Proposal calls for closing 7 city schools
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Pittsburgh Public Schools superintendent Linda Lane speaks at a news conference Thursday, outlining the district's proposed realignment plan for the 2012-13 school year at Pittsburgh School for the Creative and Performing Arts, Downtown.
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Pittsburgh Langley and Pittsburgh Oliver high schools are among seven city schools that would close under a plan unveiled Thursday to confront continuing enrollment declines and a huge districtwide budget shortfall.
The plan, which requires school board approval, would take effect no sooner than the 2012-13 school year.
It would save the district between $7 million and $8 million annually and reduce the number of unused classroom seats districtwide by nearly 4,300, said Pittsburgh Public Schools superintendent Linda Lane.
In addition to Langley in Sheraden and Oliver on the North Side, the schools identified for closure are Pittsburgh Fort Pitt PreK-5 in Garfield; Pittsburgh Murray K-8 in Mount Oliver; Pittsburgh Northview PreK-8 on the North Side; Pittsburgh Schaeffer K-8 in Crafton Heights; and Pittsburgh Stevens K-8 in Elliott.
The district said it would, contingent on Langley's closing, open a preK-8 school in that building. The plan also includes relocating Pittsburgh McNaugher to the Oliver building, which also would become home to the district's special education offices.
As part of the realignment, the district would close the building that currently houses McNaugher, as well as the buildings that house Fort Pitt, Murray, Northview, Schaeffer and Stevens.
The closures affect three of the eight accelerated learning academies that were a linchpin of former superintendent Mark Roosevelt's reforms, announced in 2006.
A series of public hearings on the closures and district realignment will be held later this month and into the fall. The soonest the school board could vote on the plan would be Nov. 22, after those hearings.
"There will be a long process of community engagement around this thing," Ms. Lane said. "There's going to be a lot of conversation. The board is the ultimate decision maker."
The closures promise to create more angst in a district of nearly 26,000 students that has been hit hard by deep state funding cuts on top of the economic downturn. Last week, the school board voted to cut 59 district employees, including 31 teachers, through a mix of furloughs and layoffs. In June, it cut 217 positions, including operational support staff and central office employees.
First Published August 5, 2011 12:00 am
