City schools conflict spans decade
The controversy enveloping the Pittsburgh Public Schools did not start when Jean Fink became school board president, nor when John Thompson became superintendent, say community leaders, former board members and district officials.
The relationship between school board members and the administration began to unravel at least 10 years ago over of a variety of issues, including neighborhood schools and race, declining state and local revenues and turnover in the superintendent's office.
The vote by Fink, a Carrick housewife and caterer, and the current board majority to cut the $485.7 million budget in December and reopen three small neighborhood schools in predominantly white neighborhoods has sharpened the divisions and spilled into the public.
The rancor between the board majority and Thompson, who has the support of three black members and one white board member, was the reason three prestigious foundations — the Heinz Endowments, the Pittsburgh Foundation and the Grable Foundation — decided to cut off $3.8 million in funding for the Pittsburgh Public Schools.
"It doesn't start with John Thompson. It goes back to (former Superintendent) Dick Wallace and each of the choices along the way has something to do with that power struggle," said Robert Nelkin, a member of a commission in 1997 that vetted candidates to replace retiring Superintendent Louise Brennan.
In 1992, Wallace decided to retire after leading the district since 1980. He had guided the district through a difficult state-mandated desegregation plan and implemented innovative — and costly — academic programs. Test scores soared, Wallace won national awards and the district earned praise as the nation's finest urban school system.
Wallace retired after being diagnosed with cancer. He has recovered and remains a consultant to the district, which educates 37,000 students.
"I believe when Dr. Wallace became ill, the board members at that time became more and more active in terms of micromanaging," said Richard Sternberg, principal of Grandview Elementary School and president of the Pittsburgh Administrators Association.
DEBATE OVER ROLES
The proper role of a school board member is at the heart of the current conflict. Fink's critics accuse her and the board majority of interfering with day-to-day operations. In one instance, she was accused of interfering with her husband's efforts to get a better carpenter job in the district, which she denied.
The board also shot down the administration's plans to revamp the district's mathematics curriculum. In addition, the administration must receive board authorization for any purchase above $5,000. State law only requires the board to approve expenditures in excess of $10,000.
"I do not believe the board was ever weak under Dick Wallace. I think that we were strong, and I think Dick Wallace knew that. He knew how to channel that. He knew how to work with us," said Fink, a board member for 22 of the past 26 years.
Neither Wallace nor Brennan, his successor, could be reached for comment. Wallace is now co-director of the Superintendents Academy at the University of Pittsburgh. He receives $10,000 a year as a consultant, and he has been an advisor to Thompson.
Brennan, a deputy superintendent under Wallace, led the district for five years. She had a reputation as a tireless worker who avoided the public limelight. She also was more deferential to individual board members, said Elisabeth Healey of Squirrel Hill, a board member from 1991 to 1999.
"I think Louise felt it was her role as superintendent to be responsive to the individual needs of board members. Wallace rarely met with lone board members. Louise did," Healey said.
Other changes shook the district while Brennan was superintendent. During the 1980s, a Downtown building boom filled the district's coffers with tax revenues, funding Wallace's programs and buying peace with the powerful teachers union.
But the boom was over by the 1990s, and at the same time, the state began to reduce education funding, particularly for special education. In 1993, the board voted to raise property taxes 30 percent, a vote that damaged several members politically and even cost Fink re-election that year.
"In the time when you had more federal money and more state money, it was easier for folks to get more diverse interests incorporated," said City Councilwoman Barbara Burns, a former school board president.
"As budgets get leaner and leaner and you levy taxes, people see things differently," Burns said.
REDISTRICTING CONCERNS
District officials also were coming to grips with a declining enrollment, partly due to the city's population loss but also to the apparent reluctance of some parents to send their children to the city's public schools, particularly its large, integrated middle schools. While about 25 percent of city residents are black, about 60 percent of the students attending Pittsburgh schools are black.
Brennan presided over a nasty, citywide debate that pitted advocates of opening more neighborhood schools and ending cross-city busing versus much of the black community, who feared redistricting was a code-word for resegregation.
In 1996, Gov. Tom Ridge signed a bill that stripped the authority of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission to enforce desegregation plans, giving Pittsburgh the chance to end busing. Community opposition, however, killed a plan that year to revert to neighborhood schools.
Several city-based lawmakers backed a nonbinding referendum supporting neighborhood schools. Voters overwhelmingly approved the measure in 1997.
Brennan retired in 1997. Her replacement, Dale Frederick — who was originally from Arizona and is of American Indian descent — served for less than two years. Frederick became superintendent of the Mesa, Arizona, school district, and said he left to be closer to his family. He did not return telephone calls.
