At a recent presentation by Bill Isler about Pittsburgh Public Schools: Excellence for All, an issue was raised about families considering a move to Highland Park, Shadyside or other East End neighborhoods outside the Allderdice feeder pattern. Since magnet school lottery enrollment is limited,  a student may try a magnet and find that it is not a good fit,  or a student may simply want a full service comprehensive high school with the usual sports and electives rather than one of the available magnets, what is there for these families to fall back on?

Mr. Isler said that at this time students could go to schools like Peabody and Westinghouse, which are to be improved at some point through magnet programs. However, these schools are not only low performing, they also have enrollment that is too low to allow them to be "full service."  So  the fallback for many families would probably have to be private school.

A reliable full service public high school option would seem relevant to real estate values and to a strong neighborhood in general.  Possible solutions would be opening Allderdice as a choice or establishing a  true full service high school now that Schenley High School is no longer available.  However, unless we speak up in an organized way it is unlikely that this issue will be addressed.