001Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to uh this special public hearing regarding the Three Rivers Wildflower Monastery Charter School application. Uh I'd like to now call this meeting to order. Tonight is Tuesday, December 16th, 2025. Uh this hearing will work slightly different than our normal public hearing. So I'll give you the rundown. Miss Mercedes Williams will moderate uh tonight's public hearing. Uh we will begin the evening with the CEO of the charter school who will be given seven minutes to present their testimony. Each speaker following uh will be given the customary three minutes to speak. The testimonies are limited to the subject of the Three Rivers Wildflower Monastery Charter School application. Uh, as with all of our hearings, uh, there's only one speaker per registered number, and you may not share that time with
002anyone else. Our speakers will be called one at a time. As your time begins to wind down uh, for our in-person speakers, the microphone will blink red for you so that you know that you have 30 seconds left. As we transition to our virtual speakers, Miss Williams will put the hands up feature uh, on the Zoom so that you know that your time is also running down. Uh our in-person speakers will go first followed by our virtual speakers. Anyone who misses their time, we will call you again at the end. Uh just in case you were a little bit late. For those who could not attend or did not want to speak uh in person or virtually, uh they had the option of uh submitting written testimony which along with this video will be uploaded
003to the board website uh at some point tomorrow. For stakeholders who want to view the hearing, uh, you can do so by going to the district homepage and clicking on the link that is provided. And with that, I will turn the meeting over to Miss Williams. >> Thank you, President Walker. Our first speaker is Stephanie Lein. >> Hello, my name is Stephanie Dobs Lein. I'm here as the founder of Three Rivers Wildflower Monastery Charter School, an innovative public monastery charter model intended to serve children and families in Pittsburgh who are seeking an educational model that is rigorous, developmentally grounded, and deeply respectful of children and families. I want to be very clear from the start. This application is not about ideology. It is not about competition. It is about access. access to a public education
004model that has pro a proven record of serving diverse learners, especially students in urban communities when implemented with fidelity and accountability. Families across Pittsburgh are telling us something important. They are telling us that their children are struggling to feel engaged, capable, and seen. They're telling us that traditional instructional models are not working for every learner. and they are telling us clearly and repeatedly that they want more highquality public options, not fewer. Monastery education has existed in Pittsburgh for decades, but access has been limited for many families, particularly black and workingclass families. Monastery has simply not been available as a public option. This is a gap, a gap in provision and opportunity. Our proposed school exists to address that gap by offering tuitionfree, diverse, and inclusive Monasuri micro schools that reflect the realities of Pittsburgh's neighborhoods
005and the needs of its children. Highquality Monasuri with fidelity is one of the most structured academically demanding models available. It emphasizes restorative practices that are lived and breathed. Peace education, social responsibility, self-regulation and intrinsic motivation, deep literacy and numeracy foundations, executive functioning skills and independence, multi-age classrooms that reduce stigma and allow students to grow at their own pace through a fully individualized curriculum. National and urban district research consistently shows us that students in well-implemented monastery programs with fidelity demonstrate strong academic outcomes, fewer discipline referrals, and higher levels of engagement, particularly students from historically underserved communities. Our team has designed this school with a strong academic framework aligned to Pennsylvania stat standards, a leadership team with monastery and public school experience, clear accountability measures for student progress and organizational health, a commitment to serving a diverse
006student body that is reflective of Pittsburgh itself. This is not an experiment. This is a deliberate, carefully planned public school. As a public charter school, we will be held to clear accountability standards, academic, financial, and operational. We fully accept our accountability to the district, to the state, and especially to our families. Our proposed enrollment is intentionally modest and phased. Our budget is built conservatively around realistic pro projections, not aspirational ones. We recognize that every public dollar matters. That is why our model prioritizes financial s sustainability, responsible staffing ratios and transparent reporting from the start. Strong public education systems include a range of highquality mo models, all accountable to the public. Choice and collaboration are not threats to public education. They are part of its evolution. We are explicitly committed to serving students with disabilities as
