Pittsburgh Public School board votes to reopen discussion on closing several schools
The Pittsburgh Public Schools board has voted to reopen the discussion on possibly closing nearly a dozen schools.
In a unanimous, 8-0 vote on Wednesday night, the conversation surrounding the "Future Ready Facilities Plan" will resume after it was voted down in March last year.
The most controversial piece of the plan that caused it to be voted down was that nine schools would be closed in an effort to reduce costs.
"The problems that were there 20 months ago are still there, so I didn't want to delay any longer than necessary," said Eva Diodati, Pittsburgh Public School Board Member, District 7. "There's a lot of work to be done."
The vote on Wednesday night was just to reopen talks about potentially implementing the plan.
Pittsburgh Public School Board, however, did not announce a timeline for any new discussions.
Pittsburgh Public Schools Board votes down closure plan
In November, in a 6-3 vote, the district's Future-Ready Facilities Plan, which had been years in the making and would have reorganized the district, was voted down.
A motion to table a decision failed 5-4, leading to the final decision.
"We're in a worse place today than when we started," school board president Gene Walker said at the time. "And that is what is frustrating for me. We somehow made a cloudy and difficult conversation much more cloudy and much more difficult."
The vote came after nearly 100 parents packed a school board meeting to voice their concerns over school closures and consolidations.
Parents, community members rally for schools
Prior to one of the school board meetings, more than two dozen concerned community members and parents held a protest.
"Where will my child go to school? How will they get there? Who is going to teach them? These are not small details. They are the foundation of trust, and right now that foundation is crumbling. There's no staffing plan available. The attendance zones are shifting. What about transportation?" parent Lamar Black said.
Some parents told the board at the time that families were left in the dark with a lot of unanswered questions. Those against the plan asked the district not to vote to start the closure process until they were given the details they're asking for.
