The decision to merge Oliver and Perry High School into the Perry building and Clayton and Mcknaugher, two behavioral schools for pre-adolescent students into the Oliver building means that the North Side will either lose it's major CTE and vocational programs or the students participating will have to be transported back and forth throughout the course of a day. There is no JROTC facility at Perry which means the program will either be lost or the students will spend the better part of a school day at the Oliver building only to return to Perry and then again return to Oliver all in one day. The Child Care Development program, free to Oliver students would be lost and cannot be offered at Perry.  At best, the high school's young mothers will have to put their children on a waiting list for the day care across the street from Perry and maintain a part-time job to afford the co-pay or full payment of the day care if they are accepted.

There has not been any hard core planning for such a large transition. The school board has rushed a decision that will effect the entire north side of Pittsburgh if it is not recalled for further planning and decision making. We are demanding that this decision is taken off the table and that there be further consideration given to this merger and these students.

We are the ones who suffer bad decisions. It is up to us to maintain competent checks and balances within our communities.