Pittsburgh Public Schools elevates special education role to assistant superintendent, works to fix problems

Patti Camper started a new job as the Pittsburgh Public Schools’ assistant superintendent for the Program for Students with Exceptionalities, or PSE, earlier this fall.

But the position is not just new to her.

Superintendent Wayne N. Walters decided this year to elevate the role to the assistant superintendent level from what was previously an executive director position. 

At a meet and greet Thursday evening at the Science and Technology Academy in Oakland, Walters explained that boosting the position will give PSE a more direct line to the superintendent and allow Camper or whoever holds the job the ability to oversee the program at all district schools. 

“One of my first actions as superintendent was to ensure that the needs of our special education students were always at the table where decisions take place,” Walters said. “This new position was intentional in its design, as it creates a clear focus on making core improvements in the delivery of services provided to the families and students we serve throughout our Program for Students with Exceptionalities Department.” 

Camper joined the district in 2003 as a special education teacher and in 2011 became the principal at Arsenal 6-8, where she remained until becoming assistant superintendent for PSE. At Arsenal, Camper led the school to six consecutive years of ranking in the top 25% of all Pennsylvania schools in student growth averaged over two years.

Walters, who became superintendent in August, made Camper his second executive cabinet hire following Jala Olds-Pearson as chief academic officer.  

Camper said that in her first week as assistant superintendent, she created a new mission and vision for PSE, which she said will lead to more accountability and collaboration. 

“One of the most important things for us is making sure we’re supporting students to have the most important experiences in their least restrictive environment,” she said. “We want outcomes for students with exceptionalities, but we also want those outcomes to be in as inclusive a setting as possible for them.”

But she also acknowledged the many challenges faced by PSE.

One of the biggest challenges: job vacancies across the program and district.

There is one vacancy in the PSE leadership team, three vacancies in its clerical staff, 17 paraprofessional vacancies across the district, and seven PSE students still do not have drivers for transportation. 

Camper also noted some last-minute changes made to the program before the beginning of this school year that created a “very challenging” start for some special education teachers. 

“There were classrooms that were closed and other classrooms that were open just days before teachers were to report, and so that led to classrooms with no paraprofessionals and in some cases classrooms with no teachers as we began this school year,” she said. “We continue to struggle to overcome those deficits that occurred.”

Camper said she will make sure those problems never happen again.

And, despite the challenges, she said there is progress being made.

Postings and interviews for vacant positions are ongoing, program officers are having their caseloads balanced and are holding weekly meetings to provide consistent messaging and resources for schools, monthly meetings are being held with the state Department of Special Education, and school-based training sessions around progress monitoring and data collection have started. 

Soon, Camper said, PSE will create a monthly bulletin for consistent communication, begin revisions of the program manual, and launch a COVID-19 compensatory services plan.

“Students with disabilities were much more impacted by the pandemic and our inability to return to school than any other student group, and parents of students with disabilities were even more so,” she said. “We have to do everything we can to recover from that period of time and make sure that we at least provide services to students to try to move them forward as quickly as possible.”

Camper said she also wants to ensure that parents are heard. 

“One of the frustrations [from parents] I’ve heard over and over and over again in my first 50 days was ‘I’ve been calling and leaving messages and no one will call me back,’ ‘I’ve been asking for help, and I can’t get a response,'” she said. “I think that’s a change you will already see, you will already feel because there’s an expectation that you do get a call back, that we are working with you and not avoiding you, saying ‘no.'”

Camper said change and improvement for PSE will take time and teamwork, but she feels as though the department is ready to move forward.

“When you work with a group of people in an organization, it’s going to take time,” she said. “So moving fast is not our primary goal at this point. We want to go far, and we want to have a lasting impact. It’s not about fast, it’s about far.”