To lead the district until a permanent successor could be found, the board turned to Helen Faison, a retired deputy superintendent. A gracious woman who had worked for the district for 43 years, Faison had been the district's first black and first female high school principal. Although she took the job only on an acting basis, Faison was technically the district's first black superintendent.
As interim superintendent, Faison required the board to agree, as part of her contract, to give her a free hand in running the district.
"I was aware that there was concern of the board's involvement in many things that should be left in the hands of the superintendent," said Faison, now director of the Pittsburgh Teachers Institute at Chatham College in Squirrel Hill.
And, by all accounts, Faison was successful, and the board stayed at peace until she turned over the reins to Thompson, who also is black, two years ago.
THOMPSON HIRED
Faison said she can't quite put her finger on what happened when she left. Then-board president Alex Matthews of Stanton Heights, who is black, wanted to hire a strong superintendent. Thompson, who had been the superintendent of the Tulsa Okla., Public Schools for six years, seemed to fit that description.
"You have certain board members that believe they should have the control. Then you have certain board members such as myself who believe you hire a CEO who should run this ship," said Matthews, a board member for nine years who leads the minority faction.
The selection of Thompson, a towering figure known for his natty attire and quick quips, came as the school board was under pressure to pick a black superintendent. Black taxpayers and activists had criticized the board for bypassing a black candidate when it tapped Frederick, and another controversial redistricting plan in 1998 had further aggravated racial tensions.
Thompson quickly ran afoul of Fink and her allies when he said the only way out of a $36.5 million deficit was a tax increase and school closings. He also made a statement that came back to haunt him last year when power shifted on the board.
During a lunch with reporters, shortly before he was sworn in as superintendent, Thompson was asked how he would navigate the school board's choppy political waters.
Thompson said he would be fine as long as he could count to five — his "magnificent five," he said.
Fink's faction took that to mean Thompson would ignore them. Thompson denies he was referring to Matthews, Randall Taylor of Point Breeze, Mark Brentley of Perry Central, William Isler of Squirrel Hill and Evelyn Neiser of Sheraden. Neiser lost a re-election bid last year.
"When he came here he had his magnificent five and he made all those statements, and when the board changed, it's like we don't exist," said board member Darlene Harris of Spring Hill.
Thompson said he never meant to snub any board members.
"I think it was misinterpreted. The statement was I have to count to five. It meant that you have nine people, and to get anything done you have to have five votes," Thompson said.
| Timeline |
1992 — Superintendent Richard Wallace, who has led the district since 1980, retires. He is replaced by Deputy Superintendent Louise Brennan.
1993 — State funding for special education steeply declines, prompting the school board to raise property taxes 30 percent. Three school board members are defeated, including Jean Fink. Alex Matthews is elected to the board, defeating incumbent Rick Flanagan.
1996 — The district unveils a broad plan to end busing and open 11 new neighborhood schools. The plan infuriates much of the city's black community.
The board adopts a proposal to open three neighborhood schools.
A new law strips the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission of authority to enforce school desegregation plans. The commission had ordered the Pittsburgh Public Schools to desegregate starting in the late 1970s.
1997 — Voters overwhelmingly approve a nonbinding referendum in support of neighborhood schools. Jean Fink is again elected to the school board.
Brennan retires and is replaced by Dale Frederick.
1998 — The board approves a controversial redistricting plan. It calls for Greenfield Elementary School to become a neighborhood kindergarten through eighth-grade school. That will displace 160 black children bused there from Homewood.
1999 — Frederick announces his resignation. The board picks Helen Faison, a retired district administrator, as interim superintendent.
2000 — The board hires John Thompson, former superintendent of the Tulsa, Okla., Public Schools, as superintendent. Thompson quickly announces the district will have to raise taxes and close schools to eliminate a $36.5 million deficit. In December, the board narrowly passes a spending plan calling for a 20-percent tax hike and the closing of 11 schools over two years.
2001 — Theresa Colaizzi and city firefighter Floyd McCrea are elected to the school board. They join Fink, Darlene Harris and Jean Wood as the board majority. They vote to reopen three neighborhood schools, and they cut $4.3 million from the superintendent's proposed 2002 budget. The other board members are outraged.
2002 — On May 31, the district files a lawsuit against Deputy Superintendent Paula Butterfield, alleging she misused a district debit card and owes more than $13,000. Board members Randall Taylor, Mark Brentley Sr. and Matthews, members of the board minority, say they had no idea a lawsuit had been filed, and it was meant to embarrass Thompson and his administration.
On July 9, the Heinz Endowments and the Grable and the Pittsburgh foundations announce they are dropping support to the city schools because of the board's fractured relationship. The district will lose almost $3.8 million in grants.
