The mission of Great Public Schools Pittsburgh is to ensure that all Pittsburgh students have the great public schools they deserve—schools that any family will happily send their children to, and that all students will want to attend.
“We believe that regardless of whether you are the janitor’s kid or the CEO’s kid— you deserve a quality public education,“ said Nikki Lu, the Western Pennsylvania Political Director for 32BJ SEIU,
The Great Public Schools Coalition holds monthly, public forums on education justice issues, to activate and engage community members.
Recently, a GPS Town Hall Forum was held at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary’s Memorial Hicks Chapel to allow direct community involvement and public discourse in and around our public school system. More than 70 community members attended.
The school board candidates who were involved in the forum were; Regina Holley (District 2), Kirk Burkley (District 4), Lynda Wrenn (District 4), Moria Kaleida (District 6), Tracey Link (District 6), Kevin Carter (District 8), Rosemary Moriarty (District 8), and Patricia Rogers (District 8).
The moderator, Kevin Gavin, Director of Internships & Training and Executive Producer for Special a News Projects for WESA, opened the town hall forum, and Rev. Buena Dudley from Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network welcomed the audience with a brief introduction. Lu closed the GPS School Board Candidates town hall forum.
Audience members were encouraged to ask candidates questions. In fact, the bulk of the town hall was dedicated to questions directly from audience.
“We are calling all those who participated in the town hall and members of the community to take the pledge. If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything. Take action, and sign the GPS Education a Justice Pledge,” Lu said.
Community Member, Alison Patterson said, “As a parent of four children in Pittsburgh Public Schools and one who will start kindergarten in the next two years, there’s nothing more important to my family than schools that work for all kids.”
In the past six months, the GPS Coalition has hosted public forums on restorative justice practices, full and fair funding and community schools.
The next GPS meeting will be held May 28th with special guests State Sen. Jay Costa and state Rep. Ed Gainey to discuss Gov. Wolf’s budget proposal.
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