On Thursday, June 22, Levdansky and Hickok met with school board members and administration from the Clairton School District, teachers, city council members and several interested parents and civic leaders. The purpose of the meeting was to have the secretary explain the tools and options available to Clairton under the empowerment act, and to give Clairton officials the chance to have their questions and concerns addressed. We look forward to working with the district's leaders, teachers and empowerment team to achieve our mutual goal. The Education Empowerment Act offers additional tools to help schools where at least 50 percent of the students are failing academically, as measured by students' results on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment test for math and reading. With 52.3 percent of its students failing academically, Clairton is one of 11 districts that will be impacted by the act.
Children are at risk because of the human and social conditions into which they are born.
Schools are asked to help correct the results of these conditions, but with little support. A local empowerment team will work with an Education Department-appointed academic advisory team to develop an improvement plan for the school district. School districts on the Education Empowerment List will be given additional funds to help them implement plans to improve the academic performance of the children. Levdansky was pleased with the outcome of the meeting and said he believes this is the first step to turning around Clairton's academic troubles. There has been a lot of misunderstanding about this new law.