After more than a month, a window broken out of the south stairwell of the tier garage in Butler still has not been replaced.

The large broken window, with glass shards still stuck in the frame, suggests that the Butler Parking Authority doesn't know about the problem or doesn't care. The authority certainly appears to be in no hurry to replace the window.

Those who walk up and down the stairs of the tier garage to upper level parking spots not only notice the lack of work to replace the broken window, but they also notice dirty stairways and window sills and rusting metal. On the plus side, there is not much litter in the stairwell.

The authority, by its inaction, gives the impression that nobody in that organization is paying attention — or that they just don't care that the condition of the tier garage sends a not-very-positive message about Butler.

There is no excuse for the window not being replaced by now or at least some evidence that the authority is aware of the problem — by putting warning tape or plywood over the empty window frame.

The apparent neglect in failing to promptly replace the broken window gives the impression that the Butler Parking Authority, and by implication, the City of Butler, doesn't care.

That's not the message Butler should be sending.

The motto of the Boy Scouts of America is “be prepared,” and Scouts often talk about learning for life.By offering Scouts a new badge in welding, the Boy Scouts is accomplishing both goals. The organization is also showing a practical approach to providing Scouts with real life skills, including skills that could lead to a well-paying job.Scouts can earn a badge in welding in about 12 hours after book learning featuring safety procedures and welding techniques. The new welding program is so popular that the Boy Scouts have handed out every one of the 11,000 booklets produced in the first printing.The need for welders is real and partly tied to demographics. The American Welding Society reports that the average age of the 450,000 welders in the United States today is 55. Only 20 percent of welders are under 35.And in addition to replacing retiring welders over the next decade, the ongoing boom in the natural gas extraction industry has created many more jobs for welders, primarily on gas transmission pipelines.Scouts learning the basics of welding for their badge might have a leg up on applicants for technical schools teaching welding. And they could be well on their way to a career in welding, a job that pays $45,000 — or $100,000 for a welding engineer, which requires an advanced degree.

Despite the Pittsburgh Public Schools participating in a teacher evaluation program for the past few years, the teachers union rejected a request from the school district to consider teacher effectiveness when making layoff decisions.Instead of considering teacher effectiveness when issuing layoff notices, Pittsburgh Public Schools will follow the union-mandated last-hired, first-fired policy. It’s a policy that protects ineffective teachers and harms students.The Pittsburgh Public Schools face a $29 million budget deficit and last week it was announced that 285 people, including teachers and other professionals, would be receiving furlough notices. The district employs 2,245 teachers and other professionals.Union contracts in Pittsburgh’s public schools, like other school districts, require seniority to be the primary consideration when making layoff decisions. It’s an outdated and counterproductive policy.Intended to prevent school administrators from descriminating against individual teachers for personal or political reasons, seniority rules once served a reasonable purpose. But now, they have outlived their usefulness.While there should be protections against arbitrary layoffs, it makes no sense to fire highly effective, but younger teachers while allowing older teachers, who might be less effective and coasting to retirement, to remain on the staff.Students suffer from the mindless last-hired, first-fired policies.School districts should be allowed to consider a teacher’s effectiveness when deciding where budget-dictated staff reductions must be made.Pittsburgh’s public schools have been part of a pilot program to evaluate teachers, funded in part by a grant from the Gates Foundation. For that reason, the district is well-positioned to end the seniority-based furlough policy, since teacher evaluations are in place.Schools should be allowed to retain their best teachers, no matter their age or years of teaching experience. Instead, the teacher unions force school districts to fire some of their best and most-effective teachers, while keeping some of the deadwood.For public schools to improve, that policy must change.