Dystopia

Evolving to “Great Things” by way of Aquatics & PPS Community Schools

from Coach Mark Rauterkus

Mark@Rauterkus.com, 412-298-3432

Feb 18, 2018 version 1.2

August 30, 2018, version 2.0

Contents Part 1: Insights and background – includes a web of expertise and experiences with strength and stumbles throughout my career devoted to education, coaching and sports. Part 2: Proposed transformations – My listing of big and small connections to the PPS experience. Part 3: A slide deck suitable for public delivery – presented in spring 2017 to the newly-hired coordinator of PPS Community Schools, LouAnn Ross. Introduction This is the time to put the slogan, “Expect Great Things!” into practice. I have high hopes that the district's administrators are willing to implement great things in aquatics. I feel attention to the opportunities within swimming and aquatics is overdue. Opening a front within aquatics makes sense at many levels within the over-arching mission. Many of PPS problems can be solved, especially around the swimming pools. But, they need to be addressed. The old ways are failing the district and our kids. What is worse is not even facing the issues, ignoring. Institutional inaction has been a downfall of university presidents, athletic directors and others elsewhere. Today's society, especially around community schools, calls for more communication, not less. Let's meet, talk, discuss and decide rather than delay. Offering game-changing observations, suggestions and solutions. Insights, logic and examples of what to do, and how it should be done, are going to being delivered. Plus, I can lead the charge and actually do the work to guide the process in these areas. These solutions and efforts can revitalize this city and reflect well upon the superintendent and board. Pittsburgh, a water town. Use what we have. PPS owns 15, indoor, school pools that are mostly closed in afternoons, evenings, nights, weekends, holidays, weekends, summers, and early-mornings-before-school days. Yes, many scholar-athletes enjoy and thrive with 6-AM swim practices. Pittsburgh's network of Citiparks pools and other aquatic settings, including the three rivers, are under utilized assets. Aquatic efforts can scale. My aquatic activities have wide appeal. At Summer Dreamers, Swim & Water Polo has always been one of the most popular electives for students. These efforts can touch a majority of the district's students. Families with children at schools-without-pools can benefit too as we make creative use of our aquatic capacity rather than just opening pools to staff for laps. The blueprint of aquatic activities needs to evolve. The dynamic within aquatic programming requires layers of coordination as appeal, commitment and development levels rise through the seasons. Our secret sauce has been delivered and proven. We created transformational programs with amazing results for participants. Prior operations in Pittsburgh have been successful, like pilot programs with limited reach. To include more families as part of PPS Community Schools is a way to replicate what works. Stringing the pearls together. In the recent years, the Swim & Water Polo programs have started-and-stopped, season-to-season throughout the district. The aim is to go to the next level with PPS support. The district can serve as the wire so that the pearls be be strung together, rather than the scattered approach we've been doing. Swim opportunities can sustain themselves in the lives of the participants with ongoing participation and continual registration and suitable income for the host. This change in dynamics allows aquatics to provide consistent activity opportunities for the families and provide organizers, managers and inventors the ability to pay expenses and survive with living wages. Some hurdles and sticking points are identified. We know where problems reside. System-wide issues can be fixed. Then, greater levels of success can follow. (The issues are documented elsewhere.) Launch Aquatics with PPS Community Schools with a professional problem solver. Bold outcomes can flow from this work if proper perspectives and credibility can be established from the hired head coach. I want to make an impact. Bold and credible family of educators. My dad, a retired PPS teacher, taught in elementary grades and worked on the faculty for the years of the PPS Teachers' Center. He ended his career at the PPS Gifted Center. My uncle, sister, and cousins worked for PPS. My grandfather, a Ph.D., founded the Duquesne University School of Music. He lead the PWA orchestra that became the Pittsburgh Symphony. He conducted bands and orchestras for Central Catholic and of the Musicians Union. He pioneered music therapy at VA Hospitals. My wife, a professor at Pitt, leads