Dick’s, MASD Partnership Began With Hope

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

A Dick’s Sporting Goods store. The chain moved its corporate headquarters to the Pittsburgh area in 1994 and has been heavily involved in philanthropy over its history. (Archive photo by Mike Mozart from Funny YouTube, USA; licensed under Creastive Commons CC BY 2.0)

Related Story: Board Member Says ‘No Doubt’ Dick’s Ended Partnership

Nearly four years before last week’s dissolution of their partnership, Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation and McKeesport Area School District touted a future full of promise.

Speaking to school directors, parents and community members on May 26, 2021, then-Superintendent Mark Holtzman Jr. optimistically described the pair’s first project: a six-week long summer camp in McKeesport.

Holtzman, the son of McKeesport Area School Board President Mark Holtzman Sr., left the district in 2022. He is now the superintendent at Hempfield Area School District in Westmoreland County.

Geared for local students from kindergarten through eighth grade, the summer camp program provided “transportation, food and a wide range of activities and field trips such as visiting the zoo, museums and a pool,” according to the foundation. The intent was to give children a “safe and fun place to spend their summer.”

Bolstering area youth and families was critical, Outside Angle CEO and co-founder Sarah Silverman explained in an August 2021 promotional video for DSGF.

The foundation reached out to “my team at Outside Angle to help them do some research around Southwestern Pennsylvania,” and after several months of “diligent work we found the McKeesport Area School District,” she said.

“McKeesport stood out, in part, because we came and we found great leadership in the superintendent and assistant superintendent, and just a willingness to do whatever it takes by teachers.”

Prior to identifying McKeesport, DSGF noticed similar efforts to improve educational and social outcomes for at-risk youth.

According to Silverman, the foundation was “inspired by some of the work that they've seen happening around the country — for example, in Akron, with the I Promise school — and they really wanted to find a school district that they could form a long term public-private partnership with.”

Months before nearly 350 McKeesport kids spent hot summer days swimming, tossing bean bags and building friendships, Holtzman and then-assistant superintendent Tia Wanzo, traveled to I Promise, an Akron-based public based elementary school supported by the LeBron James Family Foundation.

Holtzman, speaking in May 2021, described the visit as “an incredible experience,” and said along with “the team from Dick's Sporting Goods,” he and Wanzo were hoping to “take some of those ideas, and re-create some of those things here at McKeesport focused around Twin Rivers Elementary School.”

The passion was palpable and the vision was clear.

“We are really excited by the beginning of this partnership, and the generosity of [DSGF] supporting our students and our staff from the summer camp, but also the long-term commitment, not only by the district but by our partners,” Holtzman said.

Thanks to this relationship, “we can provide some of the resources our families and children desperately need,” he continued. “We are really focused on better outcomes — maybe re-creating what urban education looks like in our school district.”

For years, McKeesport Area youth and families have experienced hardships. Of the district’s 30,116 residents, 1,444 are under the age of five years old and 4,125 are between the ages of five through 17 years old. The poverty levels for these subgroups are 39.3 percent and 42.4 percent respectively, according to district figures.

The foundation recognized those challenges and in a September 2022 sustainability report noted “many of the district’s students come from homes living at or below the poverty line.”

Academically, MASD students at Twin Rivers “fared poorly” in the 2020-21 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, according to the foundation. “Roughly 23 percent of students in grades 3-5 were proficient or above in English Language Arts and roughly 12 percent of students in grades 3-5 were proficient or above in math.”

In a comprehensive plan filed by then-Superintendent Tia Wanzo in October 2023, MASD articulated several scholastic and economic difficulties.

“A significant portion of MASD students lack essential reading skills required to proficiently engage with grade-level content in English Language Arts, Mathematics and Science,” she wrote.

“Recognizing the pivotal role of literacy as the cornerstone of academic success, we are dedicated to implementing a comprehensive, evidence-based intervention program aimed at equipping all students with the foundational reading skills they need to excel in these core subjects. Through collaborative efforts, data-driven strategies and ongoing assessment, we aim to bridge this literacy gap, ensuring that every MASD student has the essential tools to thrive academically and prepare for a brighter future.”

During its nearly four year partnership, the foundation committed to working “alongside the school and broader community,” DSGF said in last week’s statement. Since 2021, the foundation has invested “more than $13 million, creating a vibrant community center, offering summer programs and providing academic, athletic and wraparound support for students and families.”

Although officials from Dick’s Foundation declined requests for interviews, in a prepared statement, the foundation said, “From the beginning, we were clear that we weren’t just looking to provide funding, we were looking to be a true partner sitting side by side with the McKeesport team to reimagine how the elementary school experience could be approached in a holistic way – one that serves the whole child, their family and the community. Unfortunately, the current school board and district leadership did not uphold the written partnership agreement we had in place. When we sought a path forward, the school board president made it clear that there was ‘no page to get on.’ That response left no room for continued collaboration.”

The foundation continued: “We’re incredibly grateful to the many educators, families and community members who welcomed us and partnered with us along the way. And while this chapter is closing, we remain open to the possibility of future partnership opportunities under new leadership.”

McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko, State Sen. Nick Pisciottano and Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, a McKeesport Area High School graduate, all lamented or criticized the turn of events.

Along with calling the severance “incredibly heartbreaking and disappointing for the young people in our community,” Davis described the situation as “a real disgrace.”

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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