007Maria Monasuri did herself. English learners and students who may not have thrived in traditional settings. Monasuri when implemented with fidelity is particularly effective for for diverse learning needs because it's individualized by design not selective by default. While a monastery program exists in Pittsburgh, access to public monastery with fidelity is non-existent and the current model has presented barriers particularly for families without the means or flexibility to navigate entry. This proposal does not duplicate an existing district program. It creates access to a fully authentic, innovative model that many families want but don't currently have access to. We are committed to transparency and compliance with the district. This is how students, families, educators, especially educators of color and the city all benefit. We have established policies around financial controls, academic monitoring, and leadership evaluation to ensure that the
008school remains accountable to its mission and to the public. The school is not dependent on any single individual. Systems, not personalities, are what sustain quality over time. At its core, this decision is not about Monasuri. It's not about charters. It is about whether we are willing to expand access to educational environments where children of diverse backgrounds are trusted, challenged, and prepared not just to pass tests, but to think, contribute, create, and lead. It is about liberating the genius and the joy that already exists in diverse communities. I respectfully ask this board to approve our charter and to allow us the opportunity to serve Pittsburgh's children with integrity, accountability, compassion, and care. Thank you for your time, your service, and your consideration. Many families have submitted letters of support and although there might be many, we
009respect your efforts in reading them all with compassion. Thank you so much. >> Thank you for your testimony. Our next speaker is Dave Carlton. Good evening, members of the board. Thank you for your time tonight and your consideration of the proposed charter. I urge you to vote to approve. The team from Three Rivers Wildflower Monasteries presented a very detailed application you just heard and I confess that I'm not in command of all the facts and figures. I want to speak to you as a parent and just share my perspective. Our world is rapidly changing and no one really knows how it's going to turn out. When I was in second grade, only 15% of households had a computer. Now that my daughter's in second grade, we're on the precipice of another massive technological change with
010the coming of [clears throat] artificial intelligence. I know I feel pretty anxious about this. I wonder if you do, too. There are times I wish that I could I want to just wish it away or at least slow it all down. I'm a very practical person. I enjoy the ease and simplicity that comes with predictability, but I also know that the only real response to change is to innovate, to adapt, to try new things. A rapidly changing world does not call for standardization and uniformity in education. When creative, free spirit types in our community come to us with ideas they want to try, especially when they've prepared as thoroughly as they have, I think it's worth listening to them. Just to take my own medicine here for a moment, let me name the facilities utilization
011plan. It contains a lot of changes, most of which I don't agree with, but hey, maybe it works for our children and our community. I hope it does. Given the uncertain world we're all walking into, we should all have a little humility about our ideas and the proposed charters for a small school. Maybe it opens up some ideas for how to better serve our community. This doesn't have to be some big resource battle. We can learn from each other. We can try new things. But why this charter? Why Three Rivers Wildfire Monastery? For me, it really comes down to the trust I have in the teacher leading it. Stephanie Lupin. For three years, including the pandemic, she taught our oldest child, and we watched his skills blossom in subjects as varied as math and handwriting.
012If I could pick a guide for children through the turbulent years ahead, I'd really want it to be her. And finally, as a father, I've listened to my daughter. You'll hear from her in a moment, but she feels strongly about this. From the time she first heard of the Wildflower Monastery School, she's asked about it, earnestly wanted to help, and prayed about it before bedtime. It is ultimately our children who will need to walk in. >> Thank you for your testimony. Our next speaker is Belle Carlson. Hello school boy. I am a student at Pixburg Monasuri. This is year five for me at school. Thank you for supporting Monasuri education by having this magnet school. My favorite way to learn at school is with Monasuri lessons and materials. I like Monasuri so much that I
013want to go to a school at a place with full monastery learning all day every day. I want to go to school at three riffles wildflower monastery. The a problem I have with my current school is that only some teachers are really familiar with doing monastery lessons and include a lot of monosur lessons in their classroom but other teachers not so much. It is actually that my school is monorta sometimes monosur sometimes not so much. A favorite thing for me to do is learn math. Some years at my current public school, my teachers have been able to give me lots of monosur math works to do. Other years at my current public school, my teachers mostly had me do boring math workies. This was awful and I was unhappy. Math can be so fun with
014Monasuri at three rivers wildflower monur. I will get to do my math learning with full monosur approach doing [snorts] lessons as fast or as slow as I want to go. Hello. I will have so much more choice about working on math skills. The kind of flirting I want. And I want this kind of flirting for other kids too. For every kid who learns better where they can choose the order of the lessons and choose their speed for doing each lesson, there are so many more kids who learn best this way too. Even though I want kids speaking up to have a full monur charter school, this small school will be a big help for lots of kids who will have a better time learning and happier days. Please vote yes to support the charter for
