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Wednesday, August 14, 2002

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Mayor Tom Murphy will not name the members of his city schools task force today as promised.

Murphy announced the creation of a commission to study Pittsburgh Public Schools July 23 and named Oxford Development Co. Chief Executive Officer David Matter and Pittsburgh Foundation President William Trueheart to chair it.

Murphy said then that task force members would be named Aug. 14, but spokesman Craig Kwiecinski said yesterday Murphy would miss the deadline.

"We have lots of work to do to pull all the different pieces [of the commission] together. We're making sure we've connected with all the people invited to participate," he said.

Kwiecinski had no new deadlines for naming the members, and would not speculate if they would be announced by Sept. 3, the first day of school.

Murphy wants the commission to study the school district's finances, academic performance and governance, and issue recommendations for improving the district by the end of the year. He created the task force after the Grable Foundation, The Heinz Endowments and the Pittsburgh Foundation withdrew $3.5 million in grants to the district this year, citing squabbling among school board members and Superintendent John Thompson.