The Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) School Board has voted not to move forward with a plan that called for closing nine schools.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the plan, two years in the making, would have shuttered nine school buildings, closed several others and reopened them as new schools, and changed grade structures districtwide.
The board rejected the proposal in a 6-3 vote.
The plan had been developed to address excess classroom capacity in the school system. The Pittsburgh district has space for 40,000 students but its enrollment is only 18,380.
The proposal would have permanently shuttered Baxter (Student Achievement Center), Friendship (Montessori), Fulton PreK-5, McKelvy (Miller PreK-5), Morrow Primary, Schiller 6-8, Spring Hill K-5, Woolslair PreK-5 and Manchester PreK-8.
Several other schools would have been moved to different buildings, and some would have had their grade configurations altered to follow a K-5, 6-8 and 9-12 model.
But the process triggered intense community pushback; on Monday, close to 80 parents, students and community members at a public hearing called on the board to reject the plan.
Pittsburgh School Superintendent Wayne Walters, who was an advocate for the plan, said it would have helped provide opportunities for students in all school buildings and secure critical savings for the district.
"The board has made a decision," Walters said. "I accept that decision, I received that decision and we move forward from there."
Board President Gene Walker said he was hopeful that the board will not have to start from scratch to reach consensus on a facilities plan.
The plan is "almost there," he said.