015three rivers wildflower monastery. Thank you. >> Thank you for your testimony. Our next speaker is Emily Sawyer. A second call for Emily Sawyer. Our next speaker is Dana Warren. Good evening. My name is Dana Warren and I'm a licensed clinical social worker in the Pittsburgh area. In my work, I see every day how much a child's environment matters. It doesn't just affect academics. It shapes emotional health, confidence, and a child's sense of safety. One of the things I value most about this monatory approach is that it starts from a simple but powerful truth. Every child is unique. Children don't all learn the same way, at the same pace, or with the same needs. And the Monasuri approach honors this. This approach gives children appropriate independence, meaningful choice, and hands-on learning in a respectful and supportive
016environment. Another lens that I look through professionally is a trauma-informed perspective, and that's incredibly important because when a child feels safe, empowered, and understood, they're better able to regulate their emotions, stay curious, and engage in learning. Monastory education supports the whole child, not just academic skills, but also things like emotion regulation, empathy, resilience, and intrinsic motivation. These skills I work on with children of all ages and where they are nurtured early, children are better equipped to handle challenges later in life. The Three Rivers Wildflower Monastertory School represents a thoughtful investment in children and in the long-term well-being of families as a whole in our community. It's creating a space where children are respected as individuals, supported in their growth, and encouraged to develop confidence in who they are. I fully support the opening of this
017school and appreciate the care and intention behind its creation. Thank you for this opportunity, your time and consideration, and please vote yes for the Wildflower Monatory School. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Our next speaker is Sierra Maloney. A second call for Sierra Maloney. Our next speaker is Reverend Richard White. Good evening, Dr. Walters. And to our school board members, I'm Richard White. I'm the the uh pastor of the um I'm the the moderator of the Aeba uh in Pittsburgh and I oversee 152 churches. I also pastor in Claron, the um Mon Church, Monster Baptist Church. A little nervous. I gota be quick. Morning Star Baptist Church in Claritton. I'm a product of PPS 95 graduate of uh Peabody High School now Obama. But after that, before that was Washington Votech and before that
018was Homewood Monastery Elementary School, which is now a playground. It's in process to be that of a playground and a parking lot. The Monasuri way allowed every kid who was in my class and my fifth grade teacher just died about two years ago, Mrs. Elise Bennett. She allowed every kid inside the class to have their own uniqueness, their own mind. And whatever you thought and however you felt, she was able to nurture it. And it took you to different generations and different levels. And it allowed the kid to be expressive the way the kid had to be and not in a box. Because a child's mind is so much more than this square right here. We wouldn't have the things that we have in life if it had not been for the monastery way and
019allowing a child to do and and to be what they can be and for someone to take the time to nurture it. We watched our schools close down. I watched people take their kids out of PPS, put them in other schools, and then I watched our classes become so overfilled. I watched high schools mouth books and now we're in a place whereby we don't have enough kids to fill a classroom up and we are actually taking it and we're actually condensing schools. The monatorial approach allows the parent to have an intricral part in the learning of the kid and I think we need more of them. Funding that's not my issue. I know that when the kids out of school, my church in particular partners with schools to be able to make sure that they're
020a safe place. And if the kid is not learning, then those kids come to my church, deal with former educators who were able to give them that one-on-one care that they cannot get inside the classroom. So I ask, I beg, I beseech you, please consider, please reconsider, please look at it, and please see how not only this generation, but the generation after will benefit from this way of life because we're looking at our neighborhoods being different than what they are right now just by one kid being affected by that way of life in school. Thank you. >> Thank you for your testimony. At this time, we will switch to our virtual testimonies and our next speaker is Carrie Thompson. >> Good evening again. My name is Carrie and I'm the product of K to2 public
021education in South Texas where I grew up and I'm the parent of a second grader at Pittsburgh Monasuri who is thriving there and I'm so happy that we have that school here in our district. I support having more monastery schools in our district, but I think they should be part of our public school system and I do not support the opening of any additional charters at all. This one or any others. As we rethink what it means in our district right now to support a vibrant public education for our students, we should not be directing any of our resources outside of our schools to any charter or private schools. As you've already heard, the monastery method was originally developed to serve underresourced youth in impoverished neighborhoods originally in Italy. And it absolutely can do that.
