Pittsburgh Public Schools postponed the start of their Summer BOOST program one week, citing a staffing shortage.
The program, aimed at helping kids experiencing learning loss, was supposed to start June 22, but will now start June 28 and run through August 4.
"After several attempts to recruit staff and adjust the program model, we are forced to take steps to reduce the number of students we will be able to serve as part of our Summer BOOST program," said Superintendent Dr. Anthony Hamlet.
The district says it will use the extra week to work on filling nearly 127 positions. If it does not fill the majority of open positions, the district says it will be forced to cut over 1,000 students from the program.
Chief Academic Office Minika Jenkins told Lynne Hayes-Freeland the pandemic is partly to blame for the shortage.
"We know that the pandemic has had a significant impact on our students, our families, but it's also had an impact on our staff, and that has led to what we believe is our inability to staff all of our summer positions," she said.
The district says it will prioritize students for the program based on academic need.
Jenkins said they're exploring every avenue to fill the positions.
"Some student teachers, we reached out to in hopes to get them to be able to support us for summer boost, but we did not have much success with that," she said. "We do have about seven new applicants as of our work yesterday."
Families will learn more, including their child's status for the program, on Friday, June 18.