TALKING POINTS
You signed an Open Letter and Petition to Pittsburgh Public School Board demanding Transparency in plans underway leading to closing schools and firing staff. 
The letter was signed by over 300 parents, guardians, students, staff, and community members. The Board President is SHUTTING US OUT and refuses to reply to our letter. 
Today we support you signing up to speak at the next School Board Hearing. Sign up today, or before Noon on Monday APRIL 22nd. Join the meeting in person or virtually at 6pm. Here is the link to sign up:
CLICK HERE to Sign Up to Speak

You will have 3min to speak and are encouraged to send a written statement before hand. Here are some talking points to include if you’d like:

NEW TALKING POINTS:

  • Facilities Utilization (Proposed) Plan

     

    The proposed Plan is a wishlist. We don’t need empty promises. 

    • The recommendations are an aspirational wishlist created by Superintendent Dr. Walters and his Cabinet of things they will ‘aim for’ 
    • No research, evidence, or best practices were presented 
    • The ‘Current State’ of PPS didn’t include information about the current resources and offerings at each school. (For example, which schools have full-time Art, ½ time Art, or no Art?)
    • We need a Plan that will protect our most vulnerable students who will be disproportionally harmed by school closures, consolidations, and staff reductions
    • We need a Plan that will consider the impact of closures and consolidations on the communities already negatively impacted by other economic factors 
    • We need Superintendent Dr. Walters and the PPS School Board to be honest with us. For example – don’t hide the fact that when schools close class sizes will increase
    • Board President Gene Walker says we should get on board with their Plan. It will be painful but the result will be BETTER.
    • Where is the evidence that anything was BETTER after the last school closures and consolidations? 
    • Where’s the national research or evidence to back up this claim?

    PPS is NOT listening to the students, parents, and community who value our schools

    • It’s disingenuous to equate school closures with the consolidation of garden plots!! We are talking about children, families, staff, and people who live in the community and want what is best for students 
    • It’s insulting when you say that students, parents, and community members who come to speak at the public hearing don’t understand that school closures will be BETTER for us
    • Past ‘community engagement’ efforts were weak and not authentic  
    • The claim that the Facilities Utilization Plan is “deeply rooted in extensive community feedback” with “overwhelming mandates” is FALSE
      • All surveys had low response rates and the questions were biased to get answers they wanted 

    PPS is hiring another consultant (vote April 24th – cost and vendor TBD) who will determine which wishlist items PPS can and can’t do. 

    • Of course, the consultant will recommend school closures, consolidations, and staff reductions
    • A consultant will not solve our problems
    • Since 2022, PPS has increased central office and administrative staff by 10.2% (+10 employees) and decreased teaching staff by 7.5% (-150 employees), source: PPS 2023 General Fund Budget, pg. 333

    PPS is “hyper-focused” on school utilization to make the claim of Empty Schools

    • In May-June 2023, PPS asked Design Principle survey participants if they agreed with the following statements, “All schools will have an 80-90% utilization rate” and “All schools will meet a 20% Facility Condition Index.” 40% of the 1,112 participants DISAGREED with these statements. (A Right To Know was sent to PPS on April 5, 2024 because Dr. Walters never shared the results of the survey with the public)
    • Our schools are NOT half empty! We do not support using a corporate ‘Functional Capacity’ measure of building utilization. Our building are filled with students who need to learn and thrive. Our schools should be measured using an ‘Educational Capacity’ that takes into consideration the space we NEED to educate students. 
      • Using a ‘functional capacity’ calculation, Woolslair has a 71% Utilization Rate. Using an ‘educational capacity calculation, the spaces used for Art, Music, and Restorative Practice are considered and Woolslair has a 93% Utilization Rate
      • Example, Woolslair – 71% vs. 93% Utilization Rate
    • “Functional Capacity” is a (dys)functional way to determine how schools are best utilized to educate students. Functional capacity is fine for corporate building use, but not for education. 
    • There MUST be consideration for the actual way schools need to function. Schools must have dedicated space for therapies like speech and language. Space for restorative practice, mentoring, and counseling. 