an academic department and is a director at UPMC. She oversees a dozen clinics, more than 50 employees and similar numbers of graduate students. Catherine received a top honor from Obama Academy from outgoing principal, Dr. Walters, in May 2017. Her efforts provide, gratis, specialized, hearing-protection-for-musicians to teachers and students in PPS upon request. My sons, in PPS from K-to-12, were athletes in multiple sports in various levels from sandlot, scholastic, club, masters and college settings. Grant was an Academic All American with USA Water Polo. Erik set city-records, competed for four years at the PIAA Swim Championships, helped win a city team title, and was PA's Youth Governor. Erik's high school results are still ranked among the top 100 of all-time in WPIAL AA swimming. Erik and his mates hosted a televised mayoral debate at Obama that generated front-page coverage. Erik received $40,000 from The Pittsburgh Promise. His sport's resume garnered him admission to Swarthmore College, once named as the nation's most selective in admissions. Swimming, coaching and sports are my calling. I've worked for 32 different principals and 54 athletic directors. I've coached all around this city in nearly all of its swim pools. I teach about 200 kids how to swim each year. Since 1976, more than 10,000 people have called me coach. I've coached college teams for nine seasons. My swimmers set state records in Massachusetts, Ohio, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. One former swimmers is presently a US Senator. I feel strongly: Our best coaches should be in roles that help at the younger age groups. We must do more professional development for coaches, especially rookie coaches. City-wide contributions go “outside my lane.” I've stood for public office -- mayor, state senator, city council, and city controller. More than 32,200 city voters, 73%, sided with me in a ballot referendum that I championed in November 2017. We changed the city's charter to permit city employees the eligibility to fill part-time roles as sports coaches in PPS. I was appointed to a committee that crafted our city's campaign-finance reform laws. I filed the first two complaints with the city's ethics hearing board. I often raise concerns and speak at public comment. Pittsburgh Public Schools I have lead activities at every Summer Dreamers Academy except in 2018 when I opted for a sabatical. I assisted with PPS' Take-A-Father-To-School-Day from its outset. Every year I coached a PPS varsity swim team, swimmers have gone to the PIAA Championships. Often, my swimmers are the only representative at that level from PPS. I've coached WPIAL champions and WPIAL record breakers, one from the city, the first and only in the history of PPS from any sport with those honors. I coached the first PPS team to win a WPIAL Section Title. In the 2017-18 season, our PPS student, Noah Jamison, class of 2019, earned the #1 ranking in the 500 free. My former swimmers have gone on to compete at more than 40-different colleges. In Spring 2017, my guidance helped to secure a girl swimmer college admission with a swim scholarship to an out-of-state, DII, university. When coaching at Plum High School, (1991-93) the team improved to second-place at the WPIAL Championships. This delivered more than $200,000 in scholarship values within that community. I feel strongly: Robust aquatics programs can generate quarter-million-dollars per year in college aid. Championship athletes often have much better options when facing long-term decisions. PPS student outcomes in scholarships and scholastic advancements could be greater than the sum of those received as a result of The Pittsburgh Promise if greater efforts and energies flowed into a revamped system of year-round, quality, sports participation. Being Promise Ready is nice. However, being recruited as a NCAA-student-athlete is better. Of course, both should be part of the new status quo. Colleges and universities reach out to accomplished high-school students, pay scholarships (for some or all expenses), and offer support, mentoring, coaching and tutoring when on campus. Sadly, few offers are materializing for the PPS student-athletes. Sadly, our kids are being overlooked and under-prepared for collegiate sports. This should and could change. The under-realized potential within sports that can be leveraged to benefit our students and communities. Dystopian sports example from PPS: Two female swimmers, class of 2018, were 4-year athletes for PPS in two different sports. So, they participated in eight high-school sports seasons. Every season, every team was coached by a different persons. They had eight different coaches. It is not fair for the girls, or anyone, to have revolving-door coaching. The 2017-18 