Pittsburgh Public Schools to delay classroom instruction for first quarter

Pittsburgh Public Schools will officially use remote instruction for the first quarter of the school year, the board of directors voted Friday afternoon in a virtual meeting.

The vote came in response to a resolution made last week by Board Member Kevin Carter, who proposed the district stay online for the first nine weeks. Carter said this move would be safest as Allegheny County experiences large numbers of covid-19 cases and hospitalizations.

“Educators are not public health officials, nor should we be in the position to make this decision,” Carter said at the special legislative meeting Friday. “Nonetheless, we have a responsibility to ensure the safety of all of our students and staff.”

Carter referenced the actions of school districts across the nation, adding that a delay seemed to be the only safe option at the moment.

“There are no right answers, there are no wrong answers,” he said. “It’s just trial and error at this point.”

His resolution was widely supported on the board last week, and was publicly supported by Nina Esposito-Vignitis, president of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers.

At Friday’s meeting, board members reiterated the uncertainty of the moment, many of them sympathizing with parents who had been supportive of in-person school.

Board Member Devon Taliaferro said Friday’s vote had kept her up for many late nights and early mornings, and she acknowledged that a lot of hard work had already been put into formulating the district’s All In back-to-school plan. But she ultimately felt that a return to school buildings could not guarantee the health and safety of students and teachers.

Board Member William Gallagher also lamented the difficulty of the decision, but said it was the only possible answer.

“It’s a moral decision,” Gallagher said. “We have people’s health in our hands.”

Still, concerns linger about the quality of online learning versus face-to-face instruction.

Board Member Sala Udin said it was “common knowledge” that the shortcomings of online instruction had done “immeasurable damage” in the spring, especially for students of color. Udin, a long-time advocate on the board for equity of Black and brown students, said that “Black children are hanging on by their fingernails. … As a public relations method, the administration insists that needed progress is being made, but let me assure you that overall, sufficient gains for Black students are not being made.

“This must be corrected, but in order to correct it … it must first be accepted.

Still, Udin said he could not, in good conscience, vote for a return to the classroom — not when the health and safety of students wasn’t guaranteed, he said. He warned parents that the delay could even last far longer than nine weeks.

Board Member Cynthia Falls echoed Udin’s concerns, and asked several questions relating to the district’s overall health and safety plan. She asked what specifically has changed since the spring semester — when the district was fraught with issues including lack of technology access and, at one point, printed instruction packets that were blurry beyond legibility.

Chief Academic Officer Minika Jenkins assured Falls that the district had improved its ability to provide synchronous instruction to all students. Chief Accountability Officer Theodore Dwyer said at least 800 families in need had been provided with Wi-Fi by the district, thanks to community donations.

The district has committed to providing laptops or other devices to every student for the next school year, to ensure a seamless delivery of instruction.

Board Member Veronica Edwards, who last week expressed skepticism at the resolution, repeated her concerns that a completely remote plan would not benefit all students — though she ended up voting in favor.

“I’m ending up with where I began,” she said. “Still, no one size fits all, and my very best and biggest hope is that the ones telling us all students will have a computer on first day of school are telling the truth.”

Following the vote to delay classroom instruction, the board also unanimously approved its health and safety plan, to go into effect as soon as students and teachers return to buildings. It addresses adjustments to facilities, classroom layout, sanitation, transportation and other concerns.