Penn Hills officials and parents are voicing their concerns about the school district’s use of Pittsburgh Regional Transit, previously Port Authority of Allegheny County, for students attending charter schools in the Pittsburgh area.

The decision originally was made and announced in June. The Penn Hills School Board passed the measure in a 8-1 vote June 25 with Devon Goetze being the only no vote.

Penn Hills Superintendent John Mozzocio made a statement at the school board’s regular public voting meeting Aug. 21.

“The district has been diligent in following the financial recovery plan outlined by the Pennsylvania Department of Education,” Mozzocio said. “As you may know, we successfully exited financial recovery this year. It was a huge milestone for the district. One of the conditions of that exit was to get our transportation costs under control. The district will stay committed to using passes for PRT buses. The board and administration have made its decision.”

Erin Vecchio, president of the Penn Hills School Board, called the situation a “done deal.”

Mozzocio said the district will continue to engage in conversations with families who have issues, including students who must walk more than 1.5 miles and students who are walking along roads that may be unsafe.

According to district representative Sarah McClaun, an “internal study” conducted by the district predicted the district would initially have saved $411,000 by outsourcing some bus routes to PRT and having approximately 3% of their students use PRT bus passes to get to and from school.

What initially affected seven schools — Environmental Charter middle and high schools, Propel Andrew Street High School, Propel Braddock Hills middle and high schools, LIFE Male STEAM Academy and Westinghouse Arts Academy — now only affects students in sixth through 12th grades attending Environmental Charter Middle School in Pittsburgh’s Garfield neighborhood, Environmental Charter High School in Pittsburgh’s Morningside neighborhood and Westinghouse Arts Academy in Wilmerding.

On Aug. 7, the district announced that officials were able to work out a cost-sharing deal with Propel and STEAM for students to ride Krise Transportation buses. According to district officials, the same deals were offered to Westinghouse and Environmental Charter, but they weren’t accepted.

Deana Callipare, director of communications for Environmental Charter, said ECS had a meeting with Penn Hills administrators and agreed on three baseline scenarios that could be implemented for students. The first option had all ECS students living in Penn Hills riding one school bus. The trip would take over two hours, Callipare said, and some students would have to board the bus before 6:30 a.m.

The second option was that the travel routes of students in Penn Hills would be assessed for safety. Those who could safely walk to a PRT bus stop would use the bus passes, and those who could not safely do so would get picked up by a school bus. ECS still is waiting for those assessments from Penn Hills, Callipare said.

The third option was for a cost-sharing deal. According to Callipare, ECS agreed to consider the deal once Penn Hills got back to them with information about the specific costs ECS would be expected to cover. ECS has yet to receive that information, she said.

The charter school has not accepted or denied any of the options at this time, Callipare said.

“We are really looking for equitable transportation solutions,” she said. “Transportation is not one size fits all.”

Westinghouse Arts Academy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Students attending those schools will be given PRT bus passes rather than being transported by Krise Transportation, the third-party bus company that Penn Hills School District has contracted to handle student transportation for nearly 10 years.

Safety concerns parents, students

Brian Sanders, a parent of two students at Westinghouse Arts Academy said his children would have to get up at 4 a.m. to catch a bus at 5:15 a.m. to ride for two hours to Westinghouse Arts Academy. He said his home is 20 minutes from the school.

“I’m not riding a bus to Wilkinsburg at nighttime. I’m a 57-year-old grown man and I graduated from Wilkinsburg, but I’m not standing out there in the middle of the night,” Sanders said.

Two students of Westinghouse Arts Academy also addressed school board members.

“If I were to get on a bus in the morning, I’d have to go down the nearest bus stop, which is about 15 minutes away (walking) if I had to estimate,” said Ada Smyth, 14. “I’d have to go on a bus and then transfer to another bus in Wilkinsburg. Then I’d have to walk 25 minutes from that bus stop to the school.”

“My mom works alot,” said Max Williams, 15. “She has four kids and she’s single mom. This is a lot on her, to be honest.”

Veronica Lavender, a Westinghouse parent said the school board members failed the students by not considering their safety.

“This is not just about money,” Lavender said. “This is about kids — their safety, their livelihoods.”

Katharine Sanchez brought her 10-year-old daughter, Violet, to the board meeting Aug. 21. Her older daughter previously attended Penn Hills schools until she had to be pulled out because of bullying, Sanchez said. Both girls attend Westinghouse.

“Now you’re going to put her into danger again?” Sanchez asked board members. “She would have to walk all the way up Lougeay Road.”

Dark mornings, no sidewalks

Penn Hills is not the first school district to use this transportation method for students, McClaun said.

“This transportation method has been utilized by other local districts, including the Pittsburgh City School District,” McClaun said when Penn Hills School District first made the announcement.

Marian Sefcik, president of the Westinghouse Arts Academy Family Teacher Organization and a grandparent of a senior there, spoke at the Penn Hills Council meeting Aug. 19.

“I find it difficult to see how this is safe for students,” Sefcik said. “Our students must walk from their home to the nearest PRT bus stop and then take one bus inbound to the busway in Wilkinsburg and then transfer to an outbound bus to reach the school. Many of our students, most, as a matter of fact, would be leaving their home as early as 5:30 a.m. in the morning depending on where their PRT stop is located.”

She said 46 Westinghouse Arts Academy students live in Penn Hills and cited the lack of sidewalks and how dark the mornings are as points of concern.

“I don’t like these 46 kids being made to feel that they’re not good enough to be put on a school bus,” Sefcik said.

She made a similar statement at the school board meeting Aug. 21.

Tracy Grieve Martin said she and her husband have lived in Penn Hills for the past 30 years. Her daughter attends Westinghouse Arts Academy.

“We cannot fight your battle with charter schools,” Grieve Martin said to board members.

Her family’s home is along Lougeay Road, a county road with no sidewalks or lights. She said her daughter would have to walk the length of the road to reach the nearest bus stop.

‘Fewer than 2%’ impacted, district says

The district released a second statement after receiving complaints from parents.

“The district will always listen to the concerns of families when it comes to safety, and we will evaluate each situation on a case-by-case basis,” the statement read.

Penn Hills Mayor Pauline Calabrese said she has received “multiple calls” about the situation. She added the municipality and school board are separate entities, and the township does not have jurisdiction over school district decisions.

Calabrese suggested council members reach out to state officials about the situation.

“I can’t imagine how anyone could think a 12-year-old girl going on a bus down to Wilkinsburg, transferring twice, is safe for the individual,” said Penn Hills Council member Shawn Kerestus.

The district’s website states that only students in grades six through 12 who attend one of these schools will receive a monthly pass. Students in the grades below will continue to be bused by Krise Transportation. If a student in grades six through 12 has a younger sibling who rides a district bus, the older sibling is allowed to ride the bus with them.

Students who receive a monthly bus pass may use their pass to travel to and from other events such as after-school activities or work.

“The great thing about this is that these are bus passes,” McClaun said. “If students need to go somewhere outside of just getting to and from school, they now have this as an option for transportation at any time.”

According to a statement released by the district, “approximately 80 of the 4,000 students served by the district — fewer than 2% — are affected by these changes.”

This solution comes after the district received complaints about inconsistent bus arrivals and drop-offs, caused by a driver shortage that has affected multiple districts in the area. According to a release from the district, transportation expenses in 2022 totaled $7,418,543 for more than 3,000 students, averaging $1,838 per student annually.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)