Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) is expected to vote tonight on a plan which would close 12 schools and nine buildings, consolidate many more, phase out elementary-level magnet programs and create many programmatic changes.
Last night the sidewalk outside the district’s administration building echoed with chants of “Save our schools” as dozens of students, parents and community members gathered to rally against the district’s plan to close and consolidate schools.
The rally was organized by advocacy group 412 Justice, and was followed by a public hearing at which more than 90 speakers had signed up to discuss the Future-Ready Facilities Plan.
“Do not go with this flawed plan,” said 412 Justice Special Education Organizer Paulette Foster. “Do not go with the instrumental information that has been given to you that makes no sense to those who are impacted by these decisions.”
School buildings slated to close:
Manchester K-8, Montessori K-5 (Friendship) building, Schiller 6-8, Fulton PreK-5, Woolslair PreK-5, Miller K-5, Morrow Primary building, Spring Hill K-5, Student Achievement Center.
Schools slated to close:
Allegheny 6-8, Manchester PreK-8, Spring Hill K-5, King PreK-8, Arsenal PreK-5, Fulton PreK-5, Linden PreK-5, Miller PreK-5, Milliones 6-12, Woolslair PreK-5, South Brook 6-8 and South Hills 6-8.
Morrow’s K-5 program would be housed in the secondary building, whereas Schiller would move to Allegheny Traditional Academy and the Montessori program would be relocated to the Linden building.
The district’s total number of schools would drop from 57 to 45.
District leaders put the plan back on the table in January after it was voted down last November, following fierce backlash. The plan was in the works for over two years. Here’s a rough timeline of the plan’s making.
Delivering on equity?
Some former supporters of the plan say they are now concerned about how PPS will be able to deliver on its promises of creating equity and improving resources for all students.
These include Black Women for a Better Education (BW4BE) and A+ Schools, which sent a letter to the board last November requesting that they delay the vote.
Allyce Pinchback-Johnson, founder of BW4BE, remains unconvinced.
“We had made some recommendations around centering academics and the plan, because there’s a lot of talk about culture, and it feels like the district really divorces school culture from academics, which is concerning for us, especially given the academic outcomes in PPS,” she said in an interview.
Since November, she said, BW4BE has raised concerns about the lack of a concrete academic plan, the district’s capacity to implement a plan of this magnitude, the lack of collaboration with the city or other government entities and the plan’s inability to save the district money.
Per the district’s forecast, the plan will save PPS money, though it will still end up with an operating deficit by the end of 2028.
Several local advocacy groups including BW4BE, Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network (PIIN), 412 Justice, Education Rights Network, Pittsburgh Local Task Force on the Right to Education, Pittsburghers for Public Transit and Parent-Teacher Associations at Fulton, Mifflin, Woolslair and Allegheny Traditional Academy, wrote a letter to the board last week urging the board to vote against the plan.
The letter outlined several issues they think the administration has overlooked in developing the plan and included calls for action to address some of those issues, such as:
- Collaboration with city and county officials to form a plan based on population, educational, housing and employment trends
- Sharing specifics about how marginalized students will benefit from the expanded offerings and grade reconfigurations
- Hiring a deputy and assistant superintendents in the next few months and allowing them to work alongside PPS staff, parents and students to strengthen the plan.
The organizations also received support from Allegheny County Council Member Jordan Botta, who wrote a letter to the board saying he was concerned about the scale of the plan, which would move thousands of students into new schools and disrupt long-standing community anchors.
“The closure of majority-Black schools without a transparent, community-driven and equity-focused process risks causing lasting harm to students, families, and neighborhoods that have already faced generations of disinvestments,” the letter said.
More criticism, little support
During Tuesday’s public hearing, most students and parents spoke against closures affecting them, including Miller and Woolslair.
Nina Lousie and her mother Vannessa Dagavarian have been advocating to keep Woolslair open for two years.
Nina wanted to keep her school open because she liked smaller class sizes. Under the new plan, smaller schools will see an influx of students coming from other closed or reconfigured schools.
“I get distracted easy. Large classrooms seem scary,” she said. “Please don’t close my school.”
Parent and PIIN member Holly Cox questioned the lack of conversation around community schools in the plan. She said the Future-Ready Plan does not address whether students being moved away from community schools would continue to receive services in their new schools.
“The Department of Human Services in Pittsburgh has seen a large increase in requests for help with basic goods, in-home support, and behavioral health programs for youth; these are gaps that community schools help to fill,” she said, adding that parents in schools like Miller that provide wraparound services would face a huge loss.
Some community members spoke in support of Miller, saying it was a safe space and an anchor in the Hill District, a community which has experienced generations of displacement and disinvestment.
Sauntee Turner, government relations liaison for the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh, said the elimination of the only African-centric school in the district would be a devastating blow to the hard work put into the ongoing redevelopment of Bedford Avenue, the Middle Hill and the Greater Hill District.
“We recognize that by having a neighborhood school nearby, parents have peace of mind and children have consistency, support, and a sense of belonging,” she said.
Marimba Milliones, president of the Hill Community Development Corporation, said nearby elementary schools would struggle to absorb Miller’s students and argued that the school should stay open because the district’s enrollment projections do not reflect an increase in neighborhood population over the next few years through the Choice Neighborhoods program.
Few community members spoke in support of school closures.
A+ Schools executive director James Fogarty said the plan will help address the district’s staffing shortage in neighborhood schools and replicate successful programs in all schools.
“The Future Ready plan takes what’s working in pockets of this district and makes it standard for every neighborhood,” he said.
Jason Boll, a district parent and teacher at Perry High School, said while he was nervous about consolidating middle schools on the North Side into one, it might ultimately benefit students.
“A no vote feels like a continuation of what we already know, which is budget challenges, unfilled positions, declining morale and communities growing more discouraged,” he said.
Board wants transparency
Some board members called for greater transparency during a board meeting last week.
Board member Yael Silk asked that the district provide quarterly updates about the implementation to the board and add additional details presented last month to the implementation plan.
“There have been lots of questions, both from board members and also from community members, and the answer has often been those answers will come once we’re in the implementation phase,” she said. “So I also see this as a clear promise to the community that, should this resolution pass, that we as a board will have a process in place for regular updates.”
Board member Emma Yourd suggested forming an ad hoc committee to manage and schedule those quarterly meetings and communicate updates to the public.
Board member Devon Taliaferro expressed concerns about a lack of transparency surrounding the district’s plans for vacant buildings. She worried that those buildings could become charter schools if PPS was not intentional about their plans.
“We’ve had some conversations, we’ve had some decisions, but the plan that we’re voting on next week looks much like the same plan that we voted on in November, and to me that still sits as a concern with me,” she said.
Taliaferro, who has been one of the most vocal critics on the board, added that while additional details were helpful, they might not be enough to change her vote.
Board President Gene Walker sent an email to community members yesterday, saying if the plan is approved, it will begin a long-term process and collaboration among stakeholders, and its implementation will require continued transparency, accountability, community engagement and refinement over time.
“I believe there is also broad recognition that maintaining the status quo is not sustainable for students over the long term,” he said in the letter. “Too many students still do not have consistent access to the opportunities, experiences and learning environments they deserve.”
Lajja Mistry is the K-12 education reporter at Pittsburgh’s Public Source. She can be reached at lajja@publicsource.org.
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