Little kids walk through the doors clinging to a parent’s hand, not sure how to navigate this strange new world of letters and numbers. By the time they walk out for the last time, they have made friends, lost them, laughed, cried, grown several feet, outgrown a lot of shoes and become almost adults.
Schools are not just the places where children learn. They are where they grow up.
This isn’t just one place. For most students, “school” is a series of schools. There may be one for preschool, one or two for elementary school, another for middle school and one for high school. The days of spending 13 years in the same building are long gone.
That is why the Pittsburgh Public Schools board decision this week was a blow for many in the community.
The board voted 6-2 with one abstention to close nine schools — seven in June 2027 and two more the following year. Seven other schools will be reorganized, with students and programs relocated to different buildings.
Parents and students have been passionate. Of course they have been. For them, these are not just schools. They are part of who they are.
It’s similar to the arguments made when Penn State announced the closing of branch campuses, which also will happen at the end of the 2026-27 school year.
The university isn’t wrong when it points to enrollment and cost. But the impact on the communities also carries a cost.
Unfortunately, government can often be forced to make painful decisions. For Pittsburgh Public Schools, it was a question of falling enrollment and aging buildings. Both combine to make the district’s 54 schools more expensive to operate.
Eventually, the history loses to the math.
The numbers may justify the vote. They do not absolve the district of its responsibility to answer questions and address concerns.
The people are not wrong when they ask about how this will affect transportation. The impact on special needs students will be real. The loss to the communities will be genuine. There is the STEAM programming at Woolslair PreK-5 to consider. There is also the African-Centered programming at Miller PreK-5 in the Hill District — an area where the people seem to be continually asked to sacrifice for the greater good.
Schools are so much more than where kids eat lunch, get on and off the bus, and turn in homework. They are where children become people who care about their friends and neighbors. They are where parents volunteer, raise money, cheer at games and get to know one another. They are hubs of activity for communities.
The board made a hard choice that will affect not just the education of children but also the culture and communities of the city. Now it must make the next steps work.
Pittsburgh Public Schools must make this as seamless a transition as possible if it wants to counter criticism that these schools were lopped off to save others. It becomes the district’s responsibility not just to make this work but also to make it work as well as or better than what came before.
The district has decided some schools must end. It now has to prove the opportunities they provided do not end with them.