Pittsburgh Parent Power

How Pittsburgh Parent Power is leading reform efforts at public schools

During the school year, teenage sisters Brett and Chandler Searcy wake up in their North Side home before dawn to catch a Port Authority bus Downtown, where they transfer to a second bus to arrive at Obama 6-12 School in East Liberty on time. Since their mother, Maria Searcy, is afraid to let her daughters walk the streets at 5:45 a.m., she drives them Downtown every morning.

Searcy is an advocate for not only her children, but for the children of her entire neighborhood — students affected by issues including early start times, lack of sleep and reliance on public transit to get to school. Northside Parent Action (N-PAC),  tackles these issues head-on, organizing for better schools in impoverished neighborhoods, restored school bus service, shared leadership and decision making, a comprehensive 6-12th grade plan for students, and effective communication. Searcy is a co-founding member of the community organization.

Since they all have children and grandchildren affected by these issues, N-PAC members talk regularly.

“Currently, we are organizing in a way to advocate for restored school bus service and to raise awareness of how transportation inequity causes problems for our children,” Searcy says.

Last November, N-PAC hosted a walk to show community members the dark and treacherous route students must walk every morning before 6 a.m. in order to catch a Port Authority bus. In addition to the walk, Brett and Chandler Searcy petitioned the school district to restore bus service to their North Side community.

Transportation inequity has a ripple effect, Searcy explains.

“When transportation cuts occurred without sufficient notice to parents, it caught everyone off guard,” Searcy says. “Our children were immediately faced with a major and daily inconvenience, leading to tardiness and absenteeism. Those things can be measured, but harder to measure are the ill effects of missed breakfasts, fatigue and marginalization. As parents, we know that these factors can result in low performance and lower grades.”

N-PAC is just one of several groups comprising Pittsburgh Parent Power (PPP). PPP, whose goal is to support parents to lead school reform efforts affecting Pittsburgh Public Schools, was originally funded by the Heinz Endowments and supported by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform (AISR). Annenberg is a national policy-research organization housed at Brown University to promote quality education, especially in urban communities. PPP specifically organizes and campaigns for fair funding, community schools, special education, and transportation equity, among others.

PPP was established after a 2014 report revealed that although there was high interest from parents and community organizations to improve the schools, there was little capacity to build and sustain this work locally.

“More and more evidence has emerged that effective parent involvement can positively impact school culture, working conditions and student achievement,” according to the report.

As a forum, PPP gives N-PAC the opportunity to voice the overlooked needs of North Side students. N-PAC members talk regularly since they all have children and grandchildren affected by the particular issue of transportation inequity.

 

 

N-PAC meets officially once a month and consults with Annenberg quarterly, and the group is hopeful that they will facilitate change.

“We are engaged in the community and within the Pittsburgh Public School District and we know it will take time to build a groundswell of supporters,” Searcy says. “However, we will get it done.”

The groups involved in the Pittsburgh Parent Power program are Action United, Hill District Consensus Group, Lawrenceville United, Local Task Force for the Right to Education, One Pittsburgh, Parent Education and Advocacy Leadership Center, Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network, Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children, Project Destiny and the Ready Freddy program of the University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Development.