City school leaders back delay of starting date

Distribution of online tools called essential

A day after Pittsburgh Public Schools announced it would delay the start of school by a week, some school system leaders expressed support for the move on Sunday in light of some students not yet having access to computers and other tools they will need for their classes.

“If our students can’t access Microsoft Teams and Schoology, they can’t access the learning,” school board member Terry Kennedy said. “They can’t learn if they can’t access the technology.”

Nina Esposito- Visgitis, president of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, said she also supports postponing the start of the school year to Sept. 8, especially because so many other districts have had to do it, too.

She said it was impossible to meet the Monday deadline for providing laptop computers to students even though computer technicians for the school district were working around the clock to reload the old computers with the new technology.

More than 1,800 students still have a device from last school year that will not work for electronic learning this year. All of those computers must be reloaded with new technology for this school year.

“Our teachers have been panicking because they weren’t sure if the kids would have what they need,” Ms. Esposito- Visgitis said. “I think everybody will be ready on Sept. 8, and this gives us the time to pause and get ready to welcome the kids.”

While the school district could not provide computers to everyone who needed one, many families also remain without internet service.

“My position is we can’t start unless everyone has a device or access to the internet,” Ms. Kennedy said. “What good is the device if the student doesn’t have access to the internet?”

District spokesperson Ebony Pugh said Comcast representatives were stationed at three locations Friday signing up families with school- aged children to receive free internet service for those who could not afford it. Comcast will cover the first two months, and the rest of the school year will be covered by grants provided by the Housing Authority of Pittsburgh and the nonprofit group Beyond the Laptops.

Comcast will continue signing up

families on Monday at Pittsburgh King Elementary K- 8 on the North Side and Pittsburgh Faison K- 5 in Homewood. The free internet program is available to all Pittsburgh Public Schools families, Ms. Pugh said, even those families who may have a previous outstanding bill with Comcast.

With the announcement by Pittsburgh Public Schools that it is delaying the start of school until after Labor Day, the city said it will continue distributing food to children at recreation centers around town.

On Friday, Citiparks said it would be changing up food service for the start of classes. Now that PPS is delaying the start until Sept. 8, Citiparks said it will revert to the distribution methods used through the summer.

Citiparks will continue grab- and- go meal service this week from 9: 30 a. m. to 1: 30 p. m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday at these recreation centers: Ammon, Arlington, Brookline, Jefferson, Magee, Paulson, Phillips and Warrington.

The change of the first day of school will postpone the start of classes for all students pre- K- 12. Originally, all but kindergarten and preK were scheduled to start Aug. 31. Kindergarten and pre- K had been scheduled to begin Sept. 3.

A news release issued by the school district on Saturday said the delay is due to nationwide technology supplychain shortages that have prevented the district from providing laptops to all its in- need students in order for them to learn from home. The PPS board mandated in late July that students will spend at least the first nine weeks of the school year taking classes virtually.

The district said up to 7,000 laptops are expected to arrive by the end of this week to fulfill the need.