PITTSBURGH — The Miller Steering Committee and the Coalition to Save Miller School held a press conference Friday at the Miller African Centered Academy to call on the Pittsburgh Public Schools Board to reverse its decision to close the school.
The decision by the Pittsburgh Public Schools Board to close the academy in Pittsburgh’s Hill District prompted community members to form the coalition.
Organizers reported that approximately 50,000 residents have reviewed social media content highlighting the institution’s history, voiced opposition to the closure and requested information on how to participate in asking the board to reverse its decision.
In 1868, Black city leaders and Bethel AME Church members compelled the city to open a school specifically for Black children.
The city created the Miller Street school, following the programming and pattern of Bethel’s 1832 school within Pittsburgh’s segregated system. The city redesigned the school in the Hill District in 1905, where it continued as a segregated school.
The Pittsburgh Public School Board closed and sold the original Miller school building to developers for housing apartments in 2014, moving and starting the Miller African Centered Academy.
Organizers from the Miller Steering Committee and Coalition to Save Miller School stated their belief that board members lacked historical context when taking the vote.
“We want to note that it is our belief that when the PPS Board made its decision to close Miller, it too was also unaware of this long history and unique Pittsburgh Black Educational and School history,” representatives of the organizing committees said.
Committee members gathered at the school to urge the board to reverse its vote.
“We’re here to remind the district that they have an opportunity to correct a mistake,” members of the organizing committees said. “They made a mistake, they need to correct it, rescind it and reconsider. They need to look at what an African center can do for the city.”
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