Pittsburgh Public Schools staff gather for summer leadership academy

Pittsburgh Public Schools staff are attending a three-day summer leadership academy focused on leadership strategies, equity, and preparing for the district’s facilities plan.

Ava RashPITTSBURGH —

Four hundred Pittsburgh Public Schools staff members are participating in a three-day summer leadership academy to prepare for the upcoming school year.

The event, is themed “Future-Ready, Forward-Focused: Shaping What Comes Next.” The district said the academy is focused on exploring strategies to strengthen instructional leadership, building supportive school environments, advancing equity, and preparing schools to implement the district’s Future Ready Facilities Plan.

Superintendent Dr. Wayne Walters opened the event by addressing the teen takeovers seen this summer.

“Everyone is asking how to stop it. And I’m asking more of how and what can we learn from children, because many movements in our country have been started by young people. And so our job at this time is to find out what it is that reaches them and energizes them and causes them to kind of show up in one place, in one space and be so motivated and feel like they belong,” Walters said.

The academy will conclude on Friday, with the school year officially starting on August 24.