A group of parents filled the living room of a Squirrel Hill home one day this summer, many crouched anxiously over their computers. They were crafting a letter to Pittsburgh Public Schools leaders detailing their reservations about a proposed school closure plan. Others pulled together resources as they planned for a community meeting to discuss the controversial proposal.

Questions swirled around the room. How would parents and families benefit from the plan that would close some schools and change which children were sent to other buildings? Would the district be held accountable if students didn’t thrive? How would students get to school, when suddenly they might not be able to walk?

In August, Pittsburgh Public Superintendent Wayne Walters, alongside district-hired consultants, laid out the plan meant to address financial and enrollment issues plaguing the 54-school district that serves 18,300 students across the city. The bottom line of the first draft: Officials were considering closing 16 schools and changing grade structures at 14 others.

By October — after town hall meetings that drew hundreds of concerned parents and citizens from across the city — the plan had been altered. This time, the district proposed closing 14 schools and changing grade structures at 12 others.

It didn’t calm things down. The prospect of seeing their child’s school close has been a call to action for parents across the city fighting to keep their kids in schools where they feel comfortable and happy.

In November, the district seemingly gave in to the pushback, announcing that no changes would take place during the 2025-26 school year, instead giving officials time to review the recommendations. Three months later, the district threw its support behind the school closure plan, detailing which parts of the proposal are both feasible and endorsed by administrators. It was a major step in the district potentially moving forward with the proposal.

Pittsburgh Public has been through this at least twice before. In December 2000, school directors voted to close 11 schools, although three were ultimately saved. Five years later, the district shuttered 22 schools.

At this point, people on all sides of the debate are veterans of the school-consolidation wars.

Parents scarred from past closures have lost trust in consultants and board members. They are filling up the seats at school board meetings to make impassioned arguments to directors to save their child’s school. They’re hosting rallies outside the district’s Oakland administration building.

And, this time around, many have conducted their own research, questioning data — or what many say is a lack thereof — being used to make the tough decisions.

“There’s just not a good enough map for anything really positive to come out of this,” Colfax parent Jennifer Rose said. “It’s just closing buildings.”

Pittsburgh Public’s efforts to change the district’s footprint is a response to declining enrollments and a growing budget deficit.

The district has lost more than 2,100 students between 2020-21, when enrollments were around 20,400 students, and this school year when enrollments are coming in at 18,300 students.

A budget deficit is also expected to grow in coming years.

In December, school directors passed a 2025 budget featuring a $28.1 million deficit. That deficit in 2026 is projected to come in at $23.1 million, putting the budget out of fund balance compliance. And, by 2027, a projected $26.3 million deficit would drop the fund balance to a negative $19.4 million.

School closures are a problem school districts across the country are also facing, including in Philadelphia and Boston.

In Pittsburgh, schools that could close under the current plan include Arsenal PreK-5, Fulton PreK-5, King PreK-8, Linden PreK-5, Manchester PreK-8, Miller PreK-5, Roosevelt K-5, Spring Hill K-5, Woolslair PreK-5, Allegheny 6-8, Schiller 6-8, South Brook 6-8, South Hills 6-8 and Milliones 6-12. That would impact almost 3,200 students.

Some of the buildings would be repurposed as other schools while others are expected to remain vacant under the district’s plan.

Those that would see grade reconfigurations include Brookline PreK-8, Greenfield PreK-8, Langley PreK-8, Mifflin PreK-8, Morrow PreK-8, Sunnyside PreK-8, Arlington PreK-8, Carmalt PreK-8, Colfax K-8, Obama 6-12, Sci Tech 6-12 and Westinghouse 6-12. Together, 5,600 students would be impacted by grade reconfigurations.

Officials said at the time that recommendations for the impacted schools were based on enrollments, building capacity, school locations, facility assessments, prior school closures, programs for special populations and community feedback.

“The ultimate goal,” board President Gene Walker told the Post-Gazette, “is to get the district into a position where we can impact student performance in a way that allows our young people to achieve at the levels that we want them to and that they deserve to be able to achieve at.”

It might take awhile to convince the parents involved that the district’s plan will deliver on that promise.

Built in 1911, Colfax K-8 has a commanding presence over the Squirrel Hill community. The tall, red brick building is a hub of activity each morning as students walk to school with their parents along the treelined Beechwood Boulevard.

That includes Jacob Tanenbaum, whose 7-year-old daughter Julia currently attends Colfax. His two other daughters are slated to go there when they’re old enough — Ella, 5 and Rose, who is 2.

“We’re really happy with the school,” Mr. Tanenbaum said. “I think it’s a great success story in PPS. The fact that the school is over capacity compared to a lot of other schools kind of shows how good it is. … It would take a lot to kind of see how things would be improved.”

Unlike other schools in the district, Colfax has some of the highest enrollments among elementary schools, nearing 800 students. Under the proposed plan, the K-8 school would shift to house only grades 6-8. The school, consultants said, has more suitable facilities for a 6-8 educational program, including a gym, cafeteria and lab spaces.

