. James Rhoades of Schuylkill County, the Pennsylvania joins other states in a rush to meet federal Republican chairman of the senate education committee and testing mandates required under the No Child Left Behind the architect of the charter law, declares, “I would say there Act, which threatens a loss of federal funds for schools that is a realization that charter schools are here to stay; they’re don’t make the marks. another opportunity to offer an education. I have heard “The idea of a laboratory is OK,” Education Department nothing negative.” Spokesman Brian Christopher told an Associated Press Charters are here to stay because they answer a demand reporter after the task-force announcement. “But [charters] of parents, particularly those in communities with failing, are still working schools, and children still depend on them unsafe public schools, who want alternatives for their chil- for their education, and there are standards that we’ve set.” dren. And they offer the promise, albeit one not yet fulfilled, The 30-member panel, which began its work in October, of a quality education delivered through innovative, creative will include charter school administrators, public school schools with small classrooms and attentive teachers. This officials and educational advocacy leaders. promise is especially directed around poor children, who Two other political changes have helped charters reach this for many years have had to settle for substandard schools. point of general acceptance. One is removal of the voucher

Award-winning journalist Stephen Seplow has spent most of his reporting and editing career at the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he served as national editor for three years and metro editor for a decade. His other editing posts include stints as news editor for the Knight Ridder Washington bureau and assistant managing editor at the Detroit Free Press. His reporting assignments included serving as the Inquirer’s Moscow bureau chief. He retired in 2001 and is now a freelance writer based in Philadelphia. 27

Charter school advocates contend that if parents, teachers and administrators commit to new education modes and set up schools free from traditional regulations, they will develop a better learning system.

option, which would have allowed parents to pull their child The idea behind charters is simple, but acting on the idea in from one school and enroll him in another, along with the real-world educational circles can be mind-numbing. state-subsidy money assigned to the student. Charter school advocates contend that if parents, teachers To traditional public-school stakeholders, vouchers were and administrators commit to new education modes and set incendiary. Ridge, a consistent voucher supporter, had twice up schools free from traditional regulations, they will develop been defeated in getting the option through the Legislature. a better learning system. One school may use one technique, And even with the compromise, public-education advo- depending on its educational emphasis. Another school may cates squinted suspiciously at public charters as a back door develop a different model. In the end, though, each charter to vouchers. “It’s not seen that way now,” and that’s eased has a plan for what will work for its student base. some of the tension, says Grignano. But some critics say the system, as established by Act 22, The political and administrative headaches resulting from foments political conflict between charters and local school enactment of No Child Left Behind also may be a factor. boards. Local school districts are responsible for granting Some believe that the public-school establishment is so charters certification based on the operators successfully worried about its own performance under the new law that completing a complex application process, which includes a it’s lost some interest in fighting alternative schools. series of hearings. Operators must prove that the charter will But that doesn’t mean all is smooth sailing for charters. improve learning, encourage innovation and provide choices There are some rough navigation points ahead that could that are unavailable in the traditional public-school system, upend the fledgling experiment. These are situated around and that they can sustain the school over time. A rejected funding, accountability and independence—all issues that applicant may appeal to a state board that has historically must be addressed if charters are to help improve the educa- tended to side with applicants. The number of appeals has tion of those thousands of children whose lives are being declined in the last year or so, partly because operators are waged in both public traditional- and charter-school settings. getting smarter about the applications and also because “Charters are supposed to have fewer regulations and the freedom to experiment... .They say ‘we’ll give you a hundred-yard leash,’ but as soon as we go out there, they pull us back. It’s destroying our effectiveness.”

Joseph Proietta founder, Community Academy of Philadelphia

Photos by Peter Olson “[Accountability] is going to be a big issue. They need to be held accountable. Some are not carrying out their missions. Some are run by charlatans. Some do real good things.”

