MASD Closes Alternative Education School

School directors: Declining enrollment and operating costs necessitated decision

By Adam Reinherz
The Tube City Almanac
June 05, 2025
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

Wednesday’s school board meeting attracted more than 70 people. (Adam Reinherz photo for Tube City Almanac)

East End Academy, an alternative school located inside McKeesport Area High School, will close June 30.

The decision, which was made during Wednesday’s special board meeting, was approved by school directors.

Several meeting attendees asked where eligible students would receive district services. School director Jason Pavlecic acknowledged local worries.

“This is not the emotional support side of things,” Pavleic told nearly 70 attendees of Wednesday’s meeting. “This is the alternative education program that deals with the expulsions … We will still maintain the emotional support stuff within the district.”

For nearly a decade, the district has operated the program from within its own high school. Previously, eligible students attended alternative education at East End Academy, located at East Fifth Avenue near Hartman Street, according to TribLive.

The district, Pavlecic said, was compelled to close the school within a school given expenses and enrollment. “It costs us approximately $822,000 a year to operate East End Academy.”

Average daily membership at the start of the year included 20 students, Superintendent Don MacFann said. “As of today, we have a 56 percent average daily membership, so we have 11 kids attending regularly.”

Operating costs are nearly $70,000 per student, MacFann continued. “The board has a fiduciary responsibility to look at money and make sure that your money is being used correctly.”

White Oak resident Stephanie Graham asked where students would attend in the fall. MacFann mentioned Community School East — an Allegheny Intermediate Unit Alternative Education program serving students in grades 7-12 — and said it would cost the district between $10,000-$14,000 to send students offsite.

In lieu of having spent $822,000 on East End Academy, had the district sent students to an AIU approved school, this year’s costs would have been merely $209,000, Pavlecic said. “Over the course of the last five years, we would have been able to save close to between $2 million to $2.5 million.”

And, regarding teachers and other employees, “there's no staff currently being laid off,” he continued. “We have numerous openings within the district for other teaching level positions. We are going to utilize any staff that was in that building to fill those vacancies.”

McKeesport High School student Brandi Cox credited East End Academy instructors with furthering her education and growth during her time at the alternative school.

“McKeesport East End Academy wasn't like a school, it was like a home,” she said. “I knew every day I walked in the school someone was going to make me laugh or smile. The teachers at the school were more than teachers. I looked up to them as family.”

The school and its staff, she continued, do not receive “enough credit for the time and effort they put in for the kids.”

Cox implored school directors to recognize the institution’s value.  “This is a good school that you guys are closing down,” she said. “You guys are taking it from people that love it, especially the teachers that care about it more than anyone.”

School Director Josh Lefcowitz acknowledged next year’s declining enrollment and said, “I don't want to say just nine, because just one [student] is enough sometimes” to keep operations going. However, in this instance, with the abundance of “online education and other options,” and the district’s “ability to not displace any employees,” the choice was clear. Even though the district’s decision doesn’t have to last “forever, obviously, it seems very clear to me it's the right decision for now,” he said.

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

Originally published June 05, 2025.

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