Pittsburgh, Wilkinsburg schools look to extend partnership
Ed Donovan remembers the lack of opportunities for Wilkinsburg high school students when he was first elected to the school board in 2013.
The district was in a financial crisis and had made various programming cuts, such as eliminating art classes. Mr. Donovan, president of the Wilkinsburg school board, said he and other district officials at the time knew they had to act.
“We tried things like offering some honors classes and stuff like that, but it was like putting a BandAid on the Titanic,” Mr. Donovan said in a recent phone interview. “There was just no way for us to make it work.”
The district decided to pursue a partnership with Pittsburgh Public Schools, which had far more programming available. In 2015, the districts approved a six-year agreement for Wilkinsburg to send its seventh through 12th grade students to city schools.
That agreement comes to an end after this school year, and the districts have started conversations about renewing the deal for at least
another six years. Each district’s school board is expected to vote on the new deal at public meetings in the coming months.
Pittsburgh Superintendent Anthony Hamlet said he believes the majority of city school board members see the partnership as a positive and expects they will vote to renew the agreement.
“I don’t like to refer to them as the ‘children of Wilkinsburg,’ ” Mr. Hamlet said. “They’re Pittsburgh Public Schools students, so making sure they have all the opportunities that all of our students in Pittsburgh have is a game changer for them, and we want to continue if at all possible.”
The Pittsburgh Public Schools adjusts the tuition rates each year for Wilkinsburg students to ensure it is fair to city taxpayers. The Wilkinsburg School District provides transportation for its students.
Mr. Donovan said the deal has met the goal of expanding opportunities for Wilkinsburg students. While Wilkinsburg students only attended Westinghouse 6-12 the first year of the partnership, they are now able to enroll in any magnet program in the Pittsburgh Public Schools.
The approximately 240 Wilkinsburg students in the Pittsburgh Public Schools attend CAPA 6-12, Obama 6-12, Westinghouse 6-12, Allderdice High School, Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy and other schools.
Wilkinsburg school officials receive breakout reports on grades, attendance rates and other topics for their students that they can compare with Pittsburgh students so they know when issues need to be addressed. But, Mr. Donovan said, Wilkinsburg students in grades 7-12 have shown significant improvement since moving to the city schools.
Student GPAs “jumped almost a whole point when they went to Pittsburgh because they’re more interested and they work harder,” he said. “Across the board, our kids are performing as good — sometimes better than — Pittsburgh students in the same program. Our attendance rate is always as good [as] — and sometimes better than — the average for that school.”
When the initial deal was in the works, concerns were raised that sending Wilkinsburg students to Pittsburgh schools would inevitably lead to fights and conflict between the children from neighboring municipalities. Mr.
Donovan said Wilkinsburg students have fit into the city schools seamlessly.
He recalled a story he was told by a Wilkinsburg student who made it onto the Westinghouse basketball team during the first year of the agreement.
“He said to me that out of his friends now, almost all of them were kids he didn’t know when he went there,” Mr. Donovan said. “In other words, almost all of his new friends were Westinghouse kids. And that shows how it happened. We tried to set the stage for it to be peaceful, and that’s what we got.”
Despite the successes, the districts are working to improve upon the partnership in the next deal.
Mr. Donovan said Wilkinsburg officials identified several areas where enhancements could be made, such as communication. He said even though Wilkinsburg officials receive data from Pittsburgh every month, there are times when they wish they had more insight.
“Sometimes, we have questions about the numbers, and we want more detail on things,” Mr. Donovan said. “I don’t want to say things that are going to sound critical because we’re really happy with the way it’s gone, but there are little things that could get better.”