Oliver Citywide Academy students to be sent to 4 satellite sites

Students who attended Oliver Citywide Academy will now go to one of four satellite locations rather than the existing North Side site, Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Wayne Walters announced Wednesday.

The district plans to relocate all of Oliver Citywide Academy’s students after hearing input from students, staff and families in the wake of violence that has plagued the school over the last year and a half.

Walters acknowledged “the deep pain associated with its current facility following the tragic loss of two of its students.”

Derrick Harris, 15, was shot and killed outside the school’s entrance in May. In Jan. 2022, Marquis Campbell, 15, was murdered in a school van on Oliver Citywide Academy’s campus while waiting to go home from school.

“As a result, we will serve Pittsburgh Oliver students in four satellite sites instead of one location, allowing all students to receive full-time emotional support within buildings that also host conventional education classrooms,” Walters said.

The Pennsylvania Bureau of Special Education approved the plan, which will go into effect for the upcoming school year.

Oliver Citywide Academy is a special education center for students in grades three through 12.

Currently, about 54.4% of the district’s special education students spend 80% or more of their time in general education classrooms, PPS said in a statement. The new plan creates strategies to increase that to 61.8% of special education students participating in general education classrooms.

The district said it will train all teachers, paraprofessionals and administrators on “inclusive practices and increasing school-based behavioral health.”

Students from Oliver Citywide will be relocated into four satellite sites within existing PPS buildings. A maximum of 40 Oliver Citywide students in grades six through 12 will attend the satellite in the Greenway Building; a maximum of 12 students will attend the satellite in the Perry facility; a maximum of 12 students will attend the satellite in the Milliones building; and a maximum of 18 students in grades three through eight will attend the satellite in the King facility.

Although they’ll be in the same buildings with other schools and programs, Oliver Citywide Academy will remain separate with its own administrators, teachers and support staff within each location, the district said. It will have separate teaching and learning spaces and support services.

The satellite sites were selected based on building capacity, the district said.

“When we talk about the need to create equity in access for our students, we must include opportunities for full-time emotional support in comprehensive school buildings,” Assistant Superintendent of the Program for Students with Exceptionalities Patti Camper said. “This plan ensures we are providing the level of support for our most vulnerable students based on each student’s needs. For some students, that will be within a full-time separate program, while others will be supported in a comprehensive school.”

Oliver Citywide Academy and special education staff are meeting with families to review individualized education plans for each student, the district said.