In late 2008, the Women’s Law Project met with members of the Pittsburgh Public Schools’ board of directors and their counsel to advocate on behalf of female athletes in the district and discuss preliminary findings from Right-to-Know requests of several PPS high schools which indicated that girls were not receiving equitable athletic opportunities in their school athletics programs.
Soon afterward, the school board approved a Title IX audit of all high school athletics programs in the district. The audit was to focus on the availability of equal opportunities for female athletes to participate in competitive sports and on the treatment that female athletes receive in matters including athletic facilities, fields, equipment, uniforms, scheduling, publicity, coaching, and travel.
Now the audit has been submitted to the school board, and the Title IX consultant who conducted the audit will present her findings and recommendations at a meeting of the Education Committee of the board. The district’s counsel will also present their plan for implementing the auditor’s recommendations.
The meeting is Wednesday, April 7, at 5:30 PM in the Board Committee Room, Administration Building, 341 S. Bellefield Avenue (Oakland). The meeting is open to the public, and we hope to see many of our readers there to hear the results of the audit and hold the school district accountable for providing equal athletic opportunities to all students, regardless of sex. See you there!