{"id":315039,"date":"2026-10-27T04:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T04:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/315039\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T04:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T04:32:08","slug":"pps-families-push-back-on-school-closure-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/315039\/","title":{"rendered":"PPS families push back on school closure plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Jordan<\/a>PITTSBURGH \u2014<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

In May, the board voted 6-2 to close 12 schools and nine facilities<\/a> as part of the Future-Ready Facilities Plan. <\/p>\n

Miller African-Centered Academy in Pittsburgh\u2019s Hill District neighborhood will close at the end of this school year, as a result. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re literally down the street. I can literally walk,\u201d said Miller alum Kayla Johnson, who has a daughter in kindergarten at Miller. <\/p>\n

When the school closes, Johnson\u2019s daughter and other students from the Upper Hill will attend Liberty in Shadyside. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo, she’s going to automatically have to get bussed, you know, to and from,\u201d Johnson told Pittsburgh\u2019s Action News 4 Reporter Jordan Cioppa. \u201cPlus, I work too, so that’s going to be a real adjustment.\u201d<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

\u201cMiller’s population of black and poor students should not have to shoulder the greater burden of balancing the budget,\u201d said Sarah Martin. <\/p>\n

\u201cMiller’s history is rooted in that of black Pittsburghers who drove to educate their children when equal opportunity was denied to them,\u201d said Tim Stevens of the Black Political Empowerment Project. <\/p>\n

When asked if the decision to close Miller will be reconsidered, PPS Superintendent Dr. Wayne Walters answered, \u201cI don\u2019t know. That\u2019s up to the board.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor 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,\u201d Walters said. \u201cWe\u2019re open to hearing those conversations and that feedback, and we receive them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Families from other impacted schools voiced their concerns too. <\/p>\n

Sonja Wimer\u2019s son is a student at Allegheny Traditional Academy, a magnet school on Pittsburgh\u2019s North Side.<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

In the letter, Allegheny K-5 is designated as a \u201cclosure.\u201d It states the employees will be displaced, adding that they will have priority to transfer into vacancies at King. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen 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,\u201d Wimer said. \u201cNow that that has all come out, Allegheny families are planning to leave the district.\u201d<\/p>\n

PPS will host a series of \u201cFuture-Ready Transition Update Sessions\u201d on the following dates from 5:30-7:30 p.m. <\/p>\n

Oct. 27 \u2013 Pittsburgh SciTech Academy at 107 Thackeray Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213<\/p>\n

Oct. 29 \u2013 Pittsburgh Carmalt at 1550 Breining St., Pittsburgh, PA 15234<\/p>\n

Nov. 5 \u2013 Pittsburgh Allegheny at 810 Arch St., Pittsburgh, PA 15212<\/p>\n

Nov. 19 \u2013 Pittsburgh Langley at 2940 Sheraden Blvd., Pittsburgh, PA 15204<\/p>\n

Nov. 30 \u2013 Pittsburgh Faison at 7430 Tioga St., Pittsburgh, PA 15208.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 Pittsburgh Public School parents and taxpayers called for the Board of Directors to reconsider part of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-315039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}