PublicSource | News for a better Pittsburgh (https://www.publicsource.org/author/mary-niederberger/page/2/)
Mary Niederberger is a longtime Pittsburgh-area journalist who started her career with a decade at The Pittsburgh Press. After freelancing and teaching at local universities for several years, she joined the staff of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where she spent 18 years covering community news, general assignment and education. Her work has taken her to nearly every community in Pittsburgh and the surrounding area, and her stories in recent years have focused on education issues, specifically under-resourced schools and the students they serve. She received the Golden Quill Award for education coverage from the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania in 2014, 2015 and 2016. She is also the recipient of the Robert L. Vann Award of Excellence for investigative/enterprise reporting from the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation in 2011 and 2015. Also in 2015, Mary and a colleague from the Post-Gazette received first place in the Pennsylvania Society of of Professional Journalist Spotlight Awards for their coverage of the ghost job held by the state's special adviser on higher education. Mary holds a bachelor's degree from Duquesne University and is a lifelong Pittsburgh-area resident.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education has launched a new system for measuring academic progress and college and career readiness in the state’s about 3,000 schools.
In Pittsburgh Public Schools, suspensions dropped, more students reached third-grade reading proficiency and college completion rates exceeded the national average. But the good news is not enjoyed equally by black and white students in the district.
Both Robert Bowers, who killed 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, and George Sodini, who killed three women and himself at the Collier Township LA Fitness in 2009, attended Baldwin High School. People who study mass shooters say their shared school is a likely coincidence — the men were 10 years apart — but there are other more meaningful markers they share.
“To think that that attack happened because of that, because they were welcoming refugees...”
A number of school district superintendents across Allegheny County posted messages of condolences on district websites, sent email blasts letting families know that counselors were available and outlining resources for helping children with anxiety in the shooting’s aftermath.
The suspect in the shooting deaths of 11 Jewish worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill on Saturday made a reference in social media posts to HIAS as an organization that “likes to bring invaders in that kill our people.”
The campaign to create the Allegheny County Children's Fund has received more than $1 million in donations from 10 local organizations. Campaign organizers have spent most of it, primarily on advertising, consulting and voter outreach, according to a campaign finance report filed Friday afternoon.
Pittsburgh Public Schools Chief of Safety George Brown Jr., who was in favor of the controversial proposal to arm his force, said after the meeting: “Let’s pray nothing happens.”
A public hearing was held at the Pittsburgh Public Schools Building after the district’s Chief of School Safety requested to arm officers earlier this month.
Three Allegheny County nonprofits have poured $355,000 in cash and nearly $72,000 in in-kind services into a campaign urging voters to approve a ballot referendum on Nov. 6 that would raise $18 million in tax revenue for children’s programs.
