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Remarks outrage councilwoman

Wednesday, May 01, 2002

By Timothy McNulty, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Pittsburgh City Councilman Bob O'Connor charged yesterday that the city's public school system too often shies away from disciplining black students because black leaders "squawk" about it.

	Audio excerpt This audio excerpt has a series of questions on school discipline that City Councilman Bob O'Connor asked Carlo Schiattarella, Edison Schools vice president for development, during a zoning hearing moderated by Councilwoman Barbara Burns yesterday. O'Connor audio (File size: 1.7MB) Visit the following sites to download players for Windows or Mac machines to listen to the file: Real Player Microsoft Windows Media Player WinAMP

His remarks at a zoning hearing angered Councilwoman Twanda Carlisle, the only black City Council member attending the session.

"He was totally out of bounds. Bob has to watch what he says -- he doesn't know what he's saying," said Carlisle, of Homewood. "I'm totally offended. With him it's always African-Americans and the poor, and I did not appreciate that."

At a hearing for a proposed charter school in East Liberty, O'Connor, a former mayoral candidate from Squirrel Hill, asked the school's administrators how they would avoid "racial problems" in disciplining black students. He said Pittsburgh Public Schools teachers are pressured not to suspend black youths.

"Every time we hear about discipline in our schools, it's always, well, you can't suspend or discipline African-Americans, or you're suspending too many African-American kids. And so the teachers are throwing up their hands saying well, we can't punish Johnny, or we're not going to publish anybody," O'Connor said. "How come you can do it and the city schools can't do it?"

Hours later, after meeting with Carlisle, O'Connor said he should have asked how school officials would punish low-income students rather than black students. Black students were at issue yesterday, he said, because students at the East Liberty school will be primarily black.

"When you discipline too many African-American students, African-American leaders squawk about it. I should have said 'low-income.' In Pittsburgh, we don't have Mexicans and Hispanics. It's more of an income [issue]," he said in a phone interview.

"They [the charter schools officials] were discussing African-American kids. My question was how can you discipline kids when the city either tries or gives up on it? When [the city schools] tried they were shot down by some African-American leaders ... There are problems with white kids, too. Discipline is a problem across city schools."

Yesterday's hearing was on zoning approvals for a $7.5 million renovation of the Renaissance Academy of Pittsburgh Alternative of Hope Edison Charter School, which is set to open in September. Plans call for its 575 kindergarten through fifth-grade students to be housed in the former SS. Peter & Paul school and rectory at 130 Larimer Ave.

The property is owned by Everlasting Covenant Church, which plans to join with New York-based Edison Schools, a for-profit company, to run the charter school. A state appeals board unanimously approved the charter school's application last year after it was denied by the Pittsburgh Board of Public Education.

The Planning Commission approved plans for the property Feb. 12 and the matter was sent to council for a routine review. O'Connor's comments came after presentations by planning and schools officials and were apparently triggered by Edison's claims of strengthening student character and respect at its 136 schools nationwide.

O'Connor first asked Edison's vice president for development, Carlo Schiattarella, the estimated number of African-American students attending the school, and was told 65 percent to 70 percent. After O'Connor made his comments on discipline and Schiattarella replied, the meeting's chairwoman, Barbara Burns, tried to halt O'Connor's line of questioning.

"Point of order, this is a conditional use application. We ought to be discussing the [building's] facade. I'm not at a school board meeting," she said.

O'Connor pressed on, saying he had the floor.

"I'm going to ask these questions unless somebody carries me out of here ... Because I hope the media's paying attention. I want to know what [Schiattarella] is doing so good, because we're paying $10,000 to $12,000 a student and I want to find out what the city is doing wrong."

Schiattarella spoke about working with the school district, then O'Connor said, "So, we don't have any racial problems if there's discipline in the schools?"

Schiattarella said no.

"One last question, because I guess people maybe are afraid of some of your answers," O'Connor continued. "If there's a kid that misbehaves, black or white -- Johnny's standing up and walking around and he's saying, hey, whatever, what do you do with him?"

"That's what his City Council members do," Burns broke in. Soon thereafter, she ruled all of O'Connor's comments "out of order" and "inappropriate," saying the zoning meeting was not the right forum.

Afterward, O'Connor said his comments were in response to complaints by teachers and black and white parents. Black leaders like Pittsburgh NAACP President Tim Stevens, who have protested at school board meetings, should be complaining about discipline, too, he said.

"Tim Stevens and all those leaders better stand by their teachers. ... They want discipline in the black community, too," he said.