At least one Pittsburgh-area school district is considering remote learning next Wednesday over fears of possible “volatile behavior or unrest” in the community following Election Day.
The West Mifflin Area School District in a Wednesday letter suggested students might shift to online learning the day after the election. The possible move comes amid a contentious election cycle marred by assassination attempts, increased hate speech and election fraud allegations.
“As we approach Election Day on Tuesday, November 5, we recognize the possibility of strong reactions in our community and across the country,” Superintendent Jeffrey Soles wrote. “In the interest of student and staff safety, we want to prepare for issues that could arise from the election.”
According to the letter, the district will notify parents of a decision by 6 a.m. Wednesday. If a remote day is enacted, students will be required to log into classes from home.
District leaders declined to comment further on the decision.
But the goal is to prioritize “the safety and well-being of our students and staff while ensuring instruction continues,” the letter reads.
Safety concerns have been a top issue this election cycle. It comes less than four years after the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that started after then-President Donald Trump refused to accept the 2020 election results. This year there have been two assassination attempts on Trump, rallies filled with traded criticism between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, and ballot drop box fires in Oregon and Washington state.
And concerns around election fraud are seemingly running rampant, especially in swing states such as Pennsylvania. So far Pennsylvania, the largest battleground state, has seen officials in Lancaster and York counties dig into recent deliveries of large batches of election materials, including suspicious voter registration forms. And the Pennsylvania Democratic Party filed a suit against the Erie County Board of Elections after some voters received two mail ballots.
Now, about 4 in 10 registered voters say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about violent attempts to overturn the results of the November election, an Associated Press poll found.
School districts are also responding. Pittsburgh Public Schools will operate on a half-day schedule Monday in response to Harris and Trump rallies planned in the city. Ms. Harris will spend Monday, the final day of the 2024 campaign, in Allentown in the Lehigh Valley before traveling to Pittsburgh. She will end the day in Philadelphia. Her Pittsburgh rally was expected to include a concert at Point State Park, but the venue has since changed. Trump is hosting his rally at PPG Paints Arena.
“The Pittsburgh Police have advised the District that, due to planned political engagements by each presidential candidate, significant disruptions to the afternoon commute are expected,” Pittsburgh Public said in a news release. “To minimize the impact of these disruptions and ensure a smooth and safe transition home for students, all PPS schools will dismiss according to their designated half-day schedule.”
The district is closed Tuesday for Election Day.
Earlier this week the Allentown School District in Lehigh County also closed school because of a planned Trump rally in the city. The Tuesday event, the district posted on Facebook, was “expected to bring large crowds, heavy traffic, and potential disruptions that may impact the safety and security of our students and staff.”
Still, despite fears over possible violence, Kenneth Trump, president of the National School Safety and Security Services, said Friday he has not heard of other districts across the nation taking similar precautions as West Mifflin. He instead questioned what led the district to consider possible remote learning Wednesday.
He also pointed to a long history of districts taking precautions on Election Day itself, conversations that largely started in a post-Columbine and post-9/11 world.
Many schools, central to the communities they serve, are often used as polling places, raising questions about school security and whether students should be present.
“We’re spending millions if not billions of dollars in access control and visitor management and securing schools and training staff to supervise and hiring school resource officers and security personnel to supervise to make sure there's no unauthorized persons coming in the school,” Mr. Trump said. “And then, except for one or two days a year, we open the doors to anyone and everyone.”
Now, Mr. Trump and his organization are pushing for the removal of polling places from schools. But that decision faces challenges such as logistics — finding a new location for the polling place — and politics.
The second best choice, Mr. Trump said, is removing students from school on Election Day.
That’s a decision nearly 20 Allegheny County districts have made, including West Mifflin, where students will participate in remote learning on Tuesday.
“It's just built into the calendar that it's a professional learning day for teachers, a training day for teachers,” Mr. Trump said. “No students present.”
Still others, Mr. Trump said, continue to operate a normal school day despite residents coming into the building to cast their votes. In Illinois in past election years, the Elk Grove Village School District has had to divert school staff to monitor parts of school buildings where students and the public might accidentally mingle, EdWeek reported. Now, Illinois declared Election Day a state holiday, meaning schools will be closed.
Mr. Trump called having students in the building on Election Day the “worst case scenario.”
“Day-to-day security concerns are probably as great, if not greater than, any fear of someone coming with the intent of being violent,” Mr. Trump said.
At West Mifflin, district leaders will inform families of a final decision by phone and email. It will also be posted on the district website.
“We appreciate your understanding and cooperation,” Mr. Soles wrote, “as we navigate this period together.”
First Published: November 1, 2024, 7:09 p.m.
Updated: November 4, 2024, 6:37 p.m.
