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MASD Drops Live Streams of Meetings
Parents voice concerns about ongoing bus problems
By Adam Reinherz
The Tube City Almanac
September 22, 2022
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Future sessions of the McKeesport Area School Board will not be streamed on the Internet, a decision which dismayed some residents at Wednesday’s meeting.
In addition, board President Mindy Lundberg said, the school board has decided to cut back to just one meeting per month.
“I just want that to be transparent,” Lundberg said. “If you have concerns I welcome people to come and speak at the next meeting.”
Lundberg noted the decisions, which represent the majority wishes of the board, follow her own reflections on past meetings and the fracases that have ensued between sitting members and the public.
“The back and forth banter, the disrespect, it needs to stop … I’m not here to police or monitor adults. We are here for children,” she said. “This entire situation has turned into something that it does not need to be. We need to refocus on our children.”
In other business, parents voiced concerns about school bus service in the district.
Last year, McKeesport Area School District went to court to resolve a dispute with their service provider, Pennsylvania Coach Lines, over frequent cancellations on certain routes.
This year, the district switched its bus contract to a different company, Krise Transportation, but a reported shortage of drivers is still causing problems.
According to the district, student dismissal at McKeesport Area Senior High School is 2:22 p.m.
In order to accommodate Krise Transportation’s bussing demands, however, daily instructional time has been reduced by as many as 15-20 minutes, Graham said.
The cumulative effect will threaten the school’s ability to meet state requirements, said White Oak resident and parent Stephanie Graham.
According to Pennsylvania’s Department of Education, public schools must be open at least 180 days per year and offer at least 990 hours of instruction for secondary students.
“We're not going to meet our instructional hours that the state requires because they've shortened the day to fit our transportation,” Graham said. “When you shorten the hours and you're already a failing school district, how does that benefit anybody? Who loses? The kids — the only people that lose in the whole situation are the children.”
White Oak resident and parent Loree Scharritter said that the board’s discussion about transportation and transparency are related. If the board meetings are no longer live streamed, she said, and parents lack the ability to leave home, people may feel “blindsided” by certain decisions.
“We already have a lot of people that don't drive, that can't get their kids to school … How are they going to find out about things going on here?” Scharritter said. “I think there are going to be less people informed on things that are going on.”
Adam Reinherz is a Pittsburgh-based writer. He can be reached at adam.reinherz@gmail.com.
Originally published September 22, 2022.
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