City schools’ first day set for Sept. 3
The Pittsburgh Public Schools has finalized its calendar and set the first day of school for students after two weeks of uncertainty for parents and the community.
The first day of school for students will be Sept. 3.
The district had previously planned to move the first day of school from Aug. 25 to Sept. 8 to help deal with transportation issues caused by a severe bus driver shortage. But administrators said Wednesday the district would be able to open on Sept. 3, and the school board unanimously approved the calendar change.
Hundreds of parents and other stakeholders spoke out against changing the first day of school over the past two weeks, saying the district should have handled its transportation issues earlier and the late notice of the delay would cause child care issues among other complications.
Speaking at the school board meeting, Superintendent Anthony Hamlet apologized for the “undue stress” the situation had caused for the community and promised to communicate better in the future.
“[We will] make sure we communicate with you sooner rather than later, and make sure we’re on the same page and increase our communication — going to a space where we will possibly oversaturate communication to make sure you know all the information that is going on in Pittsburgh Public Schools and how it impacts you,” Mr. Hamlet told the district community. “I apologize as your leader, and we will get better.”
Although all board members voted in favor of changing the start date to Sept. 3, several of them criticized Mr. Hamlet and school administration for not communicating the district’s transportation problems earlier and more urgently.
“I think it was really a miss to not let the community know that this was a critical situation — which we knew about even last year and over the summer about transportation — and being able to communicate that and say ‘Hey, there’s probably going to be some big drastic changes coming,’ ” board member Pam Harbin said. “Waiting to the last minute to have families make such drastic movements in care for their children and planning was way too difficult, and we just have to be up front and clear as soon as we can about what is happening.”
Board member Devon Taliaferro said the district needs to review the processes it uses to make, implement and communicate plans or risk repeating the same problems.
“Process, to me, is what I feel like we need to address,” Ms. Taliaferro said. “I feel like if we do not address our processes and how we do things in this district, then we will continue to put the burden on our families and we will continue to have moments like this.”
Abbie Campsie, the parent of an Allderdice High School student, last week organized a rally in front of the district headquarters in Oakland to protest against moving the start date to Sept. 8. She said new start date was a “small step in the right direction” but noted that other school systems around the country were able to solve these problems earlier.
“I guess this is a little bit better, but ultimately it doesn’t change the fact that we’re here at the end of August trying to decide on the start of school date,” Ms. Campsie said. “Other schools have it together already. Other schools that are larger than PPS already have their bussing figured out, they have plans and contingent plans already set up.”
Ms. Campsie and another district parent, David Morris, pointed out that having school start on Sept. 3 instead of Sept. 8 only accounts for one day of school because of the Labor Day and Rosh Hashanah holidays.
“The move to Sept. 3 is a small olive branch from the administration to the parents,” Mr. Morris, the parent of students at Dilworth PreK-5 and CAPA 6-12, said in an email. “It only represents one day in reality (since Labor Day and Rosh Hashanah are already holidays off). Parents need to continue to pressure this superintendent and the school board to perform at their best and deliver a reasonable education that makes this city livable for our children.”
Some board members said they wanted to start school on the original date of Aug. 25, but acknowledged it was not feasible because of the transportation issues.
Mr. Hamlet said the delay to the start of the year was needed to ensure all students who needed transportation to and from school would have it and allow for full, in-person instruction. Otherwise, he said, the district could be forced to implement a hybrid or remote learning model.
In a letter posted to the district website Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Hamlet said the plan to open schools on Sept. 3 “allows all students to start as early as possible while also giving the district time to fully implement transportation strategies designed to meet the bus driver shortage and transport students to school every day.
“I understand the challenges that many of our families have faced this past year and continue to face as we continue to manage the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Mr. Hamlet wrote. “Our No. 1 goal remains to have all students PreK-12 across the city in school five days a week for in-person instruction.”
Board member Terry Kennedy, who said she opposed delaying the start date to Sept. 8, supported the proposal to open schools Sept. 3.
Starting on Sept. 3 instead of Sept. 8, Ms. Kennedy said, solves many of her concerns. She said the new plan would eliminate the need for students to stay in school later into June 2022 and moves the start date away from the second day of Rosh Hashanah — the Jewish new year holiday and one of the holiest days on the Jewish calendar.
Under the new plan, the last day for students will be June 16. The first day for teachers will be Aug. 30, and the last day for teachers will be June 22.
The plan also converts four previously scheduled school-based vacation days into instructional days. Those days include the election days of Nov. 2 and May 17, and the Monday after Thanksgiving and after spring break, Nov. 29 and April 18, respectively.
In addition, the plan changes four half-days — Sept. 24, Feb. 18, March 18 and April 1 — and makes them full days to give students extra instructional time.
The calendar change was only one of several modifications the administration said was required for the district to be able to provide transportation for all students who need it.
The Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers must ratify its tentative contract agreement, which includes a measure that would give the district the power to adjust school start and end times. The district said that is needed so buses can run extra routes in the morning and afternoon, providing transportation to more students.
Nina Esposito-Visgitis, the PFT president, said in a phone call Wednesday morning that members of her union feel as though the district is pressuring them to ratify the contract so the school system can implement its transportation plans.
“It’s making our members very uncomfortable, and I feel badly about that,” she said.
Still, Ms. Espostio-Visgitis said, she believes the tentative agreement the district and federation have reached is a fair contract and hopes the union membership will ratify the contract.
If the union ratifies its contract, the school board must then vote on it. The board also will have to approve several other modifications, including moving more students to Port Authority buses and adding two new transportation carriers.
School officials said thousands of students could still be left without a ride if any of those votes do not go the way the district hopes they will.
The board also passed several other measures Wednesday, some of which could impact the transportation situation.
Board members approved making payments to parents who provide transportation for their children when the district is unable to and added two more buses to its fleet from URSO Bus, LLC.
The board also approved adding moving middle school students at three additional schools to Port Authority-provided transportation as well as payments to several out-of-school providers for child care between Aug. 25 and Sept. 3.