McKeesport school board meets behind closed doors, trying to save Dick’s Sporting Goods partnership

MCKEESPORT, Pa. — The McKeesport Area School Board held an executive meeting Wednesday after the superintendent announced Dick’s Sporting Goods ended its partnership with the district.

Sources close to Channel 11 say McKeesport Area School District officials are now asking the Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation to reconsider.

“Hopefully, we can have some more communications and get together and try to do some things that are positive for this region,” said McKeesport School District Solicitor Gary Matta.

According to documents obtained by Channel 11, the district met with Dick’s Sporting Goods back in March to address academic measures, personnel concerns, school policy compliance and capital improvements.

“We thought that we needed to revamp some things to do that, hopefully they’ll realize that there wasn’t a working relationship and we’re looking to work with people to try to help the students and taxpayers of the school district,” Matta said.

The documents reveal a steady decline in math and language arts scores at Twin Rivers Elementary since the start of the partnership. This district reportedly proposed a collaborative plan to improve scores but said Dick’s never followed up.

“Some of the things that were said about the comment that our one board member made was taken out of context. It was an email that clearly goes through the whole process, and part of it shows that the president was asking to make sure that everything was transparent so the public could see what was going on,” Matta said.

School officials also raised concerns about the United Community Resource Center, saying it was closed on Mondays and Fridays when it was supposed to be open and that people were coming in under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

School officials also said significant changes were made to the Twin Rivers Elementary School facility, including construction that wasn’t approved by its board or the PA Department of Education.

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