Ellen K. Savitz chief development officer for the Philadelphia school district 29 there are fewer new applicants as Act 22 moves through its he’s not getting help from Philadelphia’s public school district sixth year. to pay off the debt. He has raised about $250,000 from Once a charter is approved and opened, it is up to the various donors and has received a $400,000 federal grant. local district to assess its progress and then vote every three His only goal, he says, is to provide a quality education to to five years on whether to renew the charter. That process children who already have failed in or dropped out of district nearly guarantees fierce struggles over ratings and funding. schools. If district officials had refused to give up on the When a child leaves a traditional public school and enters students, their parents would not have moved them to the a charter, the money the district pays to educate that child charter school. goes to the charter; costs associated with after-school pro- Ellen K. Savitz, chief development officer for the grams, maintenance and other noneducational expenses are Philadelphia school district, says the financial outlook for deducted. That can be big bucks. In Philadelphia, with charters is mixed. “At first,” she says, “we were spending 20,000 charter students awarded either the $6,286 regular- millions on charters, but not saving anything.” But slowly, student subsidy or the $12,032 for special education, the she added, minimal savings are accruing—a few teachers total is more than $125 million. In addition, every district not hired, some books not bought. “But it’s nothing close with a charter has some administrative costs. to the $6,200 we pay per kid.” Even Act 22 sponsor Rhoades says funding “creates a To education-reform advocates and foundation funders, problem. I’m forcing the locals to pay, and they have the money arguments speak to the need for a fundamental problems paying their own basic costs.” shift in attitude around student subsidies. “Public money Beyond the actual dollars allocated, the unsteady directed to public education ought to follow the student enrollment can bring financial planning and administration and should not be seen as an entitlement to support large burdens. Students do not leave a particular public school for bureaucracies,” says Gerry Balbier of The Heinz Endowments’ a charter in neat blocks, as in, for instance, all 30 students Education Program. “In fact, the act of competing for from an eighth-grade class. More the norm is that an elemen- students typically is a driver of quality education in a region.” tary school will lose two or three students from one class, Still tugs-of-war over funding are routine and continue and two or three from another. The district still has to pay to lead contenders to draw turf lines. As State Sen. Dwight the same teacher, and provide the same lighting and most of Evans, a Philadelphia Democrat who organized his own the same supplies. charter school, frames it: “It’s a net loss for the school district anytime a child in “Local boards have viewed charter schools as taking that district enters a charter,” says PSEA’s Keever. money from them. They view the money as theirs.” Tim But Joseph Proietta, who operates the Community Daniels, who helped write the charter law as head of the Academy of Philadelphia and heads an organization of state office of educational initiatives during the Ridge charter operators, sees it differently. He notes that once the administration, and now consults for charters, agrees. “It’s board subtracts noneducational expenses, his per-student like Coke regulating Pepsi. There’s an inherent conflict of subsidy is about 70 percent of the $8,500 the district interest, so you need a neutral regulatory body.” actually spends per child. Sherrie Rowe, the chief of the division of performance Proietta recently completed renovations to a former Kraft accountability for charters in Pennsylvania’s Department of Foods cheese factory he bought to house his 1,000-student Education, acknowledges that the state “is now working school. He sold $17 million in bonds for the building, and through some of these gray areas of discontent” between the 30

charters and the local districts. “Our role is to identify and Is it managed honestly? “Vallas wants them to be accountable understand some of these issues, and how we can help… in academics and in their facilities,” she says. “He wants to districts and charters improve their relationships, and how put teeth into site visits: ‘You improve after these visits or you to help them work with one another.” don’t exist after a year.’ ” The sharply different attitudes of two Philadelphia Proietta, who admits to being a purist on the subject of educators—Savitz of the Philadelphia School District, and independence for charter schools, complains that charters Proietta, the chief charter operator—show that state education are supposed to have fewer regulations and the freedom to mediators have tough going ahead. experiment. “But they’ve been adding regulations to bring Savitz: “This [accountability] is going to be a big issue. us back. They say, ‘We’ll give you a hundred-yard leash,’ They need to be held accountable. Some are not carrying but as soon as we went out there, they pull us back. …It’s out their missions. Some are run by charlatans. Some do real destroying our effectiveness.” Proietta argues that a simple good things.” litmus test—students improve their learning as evidenced Proietta: “[Philadelphia Schools Chief Operating Officer] by strong performance on standardized tests—will be the Vallas calls them ‘our’ charter schools,” he says, drawing out natural determiner of whether a school is working. If it isn’t, the “our.” “I have fought this concept. He thinks they are he says, parents will vote with their feet and transfer their part of the district and must follow all the procedures that children elsewhere. other schools do… .We can’t be part of the district and an But that simple test may misread human nature. A Western independent public school.” Michigan University study of charters across the country Among the questions the district tries to answer in visits of found “no apparent statistical relationship between student schools up for renewal, says Savitz, are: Is the school follow- achievement and levels of student satisfaction with curriculum ing its curriculum? Does it have the students it says it has? and instruction.” Some charter critics believe that parents,

