PITTSBURGH —
Pittsburgh Public School parents and taxpayers called for the Board of Directors to reconsider part of the plan to close several schools, months after the historic decision.
In May, the board voted 6-2 to close 12 schools and nine facilities as part of the Future-Ready Facilities Plan.
Miller African-Centered Academy in Pittsburgh’s Hill District neighborhood will close at the end of this school year, as a result.
“We’re literally down the street. I can literally walk,” said Miller alum Kayla Johnson, who has a daughter in kindergarten at Miller.
When the school closes, Johnson’s daughter and other students from the Upper Hill will attend Liberty in Shadyside.
“So, she’s going to automatically have to get bussed, you know, to and from,” Johnson told Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 Reporter Jordan Cioppa. “Plus, I work too, so that’s going to be a real adjustment.”
Johnson was one of at least a dozen people who urged the board to save the elementary school during a public hearing on Monday night.
“Miller’s population of black and poor students should not have to shoulder the greater burden of balancing the budget,” said Sarah Martin.
“Miller’s history is rooted in that of black Pittsburghers who drove to educate their children when equal opportunity was denied to them,” said Tim Stevens of the Black Political Empowerment Project.
When asked if the decision to close Miller will be reconsidered, PPS Superintendent Dr. Wayne Walters answered, “I don’t know. That’s up to the board.”
“For us as a school district, we have some significant challenges, and we’ve outlined those. But we understand that, you know, everyone does not agree with the change in the district,” Walters said. “We’re open to hearing those conversations and that feedback, and we receive them.”
Families from other impacted schools voiced their concerns too.
Sonja Wimer’s son is a student at Allegheny Traditional Academy, a magnet school on Pittsburgh’s North Side.
The district said the school would move into the King building, but Wimer said she believes families were misled, based on a letter of agreement between the board and the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers Local 400, American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO Teachers, and other Professional Employees Unit and Paraprofessionals Unit.
In the letter, Allegheny K-5 is designated as a “closure.” It states the employees will be displaced, adding that they will have priority to transfer into vacancies at King.
“When the president of the federation spoke to Allegheny teachers, he acknowledged that the plan was meant for the public, not the teachers, and that the ugly truth is that the plan to change the name at King was really to reduce the stigma to prevent Allegheny families from leaving the district,” Wimer said. “Now that that has all come out, Allegheny families are planning to leave the district.”
PPS will host a series of “Future-Ready Transition Update Sessions” on the following dates from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Oct. 27 – Pittsburgh SciTech Academy at 107 Thackeray Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Oct. 29 – Pittsburgh Carmalt at 1550 Breining St., Pittsburgh, PA 15234
Nov. 5 – Pittsburgh Allegheny at 810 Arch St., Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Nov. 19 – Pittsburgh Langley at 2940 Sheraden Blvd., Pittsburgh, PA 15204
Nov. 30 – Pittsburgh Faison at 7430 Tioga St., Pittsburgh, PA 15208.