Many changes in store for Pittsburgh Public Schools
Monday marks the first day of classes for most of the 25,000 students in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. While they had the summer off, district leaders and school board members dealt with a flurry of new policies, a significant change to the Code of Student Conduct, lead testing in dozens of district buildings and more.
Aside from the transition of middleand high-school students from Wilkinsburg to Pittsburgh Westinghouse 6-12, detailed in a story on Page A-1 of today’s PG, here’s some of what’s new for the coming school year:
Infraction changes
In June, the school board approved changing and reclassifying the Code of Student Conduct to include three levels of student misconduct — instead of two — creating a separate level for the most serious offenses.
“There are all of these gray areas. It’s not a Level 1, so must be a Level 2,” said Pamela Harbin, a Point Breeze mother of two and cofounder of the Education Rights Network, describing the old system. She praised the move to limit “exclusionary discipline” that keeps kids out of the classroom for minor offenses.
The new code also places a greater emphasis on removing certain privileges for some Level 2 infractions and using “restorative justice,” a disciplinary approach focused on students making things right while staying in school. Principals may not use “informal suspensions,” such as sending a child home early.
Level 3 infractions include sexual assault, arson, chronic bullying, having a weapon and having alcohol, all of which previously fell under Level 2. Disciplinary options for Level 3 offenses can be expulsion, long-term suspension or education placement outside the school. Some Level 2 offenses, such as bullying, can qualify as Level 3 if they become severe enough, officials said.
In April 2015, Great Public Schools-Pittsburgh and the Center for Third World Organizing submitted ideas on how to reduce suspensions, which included expanding from two to five the levels of misconduct in the code. Ms. Harbin said she’ll keep advocating for that extension and a deeper look at the Code of Student Conduct.
Community forums, new policies
As part of the “Look, Listen and Learn” tour of his 90-day transition plan, superintendent Anthony Hamlet will host nine community input forums to gather ideas on what’s working in the district and what’s not. The next forum is from 7 to 9 p.m. Sept. 8 at Pittsburgh Carrick 9-12. A full list of dates is here. The survey given at the forums is available here.
The school board approved several policies this summer, including one that would stock the opioid drug-overdose antidote naloxone in all 6-12 and 9-12 schools. At a board meeting in July, Dara Ware Allen, assistant superintendent for
student support services, called the policy “proactive” and noted that the district had seen no student overdoses.
School directors also approved a transgender nondiscrimination policy, which allows students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms that relate to their gender identity and be addressed by their preferred name and gender pronoun. All students can participate in physical education classes and sports that match their gender identity.
Details of the new policy for “community schools,” which will make some school buildings hubs for social services for students and those in the neighborhood, are being developed.
Lead testing
The district hired consultants to test lead levels in all sinks and water fountains of all 70 district buildings this summer following the water crisis in Flint, Mich.
Chief operations officer Ron Joseph said 141, or 3 percent, of the roughly 4,700 samples — two at each fixture — tested positive for elevated levels of lead, meaning more than 20 parts per billion. That’s the level at which the Environmental Protection Agency recommends schools and day-care facilities take action.
Of those, 14 were at water fountains. The fixtures were either replaced or, if not heavily used, were removed altogether. Retesting is underway to determine whether the lead source is in the fixture itself or in the piping. A final report will be made public in the next few days or in early September.
“We saw that we have very low levels, but we also took proactive measures,” Mr. Joseph said.
Between three and six filtered, high-efficiency fountain and bottle-filling stations also were installed in each school this summer.
Career, Tech education
Two signature Career and Technical education programs will debut this school year: emergency response technology at Westinghouse in Homewood and entertainment technology at Pittsburgh Milliones 6-12 in the Hill District.
The ERT program, available to students entering 10th grade, includes internship opportunities with the city, hands-on lessons and training in facilities used by police, firefighters and emergency medical technicians, mentoring and the chance to earn certificates. At Milliones, also known as University Prep, students will focus on subjects including web and graphic design, video, TV production and animation.
CTE executive director Angela Mike said slots are available in both programs, and she noted another benefit of the city’s recent decision to hire EMTs as part of a larger plan to reduce overtime for paramedics.
“This will be an opportunity for our students in Emergency Response Technology to have a direct pipeline to employment,” she said. The district recently unveiled an online “virtual tour” of the CTE program.
Online registration
Parents of returning students received a letter this month with a username and password they can use to log on to the “Registration Gateway” to upload and update their child’s information. The process of registering a student for school has traditionally been on paper, and something the district asked families to fill out manually every year.
The registration log-on information also acts as parents’ entry in the “Home Access Center” system that the district launched last school year. It allows families to check their children’s grades, attendance, discipline and other data.
Freshmen started Friday for a half-day, and kindergartners start Sept. 1. All other students head back to class Monday.