DEVON TALIAFERRO
ROB TAYLOR JR., Courier Staff Writer
‘Our children’s education is in their hands,’ parent says
OK, so it isn’t the presidential election. For that matter, it isn’t even time to elect a governor.
But the upcoming May 21 primary election has a more direct impact on your everyday life on a local level, according to Black Political Empowerment Project CEO Tim Stevens.
“We have a tendency as people to minimize those other elections,” he told the New Pittsburgh Courier.
“Those other elections” this time include a heated race for Pittsburgh City Council in Districts 9 and 1, the districts that most affect African American residents (East End, North Side), along with seats up for grabs on the Pittsburgh Public Schools Board of Directors.
The school board election is the primary focus for North Side resident Nichole Sims.
She’s a 1991 Peabody High School graduate, born and raised in Pittsburgh—“I love this place,” she said—but recently learned that a small percentage of people who go out and vote actually vote for school board members.
That’s why she joined the advocacy group Vote School Board First!, and, with a team of others, has been going door-to-door in city neighborhoods pushing awareness of the importance of casting your ballot in the PPS Board of Directors category.
“The school board determines a lot. Our children’s education is in their hands,” Sims told the New Pittsburgh Courier during a Vote School Board First!-sponsored candidates forum at the Kauffmann Auditorium in the Hill District, April 24. “If they’re being elected on 20 percent of the vote, that to me helps to explain why such a large portion of the population isn’t served well by the school district.”
Sims has young relatives that attend Manchester Academic Charter School, and not the Pittsburgh Public School that they would have had to attend on the North Side, because that school was “a failing school,” according to Sims.
But Sims says she is always at the Pittsburgh Public School on the North Side because “I want PPS to succeed. I’m a project of PPS. I do want them to succeed because I can see that education in our city is not good, specifically for Black students. Me doing what I do every day helps to create more of a sense of urgency.”
School boards represent the public’s voice in public education, set the standard for achievement in the district, and is the community’s education watchdog, ensuring that taxpayers get the most for their tax dollars, according to the National School Boards Association.
The Pittsburgh Public Schools Board is comprised of nine members, each representing a district. Four seats are up for election this year—Districts 2, 4, 6 and 8—and Kevin Carter, an incumbent, is the only person running unopposed (District 8). In District 2, David Atkinson, Nosakhere Griffin-El, Kirk Rys and Devon Taliaferro are the candidates. In District 4, Anna Batista and Pam Harbin are the candidates. And in District 6, Heather Fulton and William Gallagher are in competition.
Griffin-El and Taliaferro are the only two African American candidates out of the nine challengers.
Nosakhere Griffin-El is a PPS parent and founder of the Young Dreamers Book Club, a reading program that partners with the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh; Taliaferro is a program associate with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh who works with mentoring programs in Pittsburgh schools, according to information reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
School board members whose seats are not up for election this year are: Sylvia Wilson (District 1); Sala Udin (District 3); Terry Kennedy (District 5); Cynthia Falls (District 7); and Veronica Edwards (District 9).
Dr. Kathi Elliott, Executive Director of Gwen’s Girls, a local organization which empowers girls and young women to have productive lives through holistic, gender-specific programs, education, and experiences, said parents must exercise their right to vote for school board members.
“Oftentimes, parents, for a variety of reasons, they may not have been treated well in the education system, and so don’t even feel like their voice will even be heard,” Dr. Elliott said. “Collectively, we all can make an impact.”
The data that Dr. Elliott receives as part of her work with Gwen’s Girls and the Black Girls Equity Alliance show that “it all goes back to school-based issues,” Dr. Elliott said. The school-to-prison pipeline and truancy are just some of the issues that the Black Girls Equity Alliance is trying to curb.
“It’s not one system’s fault,” Dr. Elliott told the Courier at the Vote School Board First! candidates forum. “There’s so many different things that go into how our kids end up having all these different barriers, but education, if we started there, half the things that we see our young adults go through, and things that are happening in our community, wouldn’t happen because they are getting fed, nourished, everything they need from Kindergarten to twelfth grade. If they’re equipped to be productive in life, then what’s the likelihood of them not being productive?”
As an example of the role the PPS Board plays, the board in March approved a new computer science magnet program next year at Brashear High School, along with approving the creation of an Early Childhood Education CTE program at Pittsburgh Milliones. There, students can take classes and get a head start on careers such as child care and child development.
In six days, voters will be able to cast their ballots for board candidates whom they feel will make the largest positive impact on the present and future of the Pittsburgh Public Schools system.
“We have to value education more, we have to value it as much as we do sports,” Sims said, referring to the small amount of Black parents who were present at the April 24 candidates forum. “How many of your kids are going to make it to the NFL and NBA? But with a good education you can do both. With a good education, if you don’t make it (to the professional sports leagues), you still have a leg to stand on, and you’ll probably be more likely to come back and help your community, and keep the momentum going.”
Like us at https://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Pittsburgh-Courier/143866755628836?ref=hl
Follow @NewPghCourier on Twitter https://twitter.com/NewPghCourier
About Post Author