022and support the needs of diverse populations. And problems of diversity in our current school can be addressed in part by having more access, but also by having different services that allow more students in to the program in preK, which is not supported with busing right now and is a main reason that families are not able to access the education at the current school, who might be working parents and have trouble getting their kids in there. And if you don't get a spot in prek, it's harder to be there in the rest of the elementary school. The district needs to be thinking about the broader education of our students in a more holistic way and that will increase attendance across the board as well as the quality of education that they can receive. I absolutely support
023having something that would be lead to a monastery middle school program and those draw heavily on learning about nature and the environment which be would be an excellent complement of their offerings in the district currently and would directly compete with something like the environmental charter school. But a charter is not the way to go. I emailed the board to the first two parts of reports from the network for public education and these are uh titled charter school reckoning. I sent you decline and disillusionment cost will be coming out soon and I'm happy to send that on to you when it does. But these reports detail the ways that charter schools have not met the needs that they were envisioned to and instead have pulled resources out of our public education system and separated us. I'm
024a firm believer in the value of public education as something that leads to a strong democracy. And we only have that when our students are in schools together. Our families go to those schools together. the more charters we open and allow for people. >> Thank you for your testimony. Our next speaker is Sarah Vins Bobish. [snorts] Um again, my name is Sarah. I uh had the great fortune of being a parent to two students of Stephanie Lupin when she was at Pittsburgh Monastery. Um, one of my kiddos was unable to stay at Pittsburgh Monastery. Um, and we had to pull her out in third grade due to safety concerns and a failure of leadership at that school. I am a very strong supporter of Stephanie Lein and her team and this school that she is
025proposing. Uh, I'm here to express my support for her and Three Rivers Wildflower Monastery School. I believe that the true monatory method of learning can and should benefit more children in our community particular our histo particularly our historically underserved children. I can think of no one better qualified as a person and an educator to bring true monastery to our community than Stephanie Lein and her team. Thank you. >> Thank you for your testimony. Our next speaker is Beth Riners. video. Okay. Hello. Hi, my name is Beth Riners and I'm a mother of two children who attended Pittsburgh Monasuri. Uh my son was extremely lucky. He ended up in Stephanie Stephanie Lein's class and I can say with absolute certainty that she is the best teacher that I've ever seen in my life. He flourished under
026her guidance. He's now kind, empathetic, and polite. And all of those traits were cultivated by Stephanie Leine in a monastery education. Um, I am a huge proponent of public schools and I'm not really so happy about um, charter schools. However, my daughter also went to PE to Pittsburgh Monastery. She did not have Mrs. Leine. She did not get the traditional monastery education and I've I had to pull her and put her in a private school. I'm happy to say she can read now, but Pittsburgh Montasauri did not get her there. Pit Pittsburgh Montasauri introduc introduced us to Mrs. Leine. And I want every child to benefit from her leadership and her guidance the way that my son did. I wish that could happen through PPS, but if it can't, I will take a charter any
027day. It will save hundreds of children. She is so kind and so careful and so dedicated. I can't imagine that this school won't change hundreds of children's lives. I think it's very important that we have a charter for monastery education in Pittsburgh. Thank you. >> Thank you for your testimony. Our next speaker is Shannon Shriner. Good evening. My name is Shannon Striner. I'm a PPS parent. I want to use my time tonight to talk about what I have personally learned about the inequity that exists in the way charter schools in Pennsylvania are funded and why it creates long-term financial harm for PPS, especially when it's combined with school closures. It wasn't until my daughter Sienna entered public school that I truly understood what her rights were and how hard fought they are. Public education didn't
028just educate my child, it educated me. I learned that in public schools, children with disabilities are not optional. They are protected by law. They are entitled to services and the school cannot simply say, "We're not equipped for that." In Pennsylvania, charter schools and voucher programs exploit that gap. In Pennsylvania, when PPS sends special education funding to a charter school, that money does not have to be spent on special education. Charters are paid a flat special education tuition rate based on district averages, not on the actual needs of the student. Once that money reaches the charter, it goes into their general operating budget. They can plant new flower beds with it. They can do anything with it. Unlike PPS, there is no legal requirement that it remain in a special education bucket. In public schools, special
