Parents, community members clash over PPS board's superintendent pick

PITTSBURGH — About 50 people rallied Monday in support of the Pittsburgh Public Schools board’s selection of Dr. Anthony Hamlet for superintendent ahead of a public hearing on his status.

Since the PPS board announced Hamlet as its selection for superintendent, he has come under scrutiny because of discrepancies on his resume and allegations of plagiarism. Some school board members have publicly questioned whether he should still be the pick.%

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However, a group called Great Public Schools Pittsburgh wants an end to what it calls a petty distraction, which it says has clouded the selection of Hamlet as the new superintendent.

“Since Jan. 30 there has been no director of special education, and we heard Dr. Hamlet was going to make that a priority,” parent Pam Harbin said.

“It seems like everybody is just ignoring the students’ voice, but it's our district and we're the ones in the classrooms for his rule,” recent PPS graduate Keshawn Brooks said.

Critics of Hamlet, who is a former administrator from Palm Beach County in Florida, said they want a new search and a new superintendent, saying the discrepancies and plagiarism speak to Hamlet’s credibility.

A total of 85 signed up to speak at Monday’s public hearing, and nearly half of them brought up the selection of Hamlet for superintendent.

“These signs represent the idea that we have two options like the flip side of a coin. Either we can either move forward and do the work required for the children to be successful, or we can get stuck in petty conversations about qualifications,” Evans Moore Jr., who led the rally ahead of the meeting, said.

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