    Closing schools is NOT the only option to solve enrollment and budget problems 

    • Closing and consolidating schools isn’t the only solution. It’s lazy. We need Dr. Walters and the School Board to be creative and imaginative and work with the community to come up with other solutions. 
    • It’s not “brave” and “courageous” to close schools, reduce staff, or increase class sizes.
    • We’ve been here before and MUST learn from past mistakes. 
      • Partial magnets that were changed to full magnets and starved schools of enrollment options
      • Full-time Art and Music were replaced by Art and Music “offerings”
      • Students were negatively impacted by class size increases and transportation time increases, staff  furloughs and displacement. 

    There are unintended consequences of school closures and consolidations that must be considered

    • larger class sizes
    • staff reductions 
    • Longer rides to school
    • charter school expansion (charters will swoop in where schools close and end up costing the district more money in the long run)
      • PPS closed all schools in Hazelwood and the Propel there costs PPS over $4 million/year
      • If Linden becomes a charter school it will cost PPS another $4 million/year
    • disproportionate impact on vulnerable students
    • Parents and guardians unable to easily attend their childs school that was far from home.
    • churn – teachers and staff will be moved to other schools even in schools that don’t close or consolidate (600 staff were moved when 7 schools were closed in 2013)
    • lack of space for programs in crowded schools (i.e.: arts, music, restorative justice space, etc)

    The Board must adopt Non-Negotiables. There must be thoughtful consideration of factors including:

    • Use of ‘educational’ school capacity, not  “functional capacity” 
    • Can not close schools in a Black community 
    • Can not disproportionately impact vulnerable students 
    • Can not create an education desert leaving empty schools where charter schools will expand (i.e.: Hazelwood)
    • Can not increase class sizes
    • Must not furlough staff 
    • Must cap class sizes for K-2, 3-5
    • Must use a community led planning coalition, not a private consultant led process
    • Must consider the impact of past school closures
      • How did school closures and consolidations impact student outcomes? (achievement, attendance, graduation rate, drop out rate)
      • How did school closures and consolidations impact enrollment?
      • How did closing schools impact the community?
    • Must consider past decisions that impacted enrollment
      • Feeder patterns
      • Partial vs. full magnets 
    • Art and music “offerings” are not sufficient. Art and music must be available in each school with full time teachers.
    • Must consider the programs that worked to increase enrollment and bring families back to the district 
    • Must consider space for community schools services and programs

    This is a collective problem for our city

    • We must face this together with as much transparency as possible 
    • We are all invested in schools as a community resource that is worth saving
    • Develop solutions with meaningful community input to create a strong stable public school district
    • Need help from state legislators. Ask your state legislators to: 
      • Put a moratorium on charter school expansion
      • Support cap on Cyber Charter tuition – PPS savings for $8K cap = $13 million a year
      • Stop the diversion of our Earned Income Tax money to the City of Pittsburgh (will increase PPS revenue by $20 million per year)
    • Need help from Mayor Gainey and Pittsburgh City Council to stop the diversion of our Earned Income Tax money (will increase PPS revenue by $20 million per year)

     

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ORIGINAL TALKING POINTS:

  • What is PPS hiding?
  • Why don’t you want the community to participate?
  • We don’t trust the calculations PPS used to determine the number of empty seats in each school and see some appear to be very wrong.
  • (describe what you see at your school)
  • We know this process is leading to school closures, consolidation of schools, firing, eliminating and relocating staff. Stop lying to the community.
  • When schools closed in the past (2005 and 2013) it hurt students, families, staff and the community
  • Closing Schools can Have Long-term Negative Effects on Student Outcomes
  • Increased class sizes
  • Increased attendance issues
  • Increased dropouts
  • staff was fired (this is where the savings comes from)
  • Staff moved around to other schools (in 2013 when 7 schools closed, 600 staff were relocated)
  • charters opened in the closed schools
  • neighborhoods were left with an empty building
  • The community has a right to the information that allows us to fully participate in developing solutions and alternatives to school closures.
  • Stop shutting us out! Let the community help solve the problems our district faces.

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