The Environmental Charter School at Frick Park

An important thing happened for our neighborhood yesterday. The application for the new Environmental Charter School at Frick Park got approved. The school will have a curriculum that puts emphasis on the environment and makes use of its great location, right next to Frick Park.

Obviously the green aspect appeals to Gap-wearing hippies like us. But more importantly, this will be a neighborhood school. Regent Square is at the nexus of three municipalities. As a result, kids from one street to the next may be going to different school districts. Students at the new charter school will come from all parts of the neighborhood.

The idea of this school has been proposed before, but failed due to curriculum concerns. It finally passed this time, in no small part because of the efforts of the community.

We attended a school board meeting a few months ago that was addressing the school’s application. A dozen community members, including myself, spoke on behalf of the neighborhood and Pittsburgh as a whole. The underlying theme was that Pittsburgh needed to start making strides in education along with the achievements that were occurring in other parts of city life. We love Pittsburgh, but it gets hard to avoid the suburbs, or another part of the country, when you can’t feel confident about where your kids will learn.

We are excited that Deven will be attending this school in a few years. It took a generation, but our kid will be walking to school like his grandparents did.