14 Pittsburgh Public schools picked to close in final recommendations for controversial plan

By Megan Tomasic / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Fourteen Pittsburgh Public schools would close and 12 others would see grade reconfigurations based on final recommendations presented Tuesday for a controversial school closure plan.

The recommendations by Massachusetts-based education consulting firm Education Resource Strategies made significant changes to an August preliminary plan, which called for closing 16 schools and reconfiguring grade structures at 14 others. The changes were based on input received during weeks of public input sessions where community members heavily questioned which data was used to make decisions and why certain schools were slated for closure.

Release of final recommendations now puts the process back in the hands of Pittsburgh Public administrators and school directors who are tasked with deciding how they will proceed.

“What I think was most important between the first proposal and this one is it feels like our community was listened to, heard and taken into account. … You should be applauded for the amount of time you spent kind of really listening to the people in our communities,” school board President Gene Walker said. “And that listening will continue … because there are still so many decisions to be made.”

In all, the recommendations would close 14 schools across the district, some of which would be repurposed to house different grade levels. It would streamline the grade structures at 12 schools to follow a PreK-5 and 6-8 model rather than having PreK-8 and 6-12 schools. And it would phase out five full magnet schools and two partial magnets into neighboring schools.

The recommendations were based on several factors including low and declining enrollments, building capacity, school locations, historically marginalized communities, facility assessments, prior school closures, programs for special populations and community feedback.

And this presentation included data on transportation — specifically how the scenarios impact the percentage of students located within their walk zones — and possible funding implications.

Here are how the final recommendations would look across the city:

North

As things currently stand, the northern region of Pittsburgh currently has eight schools. Under the recommendations, that would change to five.

To do that, King PreK-8, Schiller 6-8 and Spring Hill K-5 would close. Allegheny 6-8 would also close, but Allegheny PreK-5 would remain in the building. A new PreK-5 school would open at the previously closed Northview school, which would require major renovations.

Similarly, Manchester PreK-8 would be converted into a 6-8 building, which would undergo major renovations. That’s a change from the preliminary recommendations, which called for CAPA 6-8 students to move into the Manchester building. The proposal received swift pushback from the community and board who raised questions about equity.

“We know there are some charters in that area and some other schools, and we believe that by establishing a strong 6-8 in a brand new or fully renovated building could attract families back to the district,” Angela King Smith, an ERS partner, said.

The plan also calls for the opening of three English as a second language centers in Northview K-5, Manchester 6-8 and Perry 9-12. In addition, a STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — pathway would be developed in Manchester 6-8 and Perry 9-12.

South and west

The south and west regions include schools feeding Brashear and Carrick 9-12.

A major change from the preliminary plan calls for Carrick to stay open. In the original plan, Carrick was slated to close and be converted into a career and technical center.

“After close examination, hearing from the students and the community and reviewing additional information, we decided to change our recommendation for this area,” Ms. Smith said. “So we are not closing Carrick High School.”

Under the proposal, Grandview PreK-5, Concord PreK-8 — which would have an ESL center — and West Liberty PreK-5 would be aligned to Carrick High School. South Brook 6-8 would close. Pittsburgh Conroy will move into the building and Arlington PreK-8 would become a 6-8 school with focus on specialized programming.

Roosevelt PreK-5 in the intermediate building would close, but the early childhood program would stay open in the primary building. The Student Achievement Center would also move into the building.

Brashear would have two feeder middle schools, Classical and Carmalt, which is currently a PreK-8. Magnets at those schools would change to neighborhood magnets, meaning it will serve students who live within the neighborhood school attendance zone.

South Hills 6-8 would close. 

Under that plan, 10 schools would be in the feeder based on several changes.

Four ESL regional locations would be added to Banksville K-5, Beechwood PreK-5, Carmalt 6-8 and Brashear 9-12.

East and central

The east and central regions include schools feeding Allderdice, Obama, Westinghouse and Milliones.

The Allderdice feeder focuses heavily on grade reconfigurations.

Under that plan, Colfax K-8 would be converted into a 6-8 school. K-5 students from Colfax would attend either Greenfield PreK-8 — which along with Mifflin PreK-8 would be converted to PreK-5 schools — Liberty K-5 or Minadeo PreK-5. Allderdice, Colfax and Greenfield would have ESL programming.

For Obama, the 6-12 International Baccalaureate school would be transitioned into a 9-12 building. Students in 6-8 grades would move to Arsenal, which would become an International Baccalaureate. Both would be neighborhood magnet schools.

Weil PreK-5, Liberty K-5 and Sunnyside PreK-8, which would become a PreK-5 school, would serve as elementary schools serving Obama. Woolslair and Miller PreK-5 would close.

That’s a change from the preliminary proposal, which called for the closure of Woolslair, Arsenal, Fulton, Lincoln and Weil K-5 schools.

“In our last proposal we had different schools in this area closing,” Ms. Smith said. “After going back and looking at the data, information, the amenities, especially given the larger sizes for schools, there was a switch.”

Arsenal and Sunnyside would have ESL programming.

Similarly, Westinghouse 6-12 would become a 9-12 school. A neighborhood magnet would be added to the school to match other 9-12 schools in the district. Sixth through eighth graders would move into Sterrett 6-8, which would become a neighborhood school with a specialized academic program.

Dilworth PreK-5 would have its magnet phased out and would turn into a neighborhood school. Fulton PreK-5 would close. Those students, along with the early childhood center, would move to Dilworth. Lincoln PreK-5 and Faison would not have any changes.

The Science and Technology Academy would stay in its existing building. The 6-8 would be relocated at the Milliones building. Sci Tech would become a neighborhood magnet.

CAPA 6-12 and Montessori PreK-5 would remain full magnets and would not see grade reconfigurations. But the Montessori school would move into the Linden building.

Now that final recommendations have been presented, board members directed Superintendent Wayne Walters to create a feasibility report on the proposal. Once that report is presented, the board will hold a vote to open the public process on the proposal, starting another round of public input sessions. Another board vote on the actual recommendations will follow.

“We have an amazing opportunity here,” school Director Tracey Reed said. “Once we iron out all the details, I think that we will be able to look really carefully about the job we are doing for kids in our district, and I think we have a great opportunity to improve the quality of school experience for our children.”