029education services are legally mandated. If a child needs speech, OT, APA, PPS must provide it regardless of cost. In charters, when a student's needs become more complex or expensive, families are often counseledled out and PPS still absorbs that cost. The highest need, highest cost students remain in PPS while funding becomes increasingly unstable. Voucher programs and scholarship or scholarship credits as they're called here in Pennsylvania make this worse by diverting public tax dollars to private schools that are not required to accept students with disabilities at all. Now, I want to connect this directly to school closures. Many of the schools under consideration for closure are historic buildings with zoning restrictions. Guess what? One of the few permitted uses for those buildings is schools. When PPS closes a neighborhood school without a binding plan for that building,
030it creates an open invitation for charter schools to take over those spaces. And once that happens, PPS permanently loses leverage. Enrollment loss becomes locked in. Charter tuition costs increase and future boards inherit a financial crisis they did not create and cannot easily undo. This is how short-term decisions become long-term structural damage. My daughter is thriving in public school because her services are not optional and her rights are protected. That protection is not guaranteed everywhere and the funding rules reflect that reality. before. >> Thank you for your testimony. >> Our next speaker is Michael Cummings. >> Good evening again, board, and thank you for decisions to be made. Uh we appreciate the work you do. Um, while my family in particular is not all that well suited to the monatory method, I fully support having the
031option available. Families where it is a great fit for their kids. PPS should fully embrace this model, but we should expand the monastery offerings within the district rather than approve charters competitions for a limited public college. I want to draw attention to the a candidate forum at the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers a while back where I believe all five new C or candidates who were running for election said they would not support charters during this reconfiguration process. Like to remind you of that commitment and ask you to stay with it. Uh we have enough going on right now where we do not need to create competition for ourselves. I understand the argument that the state will probably just overturn any denied application. However, we must, if we're going to regain the trust of the people,
032stand up for our students that need that funding and fight that battle with the state. Even if we lose, we at least rebuild trust with the community that we tried. Miss Leine talked about access. We have options to adapt the facilities plan to expand access to all students to many cultures, models, etc. and let every unique situation have the best chance at success. We need to develop this within PPF. The community proposal offers such options and a genuine and rigorous explanation of these options is very much warranted before we move forward with any new charter approvals or any reconfiguration plan. There was also discussion that monatory is individualized by design. This is another thing PPS should em embrace across the district. Students are not universal. Creating universal elementary educational models is not properly serving all
033of our students. This can be achieved inside schools with individualized approaches to each child's needs. We can greatly simplify this process by allowing families to choose a fit that is best suited to their individual students. In order to best serve our most overlooked students, PPS must be more flexible and adaptable, or we will continue to suffer with lower enrollment and resource available ability to be able to serve all of our students, particularly the most marginalized and highest need student. PPS needs to step up to this moment, embrace the community's input, learn from the efforts like this charter application. Let's do this within PPS, not give up the battle to others who can think more innovatively. We owe this to all of our families. Thank you. >> Thank you for your testimony. At this time, we
034will recall two speakers. Emily Sawyer. A second. Oh, and final call for Emily Sawyer. Um, I emailed you my full remarks with all those footnotes just like I usually do. Um, I I do feel very conflicted about this testimony tonight. Um, and nothing I say should be construed as diminishing or impugning anyone involved with this application. I have the utmost respect for what they are trying to do and for the monitory meth method, even if I disagree with the strategy. We love Misss Line. Um, that being said, I am not a supporter of charter schools, but I also don't believe that it's a simple issue. I know charters like magnets inject choice into the system for folks who have not usually had choice in the econ in the education system. But we also know that
035charters like magnets funnel resources and capital of all kinds away from true public schools. Because of this, I believe that charters are in the end an ineffective strategy. Gorski and Swallwell remind us in their book Fix Injustice Not Kids that ultimately charters and magnets are mitigation tactics. While they may help a relatively small number of students escape what we have allowed to become inadequate school conditions, they don't actually address those conditions institutionally. Mitigation tactics can never replace transformative equity commitment and action. All that being said, I think it's terribly important that we interrogate the real issue at hand with this particular charter application. That is that the school district has allowed a problematic school leader to maintain their position at our monastery magnet has broken trust with families and has alienated a beloved teacher and
