Staffing shortage puts at risk city schools’ summer learning

The Pittsburgh Public Schools said Wednesday it must delay its summer programming by a week and may be forced to “significantly” reduce the number of students who can participate in it because of staffing shortages.

The Summer BOOST program — which had been slated to start Monday and run through Aug. 4 for students in grades K11 — will open June 28 as the district works to recruit more staff.

“Our staff has worked tirelessly for students and their families during the pandemic under unprecedented circumstances, and we greatly accept that these challenges have understandably impacted our ability to staff summer positions,” Superintendent Anthony Hamlet said in a statement. “After several attempts to recruit staff and adjust the program model, we are forced to take steps to reduce the number of students we will be able to serve as part of our Summer BOOST program.”

The district said that it expects to reduce the number of students in the program by more than 1,000 if it cannot recruit enough staff during the next week. Efforts to recruit more staffing continue, the district

said, but previous attempts have proven unsuccessful. The number of staffers needed to avoid a reduction in students was not immediately available.

District officials had planned for this year’s program to provide summer learning opportunities to about double the number of children participating during a typical year — about 4,800 — as students work to recover from losses during the COVID19 pandemic.

The difficulty recruiting staff follows a trend impacting schools nationwide as many teachers and other employees who would normally volunteer to lead summer programming decided to take a break after the challenging school year. Some school districts have hired substitute teachers or brought in recently graduated education majors to help staff their summer programs.

The district said families with children who were enrolled in Summer BOOST will be notified of their status by Friday. Students will be prioritized for the program based on need.

The district encouraged families to look for alternative summer opportunities.