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The school board's new leadership indulges in fiscal fantasy by pushing to reopen small schools
Sunday, December 16, 2001
By Judy Wertheimer
I am wringing my hands for you, Pittsburgh. I am sad and I am worried and I am really ticked off.
These are the facts: On Dec. 3, a new majority took over the helm of the Pittsburgh Board of Public Education. Jean Fink was elected president and Darlene Harris became the first vice president in a 5-4 vote. Jean Wood voted for Fink and Harris, as did newly installed board members Theresa Colaizzi and Floyd "Skip" McCrea. Alex Matthews, Mark Brentley Sr., Randall Taylor and Bill Isler all abstained.
There's your Who's Who of the new majority bloc on the board -- but that's not the whole story. Another important part of our little morality play is the budget proposed by Superintendent John Thompson, a budget now destined to fail. Why will the budget, set for a vote on Wednesday, most likely fail?
Will it fail because it accomplishes its objectives without raising taxes for city taxpayers?
Will it fail because it leaves the district with no deficit for the first time in nearly a decade?
Will it fail because it does all this without cutting programs?
No. The budget will go down ostensibly because the new majority bloc wants to go back to the drawing board and reopen some schools that the previous majority bloc had the courage to close.
Let's review. The district's buildings can hold about 51,000 students. Today, the student population numbers 39,000. Do the math.
How could the board possibly justify reopening those schools when to do so will necessitate at least one of two things: raising taxes and/or cutting programs?
How can the new majority justify pandering to a small minority of parents who continue to ask for what no other urban public school district in the nation can provide -- schools that cater to 150 or 200 students?
Really, I can't believe it's come to this. This is an elected school board. Pittsburgh, what were you thinking?
Were you thinking, well, if they have to raise taxes to keep these tiny schools open, that's OK with me? They can do it on the backs of the senior citizens and all the other residents struggling to meet their tax bill after the last tax increase?
Or maybe you were thinking, so what if they cut programs. So what if every child in the district will pay for those small schools with art classes and music classes and enrichment programs and textbooks they'll never see, in buildings overdue for repair. Fine by me. Is that what you were thinking? I don't really think so.
I think, in part, the elections were a referendum on Dr. Thompson: You're with him or you're against him. Truth be told, I think some people just don't like having a well-educated, well-dressed and articulate black man at the helm of their little ship. Maybe it's time for some honesty.
Me, well, I support Dr. Thompson. Not because I know him -- I don't. In fact, I've heard some stories that make me think he could use a week of charm school, or maybe some time at the Hillary Clinton School for Softening Your Public Persona. But I support him because he has courage and vision, and because he has made some hard choices that needed to be made, decisions which will ultimately make our schools stronger and our teachers smarter, and our graduates better prepared to go out into the world and succeed. Isn't that the bottom line? Or is it a popularity contest?
And while we're being honest, let's talk about this whole "neighborhood schools" thing. The three schools that the new majority bloc seeks to reopen, well, my gosh, they're not just "neighborhood schools," they're predominantly white schools as well! What a coincidence!
Let's look at the latest available figures, from 1999. Bon Air elementary school had 14 African-American kids and 110 white/other. Spring Garden elementary had 42 African Americans and 135 white/other. Arlington Middle School had 31 African Americans and 122 white/other.
Districtwide, the average percentage of African-American students in each school is somewhere in the neighborhood of 57 to 58 percent. Each of these three schools comes in under 25 percent African-American; Bon Air comes in at 11.3 percent African-American.
What a coincidence that they all have this in common. If I didn't know better, I'd say this whole movement to keep certain schools very small and insulated had racist overtones.
I might think there are some parents who don't want their children going to school with black children. I might think there are board members who support that agenda. But I just can't believe that the majority of people in Pittsburgh support that agenda.
I think this is what happens when people don't educate themselves about the issues, and I think this is what happens when people don't vote. To believe otherwise, that the majority of Pittsburghers support this racist agenda, is just too depressing.
If you care, it's not too late. You can write or call your school board representative. You can get on the agenda for tomorrow's 5:30 p.m. school board meeting and voice your opinion (call 412-622-3600 before noon tomorrow). You could charter a plane and write a message in the sky.
The point is, if the good people of Pittsburgh continue to do nothing, in fact you will have done something bigger than you know: You will have sold out your city schools and, in turn, your city, for a handful of white kids and a pipe dream of someone better than Dr. Thompson -- someone weaker, less abrasive, less determined, who will cave.
Judy Wertheimer is a writer living in Squirrel Hill and the mother of two children in the Pittsburgh Public Schools.