‘There’s more questions than answers’
Community stakeholders have unanswered questions about how Pittsburgh Public Schools will reopen
Pittsburgh Public Schools board member Kevin Carter said he still has many questions about the ability for schools to reopen safely amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
That’s why he introduced a resolution last week that would mandate virtual learning for all district students for the first nine weeks of the school year, which he said was a necessary measure to protect public health.
“People are looking to the school district — school board members, the superintendent — to be public health experts, and that,” Mr. Carter said Tuesday in a phone interview, “we are not. The idea that it is our job to come up with a solution for a public health problem and using our students and faculty as front-line indicators, it’s not going to happen.”
The public will have a chance to voice its opinion on the district’s reopening plans, including Mr. Carter’s proposal, at a comment session before the school board at 5 p.m. Wednesday. The board will vote on the plan Friday, less than five weeks away from the start of classes.
The district worked with more than 300 community stakeholders over the summer to come up with a reopening plan for the city schools. The plan included an online-only option, as well as a blended model in which students would have inperson instruction twice a week and remote instruction the other three days.
The district’s plan also created health and safety guidelines for schools using recommendations from stakeholders and local, state and federal medical officials. The guidelines detailed procedures for students and staff to follow from the beginning to the end of the day on buses, in classrooms, in hallways and in other areas of schools.
Mr. Carter said he thought Superintendent Anthony Hamlet and his administration created a sound reopening plan, but the virus remains too unpredictable, and the district’s ability to react to it is unclear.
“While I think that Dr. Hamlet and the administrators have come up with a solid plan as it relates to maintaining safety and cleanliness of our buildings, there are still a lot of variables that have not been worked through,” he said. “There’s a lot of information coming out that is not concrete from the state. There’s more questions than answers, and so I’m definitely concerned.”
Mr. Carter said he was worried about whether all schools across the district and the thousands of students and staff members would be able to follow the health and safety protocols. For example, he said he does not think kindergartners would be able to wear face coverings all day.
The resolution Mr. Carter proposed would make the district create contingency plans for district parents who are essential workers and those who are unable to support their child’s remote learning. It also calls on the district to ensure special education students get
access to the support and resources they need.
It will be up to the district administration to develop those plans, he said.
“My job as a school board member is to set the course and direction and provide the superintendent some direction, ... and it’s his job to determine what that solution looks like,” Mr. Carter said.
District spokeswoman Ebony Pugh said while there are no definitive plans, the district was already making preparations in case schools were forced to move totally online regardless of whether Mr. Carter’s plan is approved.
She said the district will soon launch a survey to assess the child care needs of parents, and it is working with external community partners to establish supports. “We’ll be prepared,” she said.
Despite concerns the virus could spread rapidly through schools and into the community at large, politicians, education experts and heath officials have noted the importance of inperson instruction for students throughout the summer.
The American Academy of Pediatrics said it “strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school.”
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine said schools should prioritize reopening, especially for students in kindergarten through fifth grade because “young children in particular will be impacted by not having inperson learning and may suffer long-term academic consequences if they fall behind as a result.”
Those groups, however, said schools must take precautions to ensure the health and safety of students, staff and the community.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration and U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have threatened to withhold federal funding from schools that do not fully reopen.
As COVID-19 case numbers continue to climb in the Pittsburgh region, though, Mr. Carter said he would support keeping classes online beyond the first nine weeks of the 2020-21 school year if be believes it is necessary.
“I think if they are expecting a second wave in the fall, this [resolution] should provide us with just enough time to examine what that may look like,” he said.