Pittsburgh Public Schools

The Homeless Children's Education Fund has hired several additional staff to go into shelters, schools, parks and other locations to support students there. Its primary goal is for students to graduate from high school and make post-secondary plans. The organization is serving around 450 students, a number its executive director calls unsatisfyingly low.

Students at Oliver Citywide Academy in Pittsburgh are learning online this week after a staff member was assaulted in the school on Friday.

The board of Pittsburgh Public Schools approved an updated policy that expands the parameters of sexuality education to include consent, anatomy, gender identity and expression and sexual orientation and identity. The policy still notes that abstinence is the only protection that is 100 percent effective against unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases but will no longer state that abstinence is the expected norm.

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona e visited Pittsburgh Public School’s preschool classroom at the Carnegie Science Center where 20 students are taught a STEM curriculum.

Students will now have access to about 40 local companies where they can job shadow and complete other training, Mayor Ed Gainey announced Friday.

Some Pittsburgh Public Schools staff are haunted by whether a change in school district policy might have kept student Marquis Campbell away from school on the day he was shot.

On the 30th anniversary of a complaint filed against Pittsburgh Public Schools’ for failing to provide a quality education for African American students, the school board approved another iteration of the district’s plan to improve achievement and reduce disparities. More than half of the district’s students are African American.

Pittsburgh Public Schools students and staff will only be mandated to wear masks in buildings when the county is at a high level of COVID-19, following CDC guidelines. Some board members questioned the move saying they were only informed the day before and the public didn’t have a chance to comment.

The Pittsburgh Public Schools board will vote Wednesday on an updated health and safety plan with COVID-19 mitigation measures. The administration has proposed that the district no longer quarantine students and staff exposed to the virus but rather only those who test positive. The change is in-line with recently updated CDC guidance.

Pittsburgh Public Schools is hiring substitute teachers, food service and custodial workers. It’s hosting a virtual career fair tomorrow through Friday. Officials say the district is in dire need of workers in these areas, even though it furloughed 26 teachers across 18 schools earlier this month.