The new Homewood elementary school will soon have a name: Helen S. Faison Arts Academy.
The $20.4 million school, which opened in September with a curriculum centered around the arts, will honor the former interim superintendent and longtime employee, district officials said Tuesday night. The board is expected to formally approve the name at its April 27 meeting.
"She's a historic figure in our community," said school board vice president Randall Taylor, whose district includes Homewood. Faison was the school district's first black female principal, he said.
Faison, 80, now the director of the Pittsburgh Teachers Institute at Chatham College, could not be reached for comment last night. She is one of two former superintendents conducting the search for a new superintendent.
Numerous other historic figures -- including 19th century political activist Martin Delaney and abolitionist George B. Vashon -- were suggested as school officials, parents and students pitched ideas, but Faison had the most support, according to Taylor.
The late Pirates outfielder Roberto Clemente and the Rev. LeRoy Patrick, the retired pastor of Bethesda Presbyterian Church in Homewood, also were mentioned as candidates.
About 450 students from Homewood and Brushton attend the Tioga Street school.
The district has too many schools for its declining student population, and district officials announced yesterday they will hold at least seven community meetings in May for input on which schools to close and how to realign the feeder patterns for those left open. The district has excess capacity of 10,700 in its 86 schools.
As a group, the elementary schools have the most extra spaces, with room for 5,823 additional students. Middle schools have excess capacity of 3,152; the high schools, 1,406, and special schools, 297. Ten schools are over capacity.
