The Problems with Consolidation

Suburban Pittsburgh – just east of the city Encompasses TWELVE municipalities:

Braddock (2,912) Braddock Hills (1,998) Chalfant (870) Churchill (3,566) East Pittsburgh (2,017) Edgewood (3,311) Forest Hills (6,831) North Braddock (6,410) Rankin (2,315) Swissvale (9,653) Turtle Creek (6,076) Wilkins Township (6,917)

Combined population 52,876

CANON-MCMILLAN WOODLAND HILLS

3 municipalities (Canonsburg, Cecil, North Strabane)

Total population – 28,420 Demographics:

94% White 6% African-American and

other minorities

12 municipalities Total population – 52,876 Demographics:

61.4% African-American 37.5% White 1.1% Other

Result of a merger, just like Canon-McMillan, but much later 1981, in fact.

Edgewood, General Braddock, Swissvale, Churchill and Turtle Creek school districts were merged as part of a federally-mandated desegregation order.

52,000+ people would mean a huge school, right? Think again – their total enrollment is 4,023 in

2010, with an average class size of 309 Canon-McMillan in 2010 – and enrollment of

4,745, with an average class size of 365. In ten years, C-M’s enrollment will be over 5,000,

while Woodland Hills’ enrollment will be around 3,200. Just five years ago, WHSD was over 5,000.

Many in the district did NOT like the consolidation.

The differences in income and ethnicity between the towns and boroughs is striking.

Thus, there has been an exodus from the school.

Certain parts of the district are distinctly more “rich” than others: Churchill – median family income: $74,969, 3.1% of the

population below the poverty line Braddock – median family income: $20,669, 35% of

population below the poverty line Population in most part is ageing and people aren’t

moving in to replace them. People are simply moving out of the district because

of their perception of the schools.

We have to analyze how the community will take the consolidation. Many in WHSD simply moved because they didn’t like the school.

Test scores on the PSSA’s at WHSD have been low – they rank 107 out of 123 districts on the 11th grade PSSA’s according to the Pittsburgh Business Times.

Unfortunately, the social/cultural/ethnic differences have sometimes blown up into violence.