Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt has laid out the next phase of his ambitious plans for the district, a blueprint brimming with hope of cutting the dropout rate, stemming the loss of families with school-age children and bridging the racial gap in achievement.

Like his earlier school-closing reorganization, it includes some news that will not be welcome.

Schenley High School, an imposing Classical Revival triangle with an abundance of light, terrazzo floors and white marble stairs, opened 91 years ago. It counts Andy Warhol among its many distinguished graduates and, in the 1960s and '70s, the name Schenley was synonymous with basketball power.

Saying goodbye to that history will be difficult, but the structure now is a health hazard and spending $64 million to make it safe for today's students is, in the words of Mr. Roosevelt, "not prudent." Not when the district is struggling with declining enrollment, poorly performing children, churn in faculty and administrators and tight budgets.

Safety is the issue. The building is packed full of cancer-causing asbestos and the plaster is crumbling. It cost $750,000 alone to fix a fallen section of the ceiling so that classes could be held in the Oakland landmark this year. The ventilation system is shut down, air quality must be tested once a week and the plaster undergoes twice-weekly inspections. Dehumidifiers must run to prevent further deterioriation.

This situation cannot continue. The district has studied this problem since Mr. Roosevelt first proposed Schenley's closing in 2005 and no less-onerous options have been found. Students and parents crowded a noisy meeting Thursday to decry the proposal and are bound to show up in force for a special public hearing Nov. 27. It promises to be an emotional event that, in the end, should serve as a wake, unless some unforeseen way to pay for repairs materializes. The district cannot afford the luxury of keeping open all of its once-grand buildings.

What, then, will happen to the student body? Mr. Roosevelt has answered the question by jump-starting a new plan for the city's high schools. In doing so, though, he puts forward ideas that he has not backed up with the kind of detailed research that supported his sound decision last year to close 22 schools and reorganize elementary schools.

The superintendent calls for creating four schools for grades six through 12, two of which would open next fall -- an International Baccalaureate program at Reizenstein in East Liberty and a university partnership school in the Milliones building in the Hill District.

The district has IB and international studies programs at Schenley, and their 550 students would move to Reizenstein. Another 175 students in the robotics program would move to Peabody High School.

The remaining Schenley students would be assigned to the Milliones building, where the district wants to establish a deeper relationship with its neighbors in higher education. Mr. Roosevelt says a deal with the University of Pittsburgh is nearly complete.

That is one of the troubling elements in Mr. Roosevelt's plan. Why is the deal with Pitt not yet sewn up when he will ask the school board to approve hiring architects and construction managers on Wednesday?

We'd also like to see more evidence to support taking the risky step of assigning students in grades six through 12 to the same buildings. Parents already are ringing alarms over this idea, which would mean children as young as 11 would be in schools that house 18-year-olds.

Mr. Roosevelt says the younger students won't interact with the older ones, but it's hard to understand how students will simultaneously share facilities and faculty while being sufficiently separated.

We applaud Mr. Roosevelt for tackling long-term problems facing the district head on. He has worked hard to bring change for the better to Pittsburgh, and change is not easy. Like parents in the district, though, we want to see more details.