City School Board Rejects Expanding Suspension Ban In Early Grades wesa.fm - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wesa.fm Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
AP
Three years after the Pittsburgh Public Schools Board banned suspending K-2 students for nonviolent offenses, members wanted data that would tell them if they should expand that ban through fifth grade.
An analysis of the ban made public Tuesday night showed that racial disparities in discipline persist even with the ban. But board directors Kevin Carter and Pam Harbin said that because the report couldn t explain why, the exercise had been a waste of time.
The report was compiled by a North Carolina-based education consultant, Prismark, and it showed that Black students are disproportionately suspended for violent and non-violent offenses. And while suspensions drastically decreased in K-2, the report found, schools were still suspending students for nonviolent offenses even after the ban was put in place.
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Five of the nine Pittsburgh Public Schools Board of Directors seats are up for election this year, and education advocates say the outcomes could mean a “sea changing” shift for the district one that could result in a board that is more skeptical of the district’s leadership.
Tracey Reed, one of the challengers seeking a board seat, says the district must be held to higher standards. “What are we doing if we’re not able to get kids up to a place where they can read with proficiency and do numeracy with proficiency?” she asks. “We have to think about outcomes not like ‘this is inevitable’ but ‘this is what’s possible. ”
Sarah Schneider / 90.5 WESA
The Pittsburgh Public Schools Board of Directors on Wednesday approved a $668.9 million 2021 budget. But the board declined to raise taxes on district residents in an effort to fill a widening budget deficit.
The board greenlit the spending plan after a lengthy discussion about how the district will cut costs in the coming year.
PPS is now operating with a $39.5 million deficit which will have to be covered with its dwindling fund balance. Superintendent Anthony Hamlet said his administration will propose cuts in January and February.
Hamlet’s request for a tax increase was rejected. Board members Pam Harbin, Devon Taliaferro and Sylvia Wilson voted for the increase. Terry Kennedy abstained while Kevin Carter, Cindy Falls, Sala Udin, Bill Gallagher and Veronica Edwards voted against the increase.