Community members make final pleas to Pittsburgh Public Schools board over potential school closures
Parents, students, and community members attended a public hearing on Monday night, making their final pleas in asking Pittsburgh Public Schools board members not to close several school buildings.
The district has been working with a consulting firm to find solutions for declining enrollment. Last fall, the firm recommended closing 14 schools, changing the grade configuration of 12 schools, and relocating another three.
Family members previously said that the proposed plans to close schools would completely transform the future of the district.
At Monday night's public hearing, students, parents, teachers, and others were invited to the district's administration building in Oakland to voice their concerns for a final time.
"I understand that changes need to be made," said David Haden, a 4th grade student from Pittsburgh Woolslair PreK-5."There isn't enough students to fill our schools. I understand more than you think. Are my schoolmates are not deserving of the time and effort to make your plan for our future work? Are me and our schoolmates not deserving of a seat at the table where our future is discussed?"
The school board is set to vote on Wednesday to start the process of closing schools and open a state-required public comment period.
Which Pittsburgh Public Schools buildings are slated to close?
The district's leadership team said they will support transitioning six K-8 schools to K-5 models: Brookline, Greenfield, Langley, Mifflin, Morrow, and Sunnyside. They also support converting three PreK-8 schools into dedicated 6-8 middle schools: Arlington, Carmalt, and Colfax. Three 6-12 schools will be shifted to 9-12 high schools: Westinghouse, Obama, and SciTech.
Two schools, Obama and Arsenal, will also expand their international baccalaureate middle years programs and the additional space can be used for resources such as tutoring, mental health services, after-school programs, and other community partnerships.
Allegheny PreK-5, Dilworth PreK-5, and Liberty PreK-5 will also be transitioned from full magnet programs to neighborhood schools.
CAPA and Montessori will also become full magnet schools, but the district's plan said that further exploration is needed to "assess the feasibility of operating CAPA as two separate schools within the same facility."
As a result of declining enrollment and other factors, the report also recommends closing 14 schools and 10 facilities. They include: Allegheny 6-8, Arsenal PreK-5, Fulton PreK-5, King PreK-8, Linden PreK-5, Manchester PreK-8, Miller PreK-5, Milliones 6-12, Schiller 6-8, Spring Hill K-5, Woolslair PreK-5, Roosevelt K-5, South Brook 6-8, and South Hills 6-8.
Finally, the leadership team issued support for the creation of three new schools - a neighborhood middle school STEM pathway at the Manchester facility, a new SciTech middle school at the Milliones facility, and a new PreK-5 school at Northview.
