Pittsburgh,PA — On Tuesday, July 14, on behalf of five Black Pittsburgh Public School District (PPS) students, the Education Rights Network, 412 Justice and Advancement Project filed a civil rights complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. The complaint alleges that the May 27, 2026, vote to approve school closures by the PPS Board of Directors discriminates against Black students.
The complaint details that the school closure plan is the latest in PPS’s decades-long failure to provide quality and equal educational opportunity to students living in Pittsburgh’s Black neighborhoods. Based on the flawed metric of utilization, the school closure plan will displace upwards of 6,000 students—with a disproportionate number of Black students being forced to bear the academic and educational harms of school closures. At the same time, neither PPS nor the Board have outlined how educational services provided at the schools slated for closure will be provided at students’ reassigned schools.
“The Board and the Pittsburgh Public School District were repeatedly put on notice that basing school closures on utilization is flawed, serves no educational purpose, and would disproportionately harm Black students. Despite this notice and clear advocacy from the community, the Board voted to plow ahead with its discriminatory plan and endanger the education of thousands of children in Pittsburgh. It is now up to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission to carry out its mission and protect the civil rights and educational futures of Pittsburgh’s Black community,” said Adaku Onyeka-Crawford, Director of Advancement Project’s Opportunity to Learn Program.
“My children love Miller. It is Pittsburgh’s ONLY African-centered academy, providing a school culture that is especially enriching to our family and community. At Miller, my children are taught principles of pride and self-determination. They learn about the history and specific resilience of the Hill District they call home. They are excited about school and their classes. They feel safe and nurtured. There are no plans for another African-centered academy anywhere in the district. Taking away neighborhood schools is violent to the students and thwarts community growth. The Hill needs all the growth it can muster. Making parents who are resourced strapped have to travel further to visit their children’s school or taking away their ability to walk them to/from school before/after work is another hardship. Communities most in need are losing public education options and I don’t understand that as a plan. The district celebrated this, but to me, it’s failure. They failed us,” said Naomi Chambers, Education Rights Network & Parent of Complainant.
“The District and the Board have been steadily closing schools in Black neighborhoods for decades. Every time, they tell us they must do it because it will increase equity or efficiency, but Pittsburgh’s Black communities haven’t seen those benefits and we aren’t fooled. We hope this complaint forces PPS and the Board to listen,” said Angel Gober, 412 Justice.…