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What Happens When Your Town's Only High School Closes?

By Chris Benderev,
Shereen Marisol Meraji
Published June 16, 2016 at 3:54 PM CDT
Wilkinsburg Junior and Senior High School, the only public junior and senior high school in the small suburb, is closing.
Chris Benderev
Wilkinsburg Junior and Senior High School, the only public junior and senior high school in the small suburb, is closing.

This story is part of NPR's podcast Embedded, which digs deep into the stories behind the news.

Traditional public schools across America are closing, and the reasons — everything from population changes to the impact of laws like No Child Left Behind — are complicated. And the numbers suggest these closures are disproportionately affecting poor black children.

Reporter Shereen Marisol Meraji and producer Chris Benderev traveled to Wilkinsburg, Pa., a tiny suburb of Pittsburgh where the town's only public high school is on the chopping block.

Some of the graduates of the Wilkinsburg senior class of 2016, the last senior class ever.
/ Shereen Marisol Meraji
/
Shereen Marisol Meraji
Some of the graduates of the Wilkinsburg senior class of 2016, the last senior class ever.

Wilkinsburg High School, a giant building with too few students and abysmal test scores, has been in the neighborhood for more than a century.

On this episode of Embedded, we see what this school means to students and staff members.

To hear more of this story, listen to Embedded. Keep up with podcast host Kelly McEvers on Twitter at @kellymcevers, reporter Shereen Marisol Meraji at @RadioMirage and producer Chris Benderev at @cbndrv. Join the conversation using the hashtag #NPREmbedded.

To hear a discussion on school closings and how this episode was made, listen to the On Point with Tom Ashbrook podcast from WBUR.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Corrected: June 16, 2016 at 11:00 PM CDT
A previous audio version of this story incorrectly said "vouchers to pay for private school" were an option for children in underperforming schools under No Child Left Behind. Vouchers were not part of the legislation.
Chris Benderev
Chris Benderev is a founding producer of and also reports stories for NPR's documentary-style podcast, Embedded. He's driven into coal mines, watched as a town had to shutter its only public school after 100 years in operation, and, recently, he's followed the survivors of a mass shooting for two years to understand what happens after they fade from the news. He's also investigated the pseudoscience behind a national chain of autism treatment facilities. As a producer, he's made stories about ISIS, voting rights and Donald Trump's business history. Earlier in his career, he was a producer at NPR's Weekend Edition, Morning Edition, Hidden Brain and the TED Radio Hour.
See stories by Chris Benderev
Shereen Marisol Meraji
Shereen Marisol Meraji is the co-host and senior producer of NPR's Code Switch podcast. She didn't grow up listening to public radio in the back seat of her parent's car. She grew up in a Puerto Rican and Iranian home where no one spoke in hushed tones, and where the rhythms and cadences of life inspired her story pitches and storytelling style. She's an award-winning journalist and founding member of the pre-eminent podcast about race and identity in America, NPR's Code Switch. When she's not telling stories that help us better understand the people we share this planet with, she's dancing salsa, baking brownies or kicking around a soccer ball.
See stories by Shereen Marisol Meraji