Pittsburgh Public Schools Earns Poor Marks for NFL Draft Closure

Salena Zito
Mon, 23 Mar 2026 20:25:38 -0700
Opinion

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Public Schools announced this week that students will be learning from home the day before and during the NFL draft, scheduled in the city for April 23-25. The announcement has parents, caregivers and students questioning the decision that affects all of their lives.

In an email to district staff, Superintendent Wayne Walters said students will shift to remote learning for three days to minimize disruption and keep the focus on instruction. The NFL draft, taking place in downtown Pittsburgh, is expected to draw as many as 700,000 visitors, according to the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership.

Pittsburgh Public Schools operates 54 schools that serve students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Only one of those schools is located in the city core, while most are miles from the event. With a total enrollment of around 20,000 students, the decision affects not only students but also caregivers and the students at 136 private, parochial and charter schools who rely on the district for transportation.
Updated: Tue Mar 24, 2026

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Public Schools announced this week that students will be learning from home the day before and during the NFL draft, scheduled in the city for April 23-25. The announcement has parents, caregivers and students questioning the decision that affects all of their lives.

In an email to district staff, Superintendent Wayne Walters said students will shift to remote learning for three days to minimize disruption and keep the focus on instruction. The NFL draft, taking place in downtown Pittsburgh, is expected to draw as many as 700,000 visitors, according to the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership.

Pittsburgh Public Schools operates 54 schools that serve students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Only one of those schools is located in the city core, while most are miles from the event. With a total enrollment of around 20,000 students, the decision affects not only students but also caregivers and the students at 136 private, parochial and charter schools who rely on the district for transportation.

The district has to reschedule the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment testing to later dates that have not been released due to the closure of in-person learning.

In a news release last week, Waters said the district's priority is maintaining continuity of learning while recognizing the extraordinary circumstances the city will experience during the NFL draft.

"Transitioning to asynchronous learning allows us to support students academically while helping families navigate the logistical challenges expected across the region," the statement reads.

Pittsburgh Public Schools is still making up the more than 600,000 hours of learning time that students with disabilities missed during the pandemic.

The city's schools have struggled for decades with chronic absenteeism and low academic proficiency. A report released by A+ Schools in the fall found that whatever districtwide progress Pittsburgh Public Schools had made in reducing chronic absenteeism was undone in the past school year, as the overall rate rose to 34% from 32% the year before.

WESA, the local NPR station, reported in December 2025 that just 44% of Pittsburgh third graders were proficient in reading in the 2024-25 school year, down from 46% the year prior, according to state exam results released last month. Math proficiency, however, did increase by roughly 1 percentage point.

The announcement frustrated many parents and left them confused, given how few schools are located near the NFL draft area. One mother whose child attends Taylor Allderdice High School in Squirrel Hill, about 7 miles east of the draft site, said, "There is only one school that is impacted. I understand that decision for them, that makes sense. But our kids need to be in school. We've seen the long-term impact remote learning has had, and it isn't good."

When the NFL draft was held in Detroit in 2024, a record-breaking event for the city, it did not close schools for the event.