Homewood Nation

by Elwin Green

Yesterday, Pittsburgh Public Schools board member Mark S. Brentley gained the concurrence of his fellow board members in offering an apology to Homewood and to the Westinghouse community for the hasty implementation of a plan to make the school a single-gender academy.

Brentley offered his own spoken apology last week during the Q and A period of a Parent School Community Council meeting with PPS superintendent Linda Lane. 

The Post-Gazette's account of Wednesday's meeting offers this interesting bit of color:

Board member Sharene Shealey , whose district includes Westinghouse, said that students at Westinghouse hadn't received an adequate education for decades and no one demanded an apology then.

"No one stood up until somebody wanted to change a lack of education," she said.

She apologized for the "things I supported that didn't work. It wasn't for a lack of giving a damn."