PITTSBURGH — Just days after Pittsburgh Public Schools announced changes to the 2023-24 school year calendar, the district said Wednesday that the plans will not move forward.
The halt comes after the superintendent, Dr. Wayne Walters, said he heard concerns with the proposed changes recently announced. Wednesday, he sent out a letter to students, staff and families letting them know that the upcoming 2023-24 calendar will mirror the current calendar structure.
Nina Esposito-Visgitis is the president of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers. She said she had spoken to Walters about some changes, but wasn’t aware they’d be happening now.
“I do believe he is looking for innovation and new ways to do things which to be honest I think it great,” said Esposito-Visgitis. “He and I had spoken and he had mentioned to me that he was thinking of these ideas and he shared them with me, but I did not know that they were going to move ahead as quickly as they did.”
Neither did teachers or parents, which caused a lot of frustration.
“It wasn’t given out in the details that I think people wanted to see, so I really do commend him for realizing that and stepping back to say, ‘You know what, let’s work on this together,’” Esposito-Vigitis said.
Walters announced the district will not institute a weekly late arrival on Wednesdays or the second-semester parent-teacher conference half-day for the upcoming school year as he’d previously announced. Instead, in his letter, Walters said he plans to partner with stakeholders as part of a larger strategic planning process to work on the 2024-25 school calendar.
Walters said the 2023-24 calendar will maintain one week of spring vacation and eight professional development half days. During Wednesday’s meeting, the question was raised when the calendar would be live for people to see. Those documents will reportedly be available by the close of business Thursday.
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