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Community members urge pause on 'future ready' plan, call for community‑centered alternative
Summary
Speakers at the Dec. 15 public hearing told the Pittsburgh Public Schools board to stop and rework the 'future ready' plan, pressing for community schools, clearer operational leadership and more specific strategies to raise persistently low literacy and math proficiency among marginalized students.
Multiple parents, community groups and union representatives used the Dec. 15 public hearing to press the Pittsburgh Public Schools to halt or substantially revise the district's "future ready" reconfiguration plan and to center any new plan on students who have been historically underserved.
Dr. Alyse (Elise) Pinchback Johnson, executive director of Black Women for a Better Education, said the board’s recent vote against the most recent iteration of the future ready plan was "the right decision" because the plan lacked specific actions to address academic needs. She urged the district to set clear goals addressing disparities — noting testimony that third‑grade reading proficiency stands at about 44% and middle‑school math proficiency at about 19% — and to strengthen partnership mechanisms such as a memorandum of understanding with the equity advisory panel. “Don’t think about moving forward with another iteration of the plan without engaging our elders in this work,” she said.
Speakers urged the board to use a community‑schools approach that treats schools as neighborhood hubs providing wraparound services and to include broader stakeholder representation on any steering committees. Sandra Wooley of the PEN Education Task Force said community schools are not a program but a way to organize the district and urged the board to include city and county leaders, non‑profits, foundations and legislators in planning.
Parents and representatives repeatedly warned against rushed closures and consolidation. Shannon Schreiner, a Fulton Elementary parent, said Fulton is not failing and warned that nearly 29% of her school’s students have IEPs; she said closures risk destroying the social supports that allow students with special needs to thrive. Mike Cummings and others urged decentralized leadership and recommended relocating some central‑office functions into school buildings with excess capacity.
Union leaders and staff representatives asked the board to focus on working conditions: Diane Ziedleman (staff representative) and Billy Heilman (president of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers) described chronic understaffing, long teacher workdays and the need for sufficient support staff and substitutes to avoid relying on staff to sacrifice health for students’ needs.
The testimony did not record a board vote or formal decision on the future ready plan during this hearing. Speakers asked for renewed community sessions, clear operational timelines and specific performance targets before any proposal moves forward.
