Board Member: ‘No Doubt’ Dick’s Ended Program

Donato says foundation was ‘never on same page’ with MASD

By Adam Reinherz
The Tube City Almanac
May 29, 2025
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

McKeesport Area School District said a decision to end its partnership with the charitable giving arm of Dick’s Sporting Goods was made by the foundation, not by school officials. (Adam Reinherz photo for Tube City Almanac)

Related Story: Dick’s, MASD Partnership Began With Hope

A McKeesport Area School Board member said long-simmering structural issues between the school district and Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation led to the cessation of a nearly four-year partnership.

In an interview, School Director David Donato implored the public to wait for the facts before reaching a conclusion: “There is no doubt Dick’s stopped this arrangement.”

Following a May 27 announcement that the charitable arm of the Dick’s Sporting Goods chain had ended its partnership with McKeesport Area School District, both sides are looking back — and making accusations.

School Board President Mark Holtzman Sr., who has been singled out for much of the blame by Dick’s and some members of the public, declined comment and referred questions to District Solicitor Gary Matta.

Matta did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

A spokeswoman for Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation declined comment.

In an interview with Tube City Almanac, McKeesport Area School Superintendent Donald MacFann said the end of the partnership resulted from a “clear breakdown in communication.”

He said he was disappointed by the partnership’s end and said he would be willing to re-open a conversation with Dick’s Foundation. “We are here to help kids, help them be more prepared for the 21st century workforce and for post-secondary educational opportunities,” he said.

Since beginning with a six-week summer camp in 2021, Dick’s Foundation said it has provided more than $13 million in direct and indirect assistance to the school district, including creation of a community center, funding staff and student development programs, athletics and marketing support, and academic and educational support.

But in a letter released to parents and the public on Wednesday, MacFann identified cracks developing in the relationship.

Apart from mentioning “personnel concerns” regarding the conduct of a DSGF employee, MacFann noted “MASD board policies regarding work hours, professional dress code and visitor security were not consistently followed by DSGF personnel.”

Additionally, the letter said, “significant alterations were made to the Twin Rivers Elementary School facility — including a name change to ‘United at Twin Rivers,’ new signage and physical construction — without approval from the MASD board of school directors or consultation with the Pennsylvania Department of Education.”

According to MacFann, the “unauthorized actions not only bypassed proper procedures but also undermined the authority and responsibility of the elected school board.”

Donato said the school board and administration had been asking for a meeting with Dick’s for “months” to address the issues.

“Dick’s was trying to operate independent of the school district’s $83 million dollar budget,” Donato said. “We were trying to get them to operate according to the State of Pennsylvania’s rules. We could never get ourselves on the same page.”

During the May 21 meeting, the foundation made a “unilateral decision to terminate its partnership with MASD,” MacFann said. “Dick’s had given these kids something that they had been accustomed to and now that’s gone with no prior warning, with no discussion, with no ‘what can we do to make this work.’”

Donato, who was not present at the meeting, compared it to a “sneak attack.”

“As a school board, we were Pearl Harbored,” he said.

School district officials also disputed whether the Dick’s Foundation investment — much of it directed to Twin Rivers — had really achieved the desired results. In the letter released Wednesday, the district compared academic results at Twin Rivers with those of the district’s other elementary school, Francis McClure.

According to the figures cited by the district, since 2021, academic performance — as measured by the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) — at Twin Rivers has not improved.

Whereas 22.5 percent of Twin Rivers students demonstrated proficiency in English Language Arts in 2021, the percentage fell to 15.5 percent in 2024, the district said. As for mathematics, though 10 percent of Twin Rivers students demonstrated proficiency in 2021, the percentage has hovered between 9.5-11 percent in the following years.

What DSGF and MASD achieved through the partnership was “wonderful,” but realities can’t be ignored, MacFann said.

The end of the Dick’s Foundation partnership has been sharply criticized by many parents and some elected officials, including McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko, a former teacher in the district and a parent of a student in MASD schools.

“It’s an absolute tragedy,” Cherepko said. “It’s disheartening that the school board’s fearless leader would do this. I am equally disappointed that the school board members are blindly following him.”

In a post on social media, Cherepko called the numbers released Wednesday by the school board “an egregious attempt to skew data, deflect blame and pit the two elementary schools against each other.”

The mayor alleged that the district cherry-picked statistics designed to make the investment in Twin Rivers look bad.

“The real data, the data used by the State of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Value-Added Assessment System, a system by which each district’s growth is measured, is hopeful,” Cherepko said. “According to the official PVAAS website, Twin Rivers actually exceeded their growth expectations in math last year. While their (English) score did not meet expectations, they still showed significant improvements.”

He encouraged parents and residents to look at the data themselves on the state’s website, https://futurereadypa.org/.

Speaking with Tube City Almanac, MacFann said he is hopeful that MASD and DSGF can reconcile.

“We want to partner with them,” he said. “I have been here for less than three months, but I have seen what they’ve done concerning the cultural and social implementations. They’ve done a wonderful job and I hate to see it end.”

Adam Reinherz is a Pittsburgh-based journalist. He can be reached at adam.reinherz@gmail.com.

Originally published May 29, 2025.

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