Once a charter is approved and opened, it is up to the local district to assess its progress and then vote every three to five years on whether to renew the charter. That process nearly guarantees fierce struggles over ratings and funding. 31 once having gone through the ordeal of the students are African American, 30 transferring a child from traditional to by the percent are white, 8 percent Latino and charter, are reluctant to admit they may 1 percent Asian. have made a mistake. Others say cur- numbers But even beyond knotty performance riculum is not the only issue: Safety also and funding problems, two other hot- counts for parents at work who worry 75 percent of all button issues will be affecting charters— about what may happen to their kids Pennsylvania charter one created by state law, the other federal. in school. schools are in cities, First, as many charter schools hit the Adding to the urgency of oversight is with the rest in three- to five-year mark, they are now up the observation of Duquesne’s Grignano, for certification renewal by local districts. who has been studying charters since suburbs. 61 percent Already, districts across the state are passage of Act 22. From the beginning, of the students are contending that their charters are not he says, charter advocates “oversold the African American, working and should be closed. concept…on what they can deliver, and 30 percent are white, The second volatile issue affecting following that line of thinking, the charter charter–traditional school relations is a 8 percent Latino and developers over-promised. They under- stiff provision of the federal No Child estimated the academic needs of students 1 percent Asian. Left Behind law that requires all of the entering charters.” state’s teachers to be qualified under the Grignano says charter advocates continue to raise law by 2005. The state education department has determined unrealistic expectations when they talk about the virtues of that a teacher will be considered qualified if he or she has a a simple process: “You put three ingredients together—the bachelor’s degree in the specialty being taught and has passed school is homegrown; there is a lot of community input; and a statewide test required for certification. you provide all the characteristics of a charter like choice, Charter schools already have high teacher-turnover rates— high standards and a strong curriculum—and these will 24 percent from 2000 through 2001, according to the automatically lead to high academic achievement.” Western Michigan study. Contributing to that is the fact that But darker and often more powerful forces are at work, charter teachers earn about $12,000 a year less than their he says, that advocates don’t talk about as much. Charters colleagues in traditional public schools. are often dealing with students who failed before, who come So the political tea leaves show that charter schools will from families with no academic culture and homes with remain fixed in state-education law for years to come. But few books and little support. Those factors have neutralized the degree to which traditional school districts and charter academic achievement,” says Grignano. “This is basically an operators find accommodation with one another on urban phenomenon—so it’s kids not feeling they got a fair credentialing, testing and funding issues through the next shake—and the needs are greater than anticipated.” few years will determine how successful charters will be in Indeed, 75 percent of all Pennsylvania charter schools finding better ways to educate students. h are in cities, with the rest in suburbs. A recent study for the scholarly Education Policy Analysis Archives published at Arizona State University showed that 61 percent of Photography by Will Kirk & Jay Van Rensselaer F in aworldawakening tothetrialsofourown troubled century. first toEurope andthen toAmerica,whichistodaythecenter ofpower andgravity people there, mostlychildren. The arc ofmylifecarriedmeawayfrom thatland, still spendweekends andholidaysatourlittlecottageinthebushtreating the r native people.He went ontostudyradiologyandlateroncologyinFrance, but where hespenttimeinthebushresearching tropical diseasesand treating the to apoorpeopledesperatelyinneedof hismedicalcare. colonial Africa,where he tended the centerofgravityandpower intheworld—to eturned toMozambique, hislove. Andeven thoughwe lived intown, hewould Ho ward Heinz Endowment Chairman Teresa Heinz received theAlexander von Humboldt Foundation’s 2003Albert Gold Schweitzer Medal In of thisgreat atthetimewas physician’s lifecarriedhimfrom Europe—which Schweitzer.after Albert In thetroubled century, early years ofanew the arc personalaboutreceivingor me,there arecognition issomething very named

his late20s,myfather, too,went from Europe toAfricaasayoung doctor, for Humanitarianism at Johns Hopkins University inSeptember. This isadaptedfrom heracceptance speech. SHARED America’s hope lies in its humanitarian values. America’s hopeliesinitshumanitarian

