Pittsburg, PA
As Pittsburgh Public Schools closure vote nears, board members aim for more transparency
It was pure déjà vu at the Pittsburgh Public Schools board meeting on Wednesday night.
District leaders are again deciding whether to close nine school buildings and reconfigure many more — a plan administrators failed to get board support for last fall. PPS board members are slated to take up another vote on the plan next week.
“We’ve had some conversations, we’ve had some decisions, but the plan that we’re voting on next week looks much like the same plan that we voted on in November,” said District 2 director Devon Taliaferro. “That still sits as a concern with me.”
If passed, the plan would permanently close seven buildings at the end of the 2026-2027 school year: Manchester K-8, Schiller 6-8, Friendship PreK-5 (Montessori), Fulton PreK-5, Miller African-Centered Academy, Woolslair PreK-5 and the Student Achievement Center.
Two more buildings, Spring Hill K-5 and the primary school at Morrow K-8, would close at the end of the 2028-2029 school year once renovations to reopen Northview PreK-5 in Northview Heights are complete.
Morrow’s K-5 program would remain intact, and the district plans to move Schiller’s STEAM-focused, middle school programming to Allegheny Traditional Academy, also on the city’s North Side. Officials also want to relocate the Montessori program to Linden PreK-5 in Point Breeze.
The rest of the schools on the closure list, however, would be dissolved, setting in motion a cascading series of school mergers, feeder pattern shifts and programmatic changes.
If passed, the plan would set in motion the permanent closing of nine aging buildings for the 2027-2028 school year.
With many moving pieces and calls for more transparency, board vice president Yael Silk suggested that PPS hold quarterly updates as administrators implement the plan.
“There have been lots of questions, both from board members and also from community members, and the answer has often been [that] those answers will come once we’re in the implementation phase,” Silk said. “So I also see this as a clear promise to the community that, should this resolution pass, that we as a board will have a process in place for regular updates.”
Director Emma Yourd echoed those concerns, calling for the establishment of a temporary committee tasked with scheduling and communicating these updates.
Taliaferro said that while those amendments to the closure resolution would be helpful, they may not be significant enough changes to sway her vote.
She also urged the district to be more transparent about how it plans to utilize the buildings slated for closure. Five of the nine buildings on the closure list are located in Taliaferro’s district.
“And what I don’t want to see is that the buildings just sit there,” she said. “Although we have to still maintain those spaces at the bare minimum, they still become eyesores in [the] community.”
Taliaferro also raised concerns that selling the buildings without caution could leave room for new charter schools to sprout up in their place.
Several PPS buildings closed in the past two decades now house charter schools. On the North Side, Propel operates a K-8 school out of the former PPS Columbus Middle School. In Hazelwood, the charter network has taken over the former Burgwin Elementary School.
Kids at Environmental Charter School walk through the same halls that Regent Square Elementary School and Rogers Middle School students walked before their buildings closed in 2004 and 2009, respectively.
“My concern is that that can hit us later on down the road, should a charter school end up in one of those buildings, and now we are, um, paying for charter tuition in a building that we closed because we put no thought into what happens with those spaces,” Taliaferro said.
Board members will vote next Wednesday on whether to move forward with the closures.
PHOTO BY DAVE BRYCE PHOTOGRAPHY
From warm maple and mossy green finishes on its cabinetry to the brass plumbing fixtures on the sink, the kitchen of this Treesdale home in Adams Township is all about natural warmth and soft color.
It’s a space that architect Robert Gaskill of Gaskill Architecture, who spearheaded the renovation project, describes as timeless and collected.
“The classic cabinetry, use of natural stone, brass hardware and rich, warm maple wood tone has been relevant for decades and will continue to age beautifully,” Gaskill says. “Rather than leaning into trendy design elements, this kitchen design focuses on authenticity. The layered materials give this kitchen timeless character, which makes it feel as if it evolved over time rather than being tied to a specific moment.”
PHOTO BY DAVE BRYCE PHOTOGRAPHY
The kitchen’s ageless design led to it being named Best Renovated Kitchen in Pittsburgh Magazine’s Best of Design contest.
“I think the kitchen feels really cozy; it’s going to be a great place for people to gather,” says judge Katie Savakis, a project designer at Vocon’s Cleveland office. “This kitchen feels very Ralph Lauren, but in the best way.”
Judge Crystal Knapik, an architect and senior associate at CannonDesign in St. Louis, also praised the contrast in the materials.
“I like how they choose that mossy green to be the main character of the kitchen,” she says. “They balanced the dark tones with the bright white ceiling and the white marble on the island.”
Art Rectenwald purchased the home in 2022 and shares it with his wife, Irinia, and his daughter, Annabelle. (“Plus two dogs, two cats, ten chickens and five horses,” he adds.)
The kitchen renovation originally wasn’t part of an overall home addition, but as the project evolved, it became clear the existing builder-grade space wasn’t going to cut it. Rectenwald says that the previous kitchen was “bland and low quality,” but calls the updated space “cozy, beautiful and efficient.”
PHOTO BY DAVE BRYCE PHOTOGRAPHY
Irina Rectenwald is an architect specializing in environmental design, and her husband says her vision and research provided the primary inspiration for the space. Gaskill seconds this, adding that the selections were “heavily guided by the homeowners’ aesthetic preferences and style.”
The cabinetry pairs a warm maple finish on the range wall and island with a mossy green painted finish on the side elevations. The refrigerator is fully integrated within tall maple cabinetry, allowing it to blend seamlessly into the design. Two tiled towers also frame the range wall, introducing texture while creating niches for displaying personal objects.
“The tiled corner niches are my favorite,” Rectenwald says. “Our corners now display sculptures and artwork versus blenders and coffee makers.”
The homeowners add it feels good to know that their vision, and the hard work that went into bringing the space to life, is appreciated.
“The finished product is everything and more of what we hoped for,” Rectenwald says. “Every detail turned out how we envisioned or better.”
Vendors
Architectural Design: Gaskill Architecture
Interior Design: Gaskill Architecture
General Contractor: TK Construction
Cabinetry: Beahm and Son Ltd. Custom Cabinetry
Fixtures: Brizo
Countertops: Top It Off Granite
Tile: The Tile Shop
PITTSBURGH (WKBN) – Morgan Wallen has canceled his concert that was set to happen Saturday night in Pittsburgh.
According to Ticketmaster, Wallen canceled the show at Acrisure Stadium for Saturday, June 6.
Wallen wrote on his Instragram account that the show was canceled due to the threat of severe weather.
Ticketmaster says if you bought a ticket, you don’t have to do anything — they will issue you a refund to your original method of payment and the money should appear on your account within 14-21 days.
If tickets were transferred to you, the refund will go to the fan who originally purchased the tickets from Ticketmaster.
The show was part of Wallen’s “Still the Problem” tour.
Pittsburg, PA
Pittsburg State Track and Field’s Blakelee Winn named National Women’s Field Athlete of the Year
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