Catalyst News

Press Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 15, 2020 Catalyst Academy Charter School Reschedules Enrollment Lottery Lottery Will Be Conducted Online on Wednesday, April 22nd at 12 PM PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania –- As a result of Pennsylvania Governor Wolf’s stay at home order issued in mid-March in response to the COVID-19 public health crisis, Catalyst Academy Charter School postponed its original enrollment lottery scheduled for March 20th . It has been rescheduled for Wednesday April 22 nd at 12pm and will now be held online. The enrollment lottery is open to the public but applicant parents and families are not [...]

Press Release Earlier tonight, the Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) Board of Directors approved a charter agreement with Catalyst Academy Charter School.  This ends a two-year process that began with the submission of the Catalyst Academy application on November 15, 2017. The charter agreement between PPS and Catalyst Academy contains performance measures including student scores on PA standardized tests, providing more accountability than prior Pittsburgh charter agreements. Catalyst Academy Founder & CEO Brian Smith remarked, “From the beginning, we have been laser-focused on providing a great public school option to the families in underserved, disadvantaged neighborhoods in the East [...]

Today's "re-vote" by the charter appeals board was even more decisive. This reaffirms what the district’s own review team found when they determined that we met all 9 review categories, including our plan for serving children with special needs. The unprecedented strength of our plan continues to withstand additional roadblocks. We look forward to serving families beginning in the 2020-21 school year. Read more in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article.

“The Pennsylvania Charter School Appeal Board determined that the application for the planned Catalyst Academy Charter School fully meets the requirements of the state’s charter school law and granted its right to open.” Read more in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article.

"We are excited about Pittsburgh’s emergence as a global innovation center. However, we cannot watch another generation of low-income and African-American students be shut out of opportunity because they don’t have access to a high-quality public school." Read more in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article.