By Teresa Heinz

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I cannot help but reflect on what an odd and futile thing me that nature has rules, like not going swimming at dawn it must have seemed to Schweitzer’s contemporaries for a or dusk when the sharks and crocodiles feed, indeed when successful man beginning his middle years to abandon the all animals feed and drink, and that life is much easier when comforts of Europe for the hardships and heartache of Africa. you follow those rules. Crocodiles are persuasive teachers. His world about to dissolve into war, he stepped away from Those rules taught me something else, and I felt it every the seminal conflicts of his age and chose instead to focus on time I would dangle upside down in the guava tree of our the sick and frail of a land that many Europeans of his time backyard, daydreaming, or see a boab standing lonely vigil considered fit for little more than subjugation and exploitation. against an impossibly starry sky. It was there in the kindness And here we are now, our own world seemingly dissolving of the people, and in the dreamy lilac hues of the jacarandas into a strange new age of conflict, celebrating this same that ambled down the avenues like bridesmaids to the altar. impulse, this simple desire to help others. And I know there It was a profound sense of connection, a sense of all life are many people in the world today who cannot help but see being knitted together in ways that gave purpose to every that desire in the same way as Dr. Schweitzer’s contemporaries individual, every animal and every plant.

And not just purpose, but beauty, and dignity. I am mindful that we gather here two years and twelve days after one of the most shocking acts of hatefulness in memory. DESTINY I visited Ground Zero with my husband in the week after must have—as honorable, yes, yet so trivial when set against September 11, and what I saw there reminded me of a saying the immense sweep of history, which today involves cultures in my native Portuguese language—“Deus escreve direito and economies and societies colliding on an unprecedented por linhas tortas”—which translates roughly as “God writes scale—tectonic shifts that make the small actions of straight on tortuous lines.” individuals seem tinier still. All around were the twisted remains of the World Trade In times like these, it is easy to wonder: What hope have we Center—crazy hills of concrete and rebar, an angry moon- of shaping history with small acts of conscience and kindness? scape of dust and ash, steam and smoke. Colossal shards of Yet I believe Dr. Schweitzer knew something his contem- steel thrust defiantly upward as if to stab the sky. Everywhere poraries didn’t—something that he found in Africa. There I looked, there were these broken forms, these tortured lines. is a special quality about that land, a way of being that affects And I couldn’t help but wonder what God could possibly how one sees one’s own place in the world. Dr. Schweitzer write on lines such as these—what was His message in discovered that special quality amidst the people and surround- such chaos? ings of his hospital in Lambaréné, Gabon. In reflecting on it later, I struck upon an answer in Decades later and the width of the continent away, I something my good and much-missed friend Fred Rogers— experienced it growing up in Mozambique. Touched by my Mr. Rogers—used to say, something his mother had told father’s example and guided and inspired by nature, I learned him about troubled times when he was a little boy: “Look for about the order and respect, the understanding and generosity, the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” that come from living in harmony with the natural world. Indeed that’s where many of us found comfort in the weeks The African savannah was my earliest classroom. It taught following that terrible tragedy. We found it in the courage 34

and heroism of the firefighters and police who gave their lives The second trait that I believe all true helpers and volunteers that day. And we found it, too, in the courage of the bereaved share is that, when it counts, they see beyond and are able families, and in the doctors and nurses who waited anxiously to rise above their own personal perspectives and needs. I for the survivors who never came, then in the way complete think about what it must have taken for those firefighters in strangers reached out to each other in the hours and weeks the World Trade Center to push their way up those stairs following to offer their blood, their tears, their solace. past thousands of people fleeing for their lives. Clearly, in They gave us back our purpose, and they restored a those moments, those brave souls were not thinking of nation’s dignity. what was good for them personally. Part of what I love about this land is how quick Americans That type of courage and heroism is rare. But I have seen have always been to extend a hand when they see someone in a more common kind of selflessness displayed in countless trouble. I have been privileged over the years to meet and men and women—people working at the nonprofits we work with hundreds of people support, volunteers taking up who have dedicated their lives a cause, or parents helping or careers to helping others. All the volunteers and a child’s friend who may be And I have learned that the helpers I know see needy for love, for attention best of them share three traits. themselves as somehow or for help with homework. First, their good work is They sacrifice their time and rooted in respect—respect for benefiting from their money, offer their ideas, work the people they would help, work—not just in some tirelessly—not because some- the communities they would one will reward them but save and the environment they vaguely spiritual way, because they believe passion- would protect. My father taught but directly, by creating ately in something other than me that. He always greeted themselves. his patients with a hug and a safer place to live, a And yet—and this is the asked them about their lives. stronger community, third trait that I believe all An accomplished specialist, he a better society. true volunteers share—their never approached his patients motivation is never blindly with the know-it-all arrogance so common among experts— altruistic. Asked to comment after 9/11 on why they would in all fields, not just medicine. He began by listening, because risk their lives rushing into a burning building to help he knew the stories his patients told might shed light on their people they don’t know, many firefighters said: “Because if illnesses. And he liked to care for his patients, whether he was we don’t do it for them, who will do it for our families?” tending to them in the hospital, in the office or under the All the volunteers and helpers I know see themselves as pergola at our weekend cottage. That respect made him a somehow benefiting from their work—not just in some better doctor. vaguely spiritual way, but directly, by creating a safer place Today, at our foundations, one of the first traits we look for to live, a stronger community, a better society. They see in our grantees is this capacity to listen. We look for grantees themselves not just as individuals but also as members of who strive for excellence and change, but who remain rooted something bigger—citizens of a neighborhood, a people in and reflect the people and community they serve. and a nation. Dr. Lore Toepfer, daughter of Alfred Toepfer, founder of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, beams from audience applause after presenting Teresa Heinz with the Albert Schweitzer Gold Medal for Humanitarianism at Johns Hopkins University.

