Students transitioning out of Oliver Citywide Academy under Pittsburgh Public School's special education plan
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- After several violent incidents at Oliver Citywide Academy, Pittsburgh Public Schools leaders are making a big decision on its future.
Pittsburgh Public Schools is working to transition special education students back into regular classrooms, and that includes students at Oliver Citywide Academy. This special education plan has been in the works since the beginning of the year, prior to the deadly shooting that happened last month.
Pittsburgh Public Schools says there's no official plan on the future of this school, only how they can better transition special ed students back into regular classrooms.
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"The goal is that students are educated in the least restrictive environment. And what that means is that as much as possible, a student is with their non-disabled peers," said Patti Camper, the assistant superintendent for the Program for Students with Exceptionalities.
Pittsburgh Public Schools has 2,000 students with disabilities and as part of the district's requirement of the state, it's now creating an action plan to transition special education students back into regular classrooms using satellite sites.
"We would help them to become accustomed to a neighborhood school. They would move on and exit that satellite into the neighborhood school, maybe a general education classroom," Camper said.
The district says the satellite sites would transition about ten students at a time, including students from Oliver Citywide Academy.
"The goal of it is that we improve the educational experience for all students with disabilities in Pittsburgh Public Schools, and in hopes that we also improve the educational experience for students at Oliver Citywide Academy as well."
But Camper says that doesn't mean all 96 students from Oliver Citywide would eventually fully transition to a neighborhood school, resulting in its closure.
"The future of OCA at this point, there is no final plan. We're really in the preliminary stages of looking at options. And so at this point, there is no official plan."
Camper says if the plan is approved, they hope to have special education students in regular classrooms 80 percent of the time.
As Camper said, so far there's no permanent solution to what will become of Oliver Citywide Academy. Meantime, the district says their special education plan has to be submitted by July 1 for approval.