Allderdice swim team experienced its third set of coaches in as many years. Neither of the varsity swim coaches for the Brashear are returning for the 2018-19 season. The positions were posted and no applicants appeared. Both positions are vacant as of September 1, 2018. An aquatic overhaul I envision would reduce frustrations among coaches by offering more coordination, support and vitality. Let's retain successful, long-term coaches, not oust, not ignore, nor churn the coaches. Playing well with our children does not need to be expensive. Sports participation investments are affordable. A fraction of the PPS rainy-day fund could subsidize city-wide swimming and water polo – and SKWIM – for a decade. Besides chess, aquatics could be the most inexpensive activity, especially because the swim pool assets mostly sit idle. Leadership, political will, access, support and keen oversight – planning sweat – is part of this call to action. To conceive, believe, achieve – takes mind-power, effort, energy and ongoing communication more than money. Of course, the older kids and their families won't be immediately devoted to training for the next open-water 10k swim. However, with our game play and thoughtful integration and alignment with curriculum, we can create and sustain motivation among our community. We parent well. Sports excite our youth. Pittsburgh supports and cheers for the efforts of champions. In future years, these extra aquatic programs can be made to pull-their-own-weight in terms of finances. Kids on swim teams get jobs. Swim pools can boost the local economy, if they can be opened. Having operational swim pools without programs is like burning candles and putting them under baskets. My largest summer-time staff in Pittsburgh, a few years ago, included 35 employees, mostly high school and college students. Locally, regionally and nationally, there is a shortage of lifeguards. We could provide guards to New Jersey beaches and Disney-owned water parks in Orlando, Florida, if desired. Lifeguard classes as part of my Saturday Swim School at Oliver High School certified more than 100 lifeguards in the spring of 2018. Meanwhile, in the fall of 2017, the swim season began with four coaches at Obama and I was the lone coach with lifeguard certifications. PPS has hired swim coaches that must be accompanied with lifeguards because the swim coach isn't certified. Tasks call for an entrepreneur with outreach experiences. Lesson plans, digital badges, and content tools at Play.CLOH.org, SKWIM.us and elsewhere speak to my abilities for delivering handbooks, newsletters and resources to engage coaches, swimmers and families in a dynamic system of events and challenges. In the fall of 2017, I co-authored a journal article for the Australian Swim Instructors. I'm authoring a suite of electronic books for release in 2018. Back in 1989, I published the first ebook in sports – any sport. I owned and operated and independent press that published 100+ titles for cutting-edge, sports participants. Back in the day, I released more pages of aquatics content than any other publisher in the world. My best title, US Tactical Water Polo by Monte Nitzkowski, a 5-time Olympic coach, was called the best book ever in its sport. I work with many nonprofit organizations. The Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation sponsors Swim & Water Polo.Since 2016, I've been the head swim instructor at The Pittsburgh Project. In January 2018, I became the first executive director of a nonprofit, SKWIMUSA.org. Its founder and inventor is from Seattle. We have a commercial outlet with a business in Florida, eLifeguard.com. My assistance teaching the staff at Mount Ararat's summer camp got their students back into the pool at the end of summer to play SKWIM. Since June 2018, my new water polo and SKWIM outreach programs took me to eight different country club / summer teams, allow me to lead 25 swim sessions at Citipark pools, and is slated for regularly scheduled programs at South Park, Chartiers Valley, Mt. Lebanon and Moon. PPS Permit plans are nearly finalized for Allegheny (Tuesdays), Perry (Thursdays), Westinghouse (Fridays) and Oliver (Saturdays) too. Global leadership In January 2018, I gave two presentations to the Pacific Swim Coaches Clinic in Napa, California. I do business consulting and worked for a high-tech swim company in Australia, Autocoach. at their exhibitor's booth at World Swim Coaches Clinic in September 2017, and in 2015. In September 2018's World Clinic I'm assisting a friend with his trade show booth, CompetitiveSwimmer.com, that features two different strength training devices. I coached in New Zealand, Canada, China, Hong Kong, and UAE. I attended four coaching clinics last school year, billing $0 to PPS. I