Proposal+calls+for+closing+7+Pittsburgh+city+schools

=Proposal calls for closing 7 city schools= =Two high schools included in plan= = = = = =

= ==//By Bill Schackner//= =//Published by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette//= === =//8/5/11//= = = = = = = = = =Pittsburgh Langley and Pittsburgh Oliver high schools are among seven city schools that would close under a plan unveiled Thursday to confront continuing enrollment declines and a huge districtwide budget shortfall.= =The plan, which requires school board approval, would take effect no sooner than the 2012-13 school year.= =It would save the district between $7 million and $8 million annually and reduce the number of unused classroom seats districtwide by nearly 4,300, said Pittsburgh Public Schools superintendent Linda Lane.= =In addition to Langley in Sheraden and Oliver on the North Side, the schools identified for closure are Pittsburgh Fort Pitt PreK-5 in Garfield; Pittsburgh Murray K-8 in Mount Oliver; Pittsburgh Northview PreK-8 on the North Side; Pittsburgh Schaeffer K-8 in Crafton Heights; and Pittsburgh Stevens K-8 in Elliott.= =The district said it would, contingent on Langley's closing, open a preK-8 school in that building. The plan also includes relocating Pittsburgh McNaugher to the Oliver building, which also would become home to the district's special education offices.= =As part of the realignment, the district would close the building that currently houses McNaugher, as well as the buildings that house Fort Pitt, Murray, Northview, Schaeffer and Stevens.= =The closures affect three of the eight accelerated learning academies that were a linchpin of former superintendent Mark Roosevelt's reforms, announced in 2006.= =A series of public hearings on the closures and district realignment will be held later this month and into the fall. The soonest the school board could vote on the plan would be Nov. 22, after those hearings.= ="There will be a long process of community engagement around this thing," Ms. Lane said. "There's going to be a lot of conversation. The board is the ultimate decision maker."= =The closures promise to create more angst in a district of nearly 26,000 students that has been hit hard by deep state funding cuts on top of the economic downturn. Last week, the school board voted to cut 59 district employees, including 31 teachers, through a mix of furloughs and layoffs. In June, it cut 217 positions, including operational support staff and central office employees.= =School officials now predict a budget shortfall of $41.2 million next year, having already reduced the gap by about $25 million largely through spending cuts and restoration of $6.6 million in state budget funds, district spokeswoman Ebony Pugh said.= =In 2006, the district closed 22 underutilized and low-achieving schools. A year later, it closed six more schools.= =Deliberations for this latest round of closures began in June and considered, among other things, four equally weighted factors: student achievement and yearly progress; student enrollment vs. capacity; facility condition; and operational costs.= =The district projected the following student assignments would be necessitated by the school closures:= =• Fort Pitt PreK-5 students would be assigned to Arsenal PreK-5 and Pittsburgh Woolslair K-5;= =• Langley students would be assigned to Pittsburgh Brashear High School;= =• Murray K-8 students would be assigned to Pittsburgh Arlington PreK-8;= =• Northview PreK-8 students would be assigned to Pittsburgh King Accelerated Learning Academy PreK-8 and Pittsburgh Morrow PreK-8;= =• Oliver students would be assigned to Pittsburgh Perry High School;= =• Pittsburgh Schaeffer K-8 students would be assigned to the new PreK-8 at Langley;= =• Pittsburgh Stevens K-8 students would be assigned to the new PreK-8 at Langley, Pittsburgh Westwood K-5 and Pittsburgh South Hills 6-8.= =Ms. Lane said transportation times would be longer for students. She said average class sizes likely would increase to 25 students from the current 22.= =The school district, she said, needed to consider achieving fiscal stability along with student achievement and providing "schools that students want to come to." Although an aging and declining city population was responsible for earlier enrollment losses, losses since 2002 largely have been the result of charter schools, she said.= =City Councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith said the western neighborhoods she represents have mixed thoughts about the proposed changes.= =Some are concerned that children will be adversely affected by school reassignments; others see the opportunity to incorporate soon-to-be-closed school buildings into community development plans.= =Western communities are working for economic improvements and cannot afford setbacks related to closings, Ms. Kail-Smith said, noting that Schaeffer, Stevens and Langley each is located in the heart of a residential neighborhood.= ="It's a blow to any community to lose a high school," she added.= =But if schools must close, she said, the changes should be carried out in a way that helps neighborhoods move forward. The Stevens building in Elliott could become the site of an urgent-care center already being discussed by community leaders, and a recreation center could go into one of Schaeffer's buildings in Crafton Heights or Sheraden, she said.= =Ms. Kail-Smith said community leaders may offer suggestions for tweaking the school-closing plan.= =City council President Darlene Harris, a former school board president, called on the district to involve neighborhood groups and residents in implementing the changes. Otherwise, she said, the district's long-term enrollment decline will only get worse.= ="You have to be very careful that you have community support and parent support behind you when you close schools, or else you lose more students," she said.= =Rick Flanagan, youth development director with Bloomfield-Garfield Corp., worked with Fort Pitt students and staff for three decades. For him, Fort Pitt's closing represents a lost opportunity.= =Mr. Flanagan said he bought into the district's plan five years ago to close Friendship Academy and reassign its students to Fort Pitt, which was reconstituted as one of eight accelerated learning academies with an expanded school day, extended school year and other special programs.= ="They never made that work. That school never became the place of choice for families," partly because the school district did a poor job of marketing it, Mr. Flanagan said.= =Many Friendship students never transferred to Fort Pitt but attended other district schools, and the district didn't promote the school to families moving into new housing that sprang from old public housing developments in Garfield, Mr. Flanagan said.= =But the school also was a victim of the districtwide, long-term enrollment decline.= =At one time, Mr. Flanagan said, Fort Pitt had more than 800 students. This year, it has 183.= =Mr. Flanagan urged the school district to involve community groups in implementing the changes, saying, "They need to call us to the table now."= =A public hearing on the school closings is set for Aug 22. Speakers must register with the district at 412-622-3600 from Aug. 15 until noon Aug. 22. Written comments can be submitted to publichearing@pghboe.net or faxed to 412-622-3624 until 5 p.m. Aug. 22.= =A second public hearing slated for Sept. 19 will solicit public comments on the realignment plan. No time was listed for that hearing.= =The board will hold an education workshop at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 26 to discuss feeder patterns.= =Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers President John Tarka said his organization's hope is that the plan will minimize disruption to students and ensure that few, if any, jobs are lost.= ="School closings are always extraordinarily difficult for everyone involved -- students, parents, teachers and others who work in the schools," he said. "It is important that we recognize the financial challenges the district faces.= ="The PFT has two priorities: First of all, to make sure that the students have access to quality programs during the realignment, and we feel certain they will, and secondly, we want to make sure that our members' employment is maintained."= =School board President Sherry Hazuda said the road ahead for the schools will be challenging, but she added that given the budget cuts the district faced, some reconfiguration was necessary.= ="The challenge before us is that we have to educate our kids to the best of our ability so they can achieve to the best of their ability, and we have to do that cost effectively for the taxpayers," she said. "We lost so much state funding that it's forcing us to make some changes.= ="We needed to cut back anyway; we needed to do some things smarter," she said. "Nobody wants to close schools, but we just have to do what's right to educate our kids in the long run."=

=Read more: [] = = = =News= =home=