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America celebrates its helpers The forest was alive, but you had and volunteers more, I think, than to let yourself be engulfed and listen any other country in the world. Yet to the rhythm of the forest. sometimes I wonder whether we The most amazing experience realize what a remarkable trait that was to be in this canopy that was has been in shaping America’s character and history. I believe 120 feet high—like a gothic cathedral. Each of the soaring that spirit defines this country—it defines our greatness— trees that formed it was anchored by three buttresses rooted in and if we ever forget that, we risk losing touch with what is a mere six inches of soil—that’s all. I had to wonder what fed truly of value in us as Americans. them. Looking at the ground, I saw the interplay of mosses, This is a country built on diversity—on a coming together ferns, mushrooms, insects and animals, and began to under- of different people from different lands at different times. In stand the beauty and complexity and interdependence of life. so many places around the world, diversity is seen as a source Today, America is like those trees. We are the colossus of of weakness and division, but here it has been our intrinsic the forest, but we are still fed by the interplay of a community strength. Every time we have opened the doors of opportunity of nations and peoples with that of our own. In this era of to African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, women, the global everything—global economies, markets, media and handicapped, religious minorities and others, we have grown culture—the networks of connection that bind us together stronger. And always what has made that work is the potent in a shared destiny span the entire globe. combination of three simple traits: respect, selflessness and Embracing that reality is the defining challenge of this connectedness. Or, to put it more simply, open hearts and generation. It may be engaged, at times, on the field of battle, open minds. but ultimately it will be won or lost on the field of ideas—the How essential it is, then, for our country to continue to ideas that guide us and that we embody through our actions symbolize those traits, those values, as it has for generations as individuals and as a nation. We will win only by creating a of people growing up around the world. And how tragic it world where differences in race and culture and religion are would be for America to abdicate its long-cherished role in accepted, where the environment is protected, where human promoting a world built upon those values in favor of a rights are valued and where individuals can live in dignity world built on disrespect, selfishness and disconnection. and to the utmost of their abilities. We cannot afford to make that mistake. Fourteen years So to go back and answer the question I posed earlier— ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Brazilian Amazon. What hope have we of shaping history with small acts of Initially, I was surprised. The African savannah of my youth conscience and kindness?—that is our only hope. That is was a much sparser place but it was wide open and you what I believe God writes in bold script on the forever-twisted could see almost everything. I went into the rainforest lines of human history. All hope for lasting peace and justice expecting to find a riot of colors, activity and sound. Instead in this world of ours lies in the ideals of respect, selflessness it was dead still, and for a moment I felt disappointed, as and connectedness from which those acts spring. And we though I had been tricked. must let those values guide us, and use them as a beacon for But the next day I went out at dawn, after the howler our strife-torn world. h monkeys barked and before the heat of the day stilled the forest. And I began to notice something: There were birds flying overhead and butterflies flitting among the leaves. Endowments’ interns have htheir own guide in eTracy R. re&there Kay, executive director of the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Philadelphia, one of several sites they visited while researching the most successful after-school environmental education programs in the state. The charge to the graduating high school students, from left, Beth Anne Lawson, Marja Bell and Nitin Aggarwal, was to identify existing programs and evaluate them against best practices in the field. The Schuylkill Center’s programs were noted for their out- standing environmental curriculum. In addition, the three college-bound students conducted extensive research on the Endow- ments’ internship program, interviewing their predeces- sors going back to 1994, the first year. Information compiled from the interviews Steve Mellon will be used by supervising Children, Youth & Families Heinz Endowments Directors Don Wiley Program staff to refine the RIVER’S-EDGE VIEW and Barbara Robinson are able to see the application process and tremendous development and recreational potential in a foundations-group purchase of a 177-acre future interns’ projects. former mill site during a boat tour along the Monongahela River. Lisa Schroeder, executive director of the Riverlife Task Force, holding microphone, and Bill Widdows, of the Regional Industrial Development Corp., not pictured, provide details. About 30 directors and staff members were updated on progress and the hurdles yet to be cleared in the project. The Endowments and the McCune, Benedum and Richard King Mellon Foundations pooled funds totaling nearly $10 million to transform the former LTV coke works from polluted brownfield to state-of-the-art, mixed-use development. While the four founda- tions have made it possible for the development process to begin, the property manager role is being assumed by the Regional Industrial Development Corp. That public agency’s staff has been in charge of a search for a developer, now down to several finalists. The amount needed to prepare the site, which also is bordered by the economically depressed city neighborhood of Hazelwood, is about $200 million. Foundation sponsors are likely to make more investments in the project under the agreement that they would recoup their money through the sale of prepared land to a private developer. A master plan for the site includes plans for 1,000 units of new housing, at least 500,000 square feet of office and research space and 50,000 square feet for retail and restaurant operations. The development would include such amenities as a marina, riverfront trail extensions, soccer fields and tennis courts. 371

