Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette
	Upper St. Clair student Dalena Klavin, center, reacts as school directors talk of ending the IB program.

After a tumultuous week of community debate and heavy news media coverage, the Upper St. Clair school board voted last night to eliminate the district's International Baccalaureate program before an angry and vocal crowd of about 1,000 people.

The vote was 5-4 and was met with jeers and booing.

School board President Dr. William Sulkowski and other board members were heckled throughout the meeting; Dr. Sulkowski at one point summoned police and security officers to try to keep the meeting under control.

The vote came after more than three hours of debate and impassioned pleas from parents and students to save the program, which is used is used at 1,722 schools in 122 countries.

Among those pleading to spare the IB program was one of its participants, Shawn Summers, a 10th grader, who urged board members to visit one of the International Baccalaureate classes.

"I challenge any member of the school board to enter our classroom. You can sneak in unannounced. I entreat you to at least grant a stay of execution," said the youth, whose remarks drew a standing ovation.

Founded in 1968, the program aims to give students a world perspective and develop critical thinking skills. Upper St. Clair is the only district in the region to use the curriculum at elementary, middle and high school levels. About 700 students participate in it. Schenley High School and Vincentian Academy in McCandless also use the curriculum.

Dr. Graham Hatfull, chairman of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh who has two sons in the district, also urged the board to delay its decision.

"As a professional educator, I am painfully aware of how difficult it is to assess educational programs," he said. "We need to determine if [International Baccalaureate] achieves its goals of developing innovation, creativity, risk-taking, and cross-disciplinary understandings by using thoughtful and thorough assessment methods."

School Superintendent Dr. James D. Lombardo urged the board not to kill the program. "I do hope that your decision tonight is not to eliminate the program because that is certainly not my recommendation."

But board member Dr. Daniel Iracki, a leader of the faction that voted against the program, said he was elected as part of a slate of candidates who promised to reduce district expenditures. "We promised to be fiscally responsible," Dr. Iracki said.

Dr. Iracki and other newly elected members of the board expressed opposition to the program on the grounds that it is Marxist, anti-Christian, un-American and too costly.

But the only comments that were made about the program last night dealt with its costs.

The Upper St. Clair School District, with 4,100 students in six schools, has a budget for this school year of $50 million. The program costs the district approximately $80,000.

Voting to eliminate the program were Dr. Sulkowski, Dr. Iracki, and board members Dr. Mark G. Trombetta, David Bluey and Carol Coliane. Voting no were board members Barbara L. Bolas, Glenn G. Groninger, Jeffrey W. Joyce and Angela B. Petersen.

"I don't understand the rush to judgment," Ms. Petersen said. "I'm arguing to delay the vote."

Mr. Bluey said, however, that he saw very little data that supported keeping the program. He noted that 85 to 90 percent of the students in the district do not participate in it. Dr. Sulkowski said the district's debt is about $18,000 per student, compared to about $10,000 per student in other school districts.

Dr. Iracki recommended that the board develop an international studies program to replace the International Baccalaureate program.

Many of the parents who mobilized in recent weeks to save the program say IB is the reason their families moved in the district in the first place. They note that President Bush has publicly commended the program.

A number of students have been wearing black armbands to express their opposition to the board's effort. "They symbolize the death of democracy," said Dan Capone, a junior at the high school.

Parents with placards rallied in support of the program Friday morning in front of the municipal building and were joined by students throughout the afternoon.