The parents of five Pittsburgh Public Schools students filed a complaint with Pennsylvania\u2019s top civil rights agency on Tuesday, alleging that the district\u2019s impending school closures unlawfully discriminate against Black students.<\/p>\n
The families bringing the complaint are enrolled at Manchester PreK-8<\/a> on the North Side, Miller African-Centered Academy<\/a> in the Hill District and Woolslair PreK-5<\/a> in Bloomfield. All three schools are slated to close in June 2027 under the sweeping facilities plan city school board members approved this spring<\/a>.<\/p>\n Adaku Onyeka-Crawford, an attorney with the Washington-based Advancement Project representing the complainants, said she hopes the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC) will investigate the school closures and issue a preliminary injunction that prevents them from moving forward.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough we are representing five named clients, this will have an impact on students writ large, particularly Black students,\u201d Onyeka-Crawford told WESA.<\/p>\n For many PPS families and staff, the school board\u2019s decision to close schools last month has set off a period of grief and transition.<\/p>\n The complaint alleges that the closure plan disproportionately burdens Black students. According to a data analysis by 412 Justice and the Education Rights Network \u2014 two advocacy groups supporting the complainants \u2014 Black students make up 62% of students whose schools will close next year, even though they made up only 49% of students enrolled at PPS during the 2025-2026 school year.<\/p>\n In May, school board members voted 6-2 to move forward with the facilities plan after nearly three years of deliberation. Much of that time was spent discussing each school\u2019s utilization rate<\/a>, or the number of students enrolled divided by the school\u2019s total capacity.<\/p>\n According to the district\u2019s calculations, Manchester and Miller are only about 30% and 43% full, respectively. Woolslair\u2019s utilization rate is 70%. PPS administrators say they\u2019d like to see a utilization of 75% to 85% at each school.<\/p>\n But the complainants argue that these measures are neither reliable nor neutral, and instead reflect the district\u2019s failure to adequately resource its schools and retain families.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you starve certain schools of resources, and those schools are Black schools, then enrollment is going to decline as families seek other opportunities,\u201d Onyeka-Crawford said. \u201cAnd then you have the underutilization that is then used to close more schools. And it is just this vicious cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEven facially neutral policies, if they have a discriminatory impact, are illegal under state and also federal civil rights law,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the first time advocates have asked the PHRC to investigate alleged discrimination at PPS. In 1992, parents with Advocates for African American Students in the Pittsburgh Public Schools filed a complaint<\/a> alleging that the district violated the state\u2019s human relations act, citing excessive discipline for Black students and their exclusion from special programs and opportunities.<\/p>\n