Economic Development Specialist Joins Endowments Suzanne Walsh, who has spent the past five years coordinating workforce development programs for Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Steve Mellon has joined the Endowments as a program officer in Economic Opportunity. FRANCO HARRIS ELECTED TO While Walsh’s recent career focus has been on economic development, ENDOWMENT’S BOARD she comes to the foundation with varied work experiences. As an attorney Former Pittsburgh Steelers stand-out Franco Harris, specializing in public-interest law, she worked with Oklahoma Indian Legal whose decade-long, pro-football career made him Services to provide legal representation for low-income Native Americans, a household name across the country, and who has and clerked at the Zacchaeus Free Clinic in Washington. Around her formal since made his mark nationally as a successful businessman, has been elected as a director on education, she has done stints as a research consultant in urban planning in the Vira I. Heinz Endowment Board. Cleveland and as a human services caseworker Harris, a New Jersey native, graduated from in Albany, New York. the Pennsylvania State University’s Food Service and In announcing her appointment, Administration program. In his pro-football career as Endowments President Maxwell King said a running back, he led the Steelers to four Super Walsh’s work with more than a dozen nonprofit Bowl victories. In the early 1980s, after retiring from groups around quality-of-life improvement football, he capitalized on his university degree, provides the Economic Opportunity Program creating and distributing all-natural foods. His Super Bakery line of products are served to more than “…with exactly the kind of person needed 75 million consumers, mostly young people, each year. to broaden our strategic thinking about how Much of Harris’ free time in recent years has to get more southwestern Pennsylvanians into better jobs.” Program Director been devoted to community service as a spokesman Brian Kelley said Walsh’s contributions in Cleveland and her connections to and sponsor for charities like the National Multiple successful economic empowerment programs fit into a key grantmaking Sclerosis Society, a leader in African-American strategy at the Endowments. “She has a very personal, front-line understanding empowerment organizations like the Urban League of what is involved for an individual with lower-level skills trying to meet the and as a celebrity volunteer for the Inner-City Games. Responding to Harris’ election, Vira I. Heinz challenges of a demanding new economy,” said Kelley, “and I’m counting on Endowment Chairman James Walton praised his her to help us make much more progress in this area.” quiet style of leadership. “Franco has a special Walsh, who began work in September, said the Endowments’ position is ability to relate to people one-on-one, especially “very much the dream move for someone in my field. What you’re constantly young people. He also has significant business faced with in working in the public sector or in the nonprofit arena is the experience. This is a rare combination and his problem of severe limitations—how to get the job done with not nearly perspectives will be invaluable.” enough. But with this switch to the funders’ side, I have an opportunity to Endowments President Maxwell King predicted offer more resources to programs that I know from my own experience are that Harris will be a key guide for staff in developing strategies to increase economic opportunities for capable of meeting the Economic Opportunity Program’s strategic objectives. African-American families. “But all our grantees will I also have an opportunity to better tailor those objectives to the needs of benefit; this is a leader from the ground up who the region.” believes in this community. He’s respected by policymakers and the general public,” King said. THE HEINZ ENDOWMENTS NONPROFIT ORG

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