036monastery expert such that they feel they can no longer work within this district. This is a tragedy. But I fear it is simply indicative of the culture of PPS. Culture is built by leadership and it is painfully obvious that our leadership is not building a humanizing, restorative, loving culture. Any efforts to improve learning and outcomes will fall flat if we do not first overhaul every bit of our punitive, arbitrary, secretive, harmful culture. This must be our priority. To their credit, the administration has already indicated the need for this work. With closures off the table for the time being, we can refocus and prioritize making immediate necessary improvements to school and district culture. While this is not easy work, it is not complicated nor expensive. Much of it is interior self-reflection work that adjusts how we
037are rather than being more stuff we have to do. This self-reflective work, of course, must be coupled with changes to policy and practice that actually operationalize equity as recommended in the 2023 racial equity audit. [snorts] Commitment to ensuring we have the time and people necessary to create a truly restorative culture and discipline practice is imperative. Additionally, this work must be um accompanied by changes to job descriptions and evaluations so that people are hired for and held accountable to making and maintaining culture change. This may ultimately include changes to the CBA as well. Culture change work cannot be an afterthought or a wish. It must be operationalized strategically and effectively just as we would do for instruction. And I also wanted to mention that um this meeting was listed as starting at 6:30 on the PPS
038website. So just so >> thank you for your testimony. Our final recall and the speaker is now currently online is Sierra Maloney. Oh, in person surprise. It's okay. Yep. You can start your first one. All right. So, I hustled because I couldn't switch to virtual, but I am a parent of three school-aged children in Pittsburgh and I'm we have been fortunate enough to attend Monasuri for the last eight years. Um, it was instrumental in my children's early learning years and my children and more children should have that opportunity. Miss Leine specifically fostered a love of learning and social emotional growth of my son. He was devastated and still laments the abrupt loss of his teacher in the middle of the school year. I'm grateful for the opportunity to support the Three Rivers Wildflower Monasuri charter
039application. Um I am a proud public school mom and I would like to continue to be a public school mom, but it's been hard to stick with it and I would like more people to have the opportunity to go to a monastery. I know Miss Leine has tried hard to offer to open other Monasuri schools within the PPS system and is is motivated to train other teachers. And because that isn't happening, I support her doing it on her own. Um, I think she will do a good job. She's motivated. She's an excellent teacher. Um, she's such an important part of our family. She has teacher magic and really sparkles when she talks about her passion for monastery programming. She encouraged my child to push himself to try challenging works. Many of our teachers do that,
040but she was able to pay close attention to social emotional issues that developed as well. She has a really lovely way of supporting providing support and teaching kids to handle their interactions and even conflicts with their classmates. This is such an important part of their growth as a member of the community. Um so yeah, I would like more kids to have this opportunity. I feel guilty that when talks of closing magnet programs left Monasuri because my friends whose kids are in other magnet programs were like of course Monasuri gets to stay open. So obviously we prioritize that education and we appreciate that program. So if if we aren't going to expand that program, I would like to give her the opportunity to do so. That's all. But thank you. Thank you for letting I made
041it. >> Thank you for your testimony. That concludes the testimony portion of tonight's special public hearing. I will now turn the meeting back over to board president Gene Walker. >> Thank you, Miss Williams. And uh before I thank everyone else, let me first apologize for the mistake in time on the uh the website. We will uh work to do a better job of making sure that is accurate. But I'm thankful that everyone was able to make it uh and provide their testimony. And I think we as a board look forward to um reviewing the full application and debating the merits uh before we have to make a decision. Uh and so with that uh we will adjourn this meeting uh for tonight. We are back here again tomorrow evening for our legislative session. It will
042be held right here in this room. Um we got an overflow of gifts, donations for kids that is filling our boardroom upstairs. Uh and so to make sure folks don't have to move all that stuff more than once, uh we will move the meeting down here. So, we will see you tomorrow uh at 6:30 uh for our legislative meeting. Uh everyone have a good night and if you are driving, please be safe.