“A lot of young people don’t know how to cook a meal,” said Biggs. “Now, all of these areas support each other. They are not silos. It’s an interwoven holistic vision.”
Other presenters, like Princess Hughes, told Hamlet about how she has successfully increased parent involvement among disadvantaged families of children at Weil Elementary in the Hill District, using things like music contests, playground building, and video production to create an enjoyable experience.
“Fun can correlate with education,” she said.
During the question and answer session, Hamlet said the district has already sketched out some similar ideas.
“I’m interested and excited to see that we have ideas that are aligned,” he said. “I think we’re together but exactly what that content, of a culturally relevant pedagogy will look like because we want to make sure we get it right.”
Hamlet also said he and the administrative staff are working to make sure they don’t have policies in place that set Black students up for failure.
“Also, there’s this big push for Restorative Justice right now—and I love Restorative Justice—but that’s after the fact. That’s after the kid’s already in trouble,” he said. “So, we’re looking at ways of making sure we have some positive behavior up front.”
Rose Moriarty, retired principal at Miller African-Centered Academy, said there is a sustainability problem with kids losing what they get in elementary school, at the middle school level, because principals move in and out and don’t always support programs that had been previously working.
“We tailor programs to our children—principals aren’t about coming in and changing things because I don’t like this—it’s about you being a natural fit. If they bolster what’s there that’s great—that’s what I want to bring to the table.,” he said, adding.
“Since I came to Pittsburgh I’ve talked about the lack of robust curriculum for our 6-8 students. We want continuums across the system.”
(J.L Martello contributed to this story.)
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