Colfax students in kindergarten through fifth grade would be split between Greenfield PreK-8, Liberty K-5 and Minadeo PreK-5.

Greenfield is nearly 2 miles away. The school, which was built in 1921 and currently houses almost 400 students, needs moderate renovations. It would be converted into a PreK-5 school. Minadeo, which has 250 students, is a mile away. Students who transition to Greenfield and Minadeo would go to Colfax 6-8 for middle school and Allderdice for high school.

Liberty, which has 200 students, is also located 2 miles away in Shadyside. But consultants did not determine what middle and high school those students would attend; rather, they left it up to the district.

Mr. Tanenbaum wants to know how the changes will benefit all kids across the district, including his own. But he really wants to see “a strong argument from the administration for this.”

Right now, he believes the proposal has a “lack of data and a lack of transparency from them. It’s kind of these grandiose things where everything’s going to be roses, but there’s nothing about the nitty gritty details, and that’s what’s concerning.”

Ms. Rose — who hosted the community meetings at her Squirrel Hill home with the help of Mr. Tanenbaum — questioned the idea of splitting up students, some of whom might not return to Colfax for middle school because they would be in a different feeder pattern.

She worries that students, including her son in third grade, would be impacted by the changes just as they start middle school.

Ms. Rose, who also has a daughter in kindergarten, said she has tried to reassure her son as he grapples with possibly being split from his friends and the school he has known his whole childhood.

“I’ve just tried to calm him by saying, ‘Mommy’s doing what she can, and other parents, and we’re really trying to make sure that what’s best for you happens,’ ” Ms. Rose said. “And we’ve tried to leave it at that because it’s super scary for them.”

In addition to splitting up elementary students, the district’s proposal would pull other students into the Colfax 6-8 grade program, including those now attending Greenfield and Mifflin. Both of those schools are currently PreK-8 programs that will be converted to PreK-5.

Minadeo PreK-5 in Squirrel Hill South. (Laura Malt Schneiderman/Post-Gazette)

Liberty K-5 in Shadyside. (Laura Malt Schneiderman/Post-Gazette)

Mifflin parent Stacy Madeja is upset, too. Ms. Madeja has one child at Mifflin. He’s currently a sixth grader at the tall, yellow-bricked structure towering over Mifflin Road.

The school, built in 1932, is in Lincoln Place in the southeast corner of the city, abutting West Mifflin. Given the 20-minute drive between the Mifflin and Colfax, one of Ms. Madeja’s concerns is transportation. Already, she said, the district school buses are “constantly” late.

But her biggest grievance is with students being split into two schools.

Given Mifflin’s location, having both K-5 and 6-8 in the same building is “super beneficial.” The structure, Ms. Madeja said, allows teachers and staff to “really get to know your kids.” And she pointed to gym and music teachers who spend multiple years teaching the same group of children.

“When the kids graduate eighth grade, so many of the teachers are so sad to see them go,” Ms. Madeja said. “So many of the former students still take the time to stop up there and say, ‘Hello.’ ”

She loves the school. But if the changes go through, Ms. Madeja plans to pull her son out and send him to a charter or private school.

As Sarah Zangle waited in line to speak at one of the district’s town hall meetings over the summer, she saw an opportunity. When the Woolslair mother of two took the microphone, she looked directly at Mr. Walker and asked if parents could submit their own proposals.

Mr. Walker agreed.

Ms. Zangle began meeting consistently with 20 other parents to create a community plan, which included input from about 100 people across the district. The plan calls for the closure of 10 schools and the implementation of a model that splits the city and its schools into regions. It was presented during an October news conference and submitted to the board.

The goal wasn’t to have the district pick the community plan over the one created by consultants. Rather, it was an attempt to have school directors slow down and see that other options are available.

Ms. Zangle, an operating room nurse, has been active in the district since Woolslair, a partial STEAM — science, technology, engineering, arts and math — magnet, was first on the chopping block in 2021.

Now, she’s once again advocating for the Bloomfield school.

Magnet programs that would be eliminated because of school closures include Fulton PreK-5, a traditional neighborhood setting with a French-emphasis magnet; Woolslair PreK-5, a partial STEAM — science, technology, engineering, arts and math — magnet; Linden PreK-5, a whole-school language; Allegheny 6-8, a traditional academy; Schiller 6-8, a STEAM school; and Milliones 6-12, a university preparatory school.

For the Lawrenceville resident, the loss isn’t about a building. It’s about magnet programs.

Magnet schools and programs allow students to pursue special interests, talents or career goals. The programs are not neighborhood specific, meaning students can apply regardless of where they live in the city. The initiative began in 1979 to help desegregate schools.

Reactions are mixed over whether the initiative helped to better serve all students. A report from A+ Schools, a Hazelwood organization that advocates for equity in education, detailing the 2020-21 school year found that by the time students get to high school, the vast majority of students of color attend neighborhood high schools — some of which have partial magnets — while the majority of white students attend selective magnet schools.

