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-MCMILLANWOODLAND 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 11 th grade PSSA’s according to the Pittsburgh Business Times.  Unfortunately, the social/cultural/ethnic differences have sometimes blown up into violence.