Schools

Wilkinsburg Students Questioned After Wearing Protest Shirts to School

Local students were sent to the office after wearing shirts expressing their problems with the district.

A peaceful protest organized by a local organization began today with students wearing T-shirts to Wilkinsburg High School that state, “violence in school, low expectations, no opportunity, no incentives.”

But before the demonstration could even take place after the school day’s end outside of the administration building, students wearing the shirts were sent to the administrative office.

“At the beginning of the school day, the kids who wanted to perform this demonstration were wearing the shirts,” said Michelle Passerrello of Point Breeze, a founder of “Twelve kids were taken to the office at 10 a.m. and are being held in the administration office.”

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Teachers confirmed that the students were released from the office around noon and sent back to class.

FUSE—which stands for Fostering Skills for Urban Kids through Social-Emotional-Literacy Education—helped provide the shirts for the students after youth involved in the program decided for themselves that they wanted their voices to be heard. Passerrello's partner, Chris Carnevali, is currently a teacher at Wilkinsburg High School.

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Superintendent Archie Perrin said the students were called to the office to "have a conversation."

"I am just getting details about this," he said. "The principal called the students together and she met with them. She got an indication of their concerns and they were sent back to class. There was no student discipline and they were not sent home."

After the first group of students were taken to the office, more shirts were passed out in the hall. Shortly after, five more children wearing the shirts were sent to the administration office—walking arm in arm, Passerrello said.

About 50 shirts were made for the event, which was formally scheduled to take place at 2:30 p.m. today. The peaceful protest will still occur at that time at the Wilkinsburg Administration Building.

It all began with the students, Passerrello said.

“The kids came to us and asked if they were able to do something,” she said.

FUSE had an event in early March where some school board members attended. They then invited FUSE to the school board meeting where kids introduced themselves and spoke about the violence occurring in school, the lack of communication from the administration, and the fact that there are no incentives for them to do well in school, Passerrello said.

“The standards here are some of the lowest in the state,” she said.

They wanted to get their voices heard so they started the “Hear Me!” project through Carnegie Mellon University, where local youth record poems and spoken word expressing their feelings about their community.

Through those stories, the idea for a  protest unfolded.

“They want a better education for themselves and they are owning that right to an education,” Passerrello said. “Wilkinsburg provides no opportunities for these kids. They approach the leaders for a prom, a dance, a pep rally—and they shoot them down. They go to school because that’s what they have to do. They’re very dissatisfied.”

Melissa Andrews of Cheswick is the vice president and project coordinator for FUSE. She also is a former Wilkinsburg High School teacher who worked there for seven years. She left in February.

“I left because I didn’t feel the school district was following its improvement plan,” Andrews said. “It’s a lengthy plan and I was involved in it for three years—no part of it has been implemented.”

She is proud of what the students are accomplishing today.

“I think they’re brave and I think that they have finally been able to voice their concerns in a way that is peaceful and constitutional. They have been complaining about these things for years and never had a forum. These are very bright kids and I am proud of them.”

Patch is covering the protest today and will have updates as soon as possible.


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