Program enrollments are opened each year. Applications are considered on a first-come, first-served basis.

Under the district’s latest plan, five full magnet schools and two partial magnets would be phased out.

Those include programs at Dilworth PreK-5, a traditional academy; Liberty K-5, a Spanish emphasis; Allegheny K-5, a traditional academy focusing on writing; Carmalt, a PreK-8 school that would be converted to a 6-8 that focuses on science and technology; and Classical 6-8, a classical academy where students take an in-depth look at the influence classical societies have on the modern world.

Partial magnets that would be eliminated include Phillips K-5, which also has a Spanish emphasis, and Sterrett 6-8, a classical academy that teaches about the contributions of various cultures to human history.

“They’re not going to be able to make those choices anymore,” Ms. Zangle, who is president of the PTO at Woolslair said. “Every parent has told me they will still find a way to make a choice about their kids’ education.”

For now, members of the Woolslair PTO are encouraging people to continue speaking to school directors. They’re also advocating for parts of the district’s plan that they agree with — such as working toward creating an equitable district for all students and pushing resources to underutilized or marginalized schools.

“The goals of the community and the goals of PPS and the board are all the same. … We just want the best thing for our kids and put our kids first and make sure the decisions that are being made now honor the best way to educate our kids,” Ms. Zangle said.

About 10 minutes away in Highland Park, Fulton PreK-5 also faces major changes. The school, built in 1893 and that sits across the street from an Episcopal church, is in need of major renovations and would be difficult to make ADA accessible, consultants found.

Given the challenges, the school would close.

Still, Fulton PTA members and teachers continue to advocate for the school they say has positive student outcomes. The goal, parent and PTA member Emily Kane said, is to make sure “that our building’s not lost in the shuffle.”

Like Ms. Zangle, Fulton PTA treasurer Meredith Knight wasn’t surprised to hear Fulton could be shuttered. The school was also considered for closure in 2021. But as a majority Black school with one of the lowest achievement gaps — the difference in academic performance between groups of students — Ms. Knight said she doesn’t understand why it is on the list.

“Out of all the schools in the district, it just seems like one that we should be holding up as a success and not closing,” Ms. Knight said. “It’s just disheartening.”

From the teachers, to the STEM programming, to the collaboration between grade levels, Andrea Kubis can’t contain her excitement when she talks about her son’s experience at the Science and Technology Academy, a 6-12 school in North Oakland.

The towering structure tucked back from the bustling Fifth Avenue is a magnet school.

“I thought for sure the school would feel like an East End school and it does not,” Ms. Kubis said. “The geographic diversity there is really amazing. And my kid has all these friendships now with kids all over the city, the West End, a lot in the South Hills.”

Sci Tech, which has around 600 students, often boasts wait lists of those interested in attending.

Under the school district’s latest consolidation plan, Sci Tech would turn into a 9-12 neighborhood magnet school. Neighborhood magnets would operate like full magnets but would guarantee seats for neighborhood students.

Milliones 6-12 in the Upper Hill would become Sci Tech 6-8 at Milliones. Milliones is about five minutes away from Sci Tech along a curving roadway tucked into a residential neighborhood.

The problem, Ms. Kubis said, is that separating grade levels might disrupt the benefits of the current configuration, which allows teachers to collaborate on and to create lessons that build across grades.

High school and middle schoolers are able to interact, with the older students helping those in younger grades academically. For example, her son, a freshman, was paired up with a student struggling in math. And each year the older kids plan a haunted hallway event, bringing middle schoolers to the high school side of the building.

The school is also in close proximity to the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.

“Oakland is such a hub, but Milliones is complicated to get to,” Ms. Kubis said. “And there are already lots of kids who are taking two buses and leaving at 6:15 in the morning or earlier to get to school on time.”

For now, Ms. Kubis said she’s trying to listen to teachers who are in the building each day to see what they hear about the proposed changes.

“Nobody knows what to do,” Ms. Kubis said. “We just don’t have enough information.”

Pittsburgh Public School directors in February expressed several concerns about the plan as it currently sits. Many pointed to a lack of budget data — including a breakdown of possible cost savings or costs that could be incurred — if the plan is implemented in its entirety.

Other concerns included not having a full understanding of class sizes (the district plans to hire a demographer, an action many directors said should have already happened) as well as a lack of transportation-related data.

Still, board members this month could vote on opening a state-required public comment period on the proposed closures. That would be followed by a mandatory public hearing for residents to express thoughts about the plan. The board in August could vote on the final plan, which would begin a phased implementation process.

During the February meeting, Mr. Walker suggested that the proposal could still be altered.

Now, parents and concerned community members are seemingly still in limbo.

“It’s a painful process. … The parent community has really shown up,” Ms. Kane said. “And what I’ve heard from the parent community over and over again is that we understand we probably, as a district, have to go through this painful process.

“I’m really hoping that we can trust the district to make truly sensible decisions.”

Megan Tomasic, mtomasic@post-gazette.com, X: @MeganTomasic