continually interact with coaches from eastern Tennessee to Ecuador via social media and distance mentoring. Pioneers gets arrows in their backs. Life has ups and downs. Blow-back is real for whistle-blowers. Some low-points are noteworthy. Fore! A teacher and golf coach at Obama won't speak to me because I told the PPS Board, and published the remarks, that Obama's golf squad had no participants at two city-league championships (2015, 2016) and the team (2016) shrunk to a single golfer. In the same weeks, fall 2016, I had 35-kids in middle-grades playing water polo three times a week at Obama. PPS doesn't own a golf course, but the school has its own swim pool. I understand that gains with one sport at an expense of another sport is not a real victory. PPS could, and should, sponsor boys and girls, fall, varsity and middle-school water polo teams, with full squads. Brashear and Perry are both suitable venues. I've been told that a switch of support from golf to water polo can't occur because of the existing teachers' contract. Water polo isn't in the contract, but golf is. I coached Obama's golf team for two seasons (2013, 2014). We had a dozen players then, a robust schedule and full squads at championships. I know that job and walked in that role. Making sports work in PPS is difficult. Update: To the credit of coach of the golf team, in fall 2017, “his team” was larger. I'm sure conversations have been twisted in ways to offend Mr. Gavlik. Sadly, a City Councilwomen slipped and spoke of a “coaches-shortage” in statement to the press with the 2017 efforts to widen the pool of available part-time candidates by including city workers. City workers are the second largest group of employees in the region. “No shortage exists,” he said. I've called for a re-formation of the Athletic Reform Task Force. Mr. Gavlik has been opposed. I called for coaches, especially in swimming, to be removed from the PFT contract. He is opposed. So too is the PFT. More often than not, I salute the work done by PPS Athletics. It is tireless work, especially when working for past superintendents such as Linda Lane and Mark Roosevelt. Neither, in my opinion, valued sports. No surprise, the PFT frowns upon any proposed reduction in the scope of the teachers' contract concerning coaches. Dr. John Thompson, former PPS superintendent, did make the pledge that coaches would be removed from future PFT contracts, but that never came to pass. Four heads. In fall 2017, I objected to the re-hiring of a problem swim coach foisted into Obama swimming as the girls varsity swim coach. Documenting, sharing and highlighting dozens of ills of another isn't pleasant, but it had to be done. The end results are unsatisfactory on multiple levels. She quit. Then was re-hired. Over my objections she was dismissed. Then she returned to coach the middle school swimmers. My problems with former Principal Walters and in 2017-18 with Principal Colbert have been raised to administrators and the BOE on occasion. Frustrations mount, especially because there has never been a hint at any justifications. Safety, success and scholarship among our participants have been delivered for a decade and nobody can figure out why there are bureaucratic battles. To what end? It is absurd for a first-year principal say, “Mr. Rauterkus, 'Stay in your lane.' – the day after more then 32,000 voters in the city agreed with ballot resolution that removed a serious hurdle for coaching in PPS. These are crazy times in sports and in society: Sandusky at Penn State, Nassir at MSU. #Me too, doping, etc. These institutional challenges trumpet the need is for more transparency and more communication, not less. WE NEED TO MEET. Choosing to not meet makes for far more serious problems. Due process is a hope. Lingering pickles with principals stink. Time-lines are needed. It is hard, if not impossible, to address systemic problems when the boy swimmers at Obama were denied their coach for the end-of-season championship meets, and others did nothing. My exit was underway at Obama Life is too short and the pay is too small to work without being appreciated. Sports are games about time, space and relationships. Relationships are important. Games of personal drama are not important. Even after this transition, I am here to stay. I have other jobs. Other challenges and opportunities are present. Pittsburgh's aquatics can become a model. Buzz and success generally generate interest from others. Helping to guide other districts with the implementation of these programs benefits city students as well. Our kids can reap dividends into the future with new competitive opportunities and early access to shared utilities. Performance. Existing facilities. Community schools. Expecting Great Things – or not? Your move.