State Sen. Nick Pisciottano bemoaned the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on education and on a cohort of children unable to attend school as a result.
By being forced to stay home and attend classes online, once that was available, the students missed important opportunities to grow their social skills, the West Mifflin Democrat said during the October meeting of the Allegheny East Business Network. Pisciottano represents most of Pittsburgh’s eastern suburbs and is minority chair of the Senate Finance Committee.
He represents about 250,000 people who live in 37 municipalities in his district. The number of governmental bodies and agencies makes it difficult to pool resources to tackle expensive projects like demolishing abandoned buildings. Removing blight is expensive and takes a long time, he said, and it’s difficult to seize personal property.
Pisciottano suggested that some municipalities should consider merging to consolidate resources. He also said merging school districts — there are 500 throughout Pennsylvania and 43 in Allegheny County — would improve school finances.
The senator encouraged the audience to contact his office whenever they need help with state-related issues, such as obtaining grants, dealing with the state Transportation Department, and getting help with unemployment compensation benefits. His office wants to solve problems, he said, and “The hardest problem to solve is the problem we don’t know about.”
