National teachers union leader celebrates success at Pittsburgh Woolslair
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten hears of the success of Pittsburgh's Woolslair School during her visit to Pittsburgh Wednesday. At right is Pittsburgh School Director Sylvia Wilson from District 1.
To the president of the American Federation of Teachers, the story of Pittsburgh Woolslair PreK-5 going from the chopping block to a new partial magnet program is one of a number of stories across the country of new life being breathed into public schools once at risk of closing.
“If you really believe communities are the engine of urban growth and you believe schools are the heart of cities, then you need to help keep it open and you need it to thrive. Then it creates oxygen and life for a community,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten at a small gathering at the nonprofit Assemble in Garfield.
In town Wednesday for an AFT lawyers conference, Ms. Weingarten would have visited Woolslair except state standardized tests are underway at the school this week. Instead, teachers sent her a card that included photos of the school as well as its recent celebration when the district named it one of six STAR — Students and Teachers Achieving Results — schools for achieving academic growth in the top 25 percent of schools in the state.
Last week, the district announced it has received nearly $900,000 in grants from the Grable Foundation and the Fund for Excellence to start programs this fall in STEAM — science, technology, engineering, arts and math — at Woolslair, Lincoln and Schiller.
While there will be STEAM throughout Woolslair, a STEAM magnet program in the lower grades is aimed at attracting students from throughout the city. The idea of STEAM was suggested by Woolslair supporters after staff, parents and the community were polled.
“It wasn’t just one group. It wasn’t just one person. It was an enormous collaboration from the bottom up,” Ms. Weingarten said. “That’s what made it succeed.”
Ms. Weingarten was pleased it is STEAM, not just STEM. “Science and engineering and math are all really, really important, but there are lots and lots of kids for whom the arts is the road to engagement,” she said.
The district had considered closing Woolslair in fall 2015 because, at 110 students, it was the district’s smallest school. However, a new school board gave Woolslair a reprieve and later approved the STEAM plan.
Woolslair parent Valerie Allman, who was among those who worked to save the school, told Ms. Weingarten that parents were “devastated” when they heard the school might be closing.
“When you walk into that school, the teachers and the staff, from the janitors to the principal and beyond, everybody comes together in that school to make every kid count. They’re not just a test score,” Ms. Allman said.National teachers union leader celebrates success at Pittsburgh Woolslair | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
