PPS proposes closures, reductions
School district seeking to reconfigure footprint
The Pittsburgh Public Schools on Monday proposed significant changes to its physical footprint, including the closure or restructuring of several schools and possible staff reductions.
The moves, some of which could come as soon as the 2021-22 school year, would affect hundreds of students and staff members.
District administrators asked the school board to vote Tuesday on opening to the public the discussion of closures and other changes. They said the district would make no moves until the district held conversations with teachers, parents, students and other stakeholders.
“This is only a draft plan,” said Michael McNamara, the district’s interim chief operations officer. “We are inviting and will purposefully engage board members, teachers, principals and community members as we take this journey of modernizing our footprint.”
The schools that would close under the proposal are: Miller PreK-5 in the Hill District; Fulton PreK-5 in Highland Park; Woolslair PreK-5 in Lawrenceville; and Manchester PreK-8 in Manchester.
The only school slated to close for the 2021-22 school year is Woolslair. All others would close before the 2022-23 school year.
Students from schools that close would be moved to other buildings in their part of the city.
The plan also calls for changes in how some schools are utilized.
Minadeo PreK-5 in Squirrel Hill would be turned into a middle school and take students from Sterrett 6-8 in Point Breeze, as well as sixththrough eighth grade students from Colfax K-8 in Squirrel Hill. Minadeo’s elementary students would be sent to Colfax.
The Morrow K-5 building in Brighton Heights would close, but students would move across the
street to the former Rooney school building. Students at Montessori PreK-5 in Friendship would go to the Sterrett building, and Oliver Citywide Academy on the North Side would be relocated, and a career-oriented middle school would be created at Oliver.
Allegheny PreK-8 on the North Side would remain open, but it would become a K5 school and its middle school students would be sent elsewhere. Brookline K-8’s sixth to eighth grade students would move to Carmalt PreK8, also in Brookline. Brookline would then become a K-5.
A new school geared to children from birth to second grade would open in the district’s former Northview Heights school. The school would feature wraparound services for families in Northview Heights. The school could also accept some PreK-2 students from King PreK-8 in the North Side.
The district’s criteria for deciding which schools should be closed or reconfigured included the desire to promote socioeconomic, racial and educational equity; maximize capital spending by investing in buildings better suited for the current learning environment; increase efficiency through energy-saving projects; and optimize building utilization.
The effort to modernize the district’s footprint comes after years of enrollment decline and amid a budget deficit that is projected to cause the school system to run out of money in 2022 if it does not see a reduction in expenditures.
Ronald Joseph, the district’s chief financial officer, said the school system had not addressed its footprint since before the 2012-13 school year. If the district works to align its footprint to its current enrollment, he said, consolidation and reconfiguration of some facilities is necessary.
“As a result of this reconfiguration, you’ll most likely see the need to adjust our workforce to meet the needs of our student population in the remaining facilities,” Mr. Joseph said. “Just note the reduction of any school-based staff will be tied directly to any enrollment decline that we’ve experienced for a period of years and/or the elimination of programs.”
Mr. McNamara said the plan could save the district about $46 million in future capital costs and carry an annual operating savings of about $2.5 million, which would come from eliminating or reducing staff, utility and transportation expenditures.
District officials said at a board meeting earlier this month they had determined only eight of the school system’s buildings were well-utilized, while 40 were slightly underutilized and 12 were underutilized. The district serves 20,370 students and has space for 36,924, meaning it is only at 55% of utilization.
Mr. McNamara said the plan lowers the district’s excess capacity from 17,128 empty seats to 14,348.
The average age of the district’s buildings is 87. The district has 34 buildings that are 51 to 100 years old and 18 that are more than 100 years old.
Additionally, 19 buildings have gone more than 50 years without a major renovation, and seven had their last major renovation between 36 and 50 years ago. Five buildings have not had major renovations in the past 21 to 35 years.
Superintendent Anthony Hamlet said he understands previous school closures have harmed students in the city. He said his administration would work with all who may be impacted by the closures to avoid the mistakes of the past.
“I know it’s tough, it’s difficult — especially the way it was done to this city in the past,” he said. “We are not moving with that intent. We want to be highly collaborative and inclusive with our community, with our faculty and staff and other stakeholders that care about Pittsburgh Public Schools.”