About three years after a round of city school closings, a consulting firm today will recommend another wave because of maintenance costs and falling enrollment.

The schools and buildings DeJong Inc. recommends closing will be identified at a 5:30 p.m. meeting of the school board business and finance committee.

But Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt said additional study will occur before any of them is shuttered. He said the Ohio planning firm's report will lay the groundwork for a two- or three-year plan to trim excess capacity and match buildings to academic needs.

DeJong's recommendations are based on building maintenance issues and enrollment projections. Mr. Roosevelt said his staff will factor in academic considerations before asking the board to vote on any closings.

For example, the administration won't recommend closing a high-performing school or program just because it is located in a deteriorating building. The district could repair the building or move the school or program.

Citing the two- or three-year time frame for closings and other changes, Mr. Roosevelt said, "This is not 'right-sizing II.' This will be different."

Mr. Roosevelt closed 22 schools and 18 buildings in June 2006 -- less than a year after he arrived in Pittsburgh -- because of a pressing need to shore up academics and finances amid falling enrollment and fear of a state takeover. He called that initiative "right-sizing" the district.

At the time, Mr. Roosevelt decided which buildings to close based on contemporary enrollment numbers and a Rand Corp. analysis of school performance. Now, DeJong is providing projections of future enrollment and comprehensive information on the condition of district buildings.

In January, the board authorized up to $500,000 for the study by DeJong and a partner, L. Robert Kimball and Associates, an architectural and engineering firm based in Cambria County.

DeJong and the district held a city-wide meeting and three regional meetings to get residents' input on the use of school buildings. The firm also met with school board members, reviewed financial and maintenance documents and studied the condition of 72 buildings used by the district.

At a progress report in June, DeJong said 40 buildings needed moderate renovation, while 14, including Oliver and Perry high schools, need major repairs.

It said three buildings -- housing the Montessori school, Bon Air early childhood program and Rogers CAPA -- should be replaced. At the end of the last school year, Rogers was merged with the CAPA high school, Downtown.

The 2006 reorganization cut the number of empty classroom seats from 13,706 to 3,589, officials said at the time.

But enrollment has continued to fall, from 29,445 in fall 2006 to 26,123 in the count taken a few weeks ago. While enrollment was down a moderate 2 percent from fall 2008, something that gave the district cautious optimism, DeJong has projected more decline and nearly 14,000 empty seats by 2018.

School-closings are a traditionally contentious issue in Pittsburgh.

Parents United for Responsible Educational Reform says it will demand ample opportunity for public input and documentation of how DeJong arrived at its recommendations. Also, group member Annette Werner of Shadyside said that when the district translates DeJong's report into a course of action, officials should present an entire plan rather than roll out pieces one at a time.

Besides helping the district to control costs, Mr. Roosevelt said, another restructuring will help the district plan academic changes, such as a possible conversion of more elementary schools into K-8 schools.

In 2006, the district converted 10 elementary schools into K-8 schools over the course of a summer, a move that Mr. Roosevelt said was necessary to complement the passel of school closings. However, the conversion caused discipline problems at some of the expanded schools.

In the future, Mr. Roosevelt said, he'd take a more gradual approach to creating K-8 schools. Some districts turn an elementary school into a K-8 by adding one middle grade a year for three years.

Mr. Roosevelt said the DeJong study also may help the district decide where to place the teachers' academy that's planned at part of its teacher-effectiveness campaign. In its grant proposal to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the district proposed operating the academy at a handful of low-performing schools.

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