Three days of remote learning.
The Ancient Romans had “Bread and circuses” which kept people entertained and distracted from problems. The residents of Pittsburgh have the National Football League Draft which local school officials seem to be treating as either a celebration or a virus. Pittsburgh Public Schools officials have decided that students need not be in school and will switch to remote learning from April 22nd through April 24th. The reason? Too many people will be in the city attending the draft and that it may be difficult for students, teachers, aides, school bus drivers to get around. It is hard to imagine that life will be disruptive in places like Fox Chappel but school officials aren’t taking any chances. Parents have been notified but parents who have jobs need to either take off from work or find babysitters for three days. A small price to pay to celebrate a restraint of trade as the top football students coming out of college have no alternative in the job hunt. Those football students get one job offer.
Superintendent Wayne Walters sent a message to parents that “the significant increase in visitors expected across the region during the 2026 NFL Draft. We know it’s not ideal, but it is a reality of a city hosting a big event where we’re expecting about 500,000-700,000 visitors into our city, and it will completely create sort of exciting time, but also some challenging times when we think about accessibility, transportation, and safety.” The 500,000-700,000 figures seems to be pulled out of a hat. Pittsburgh may have 35,000 hotel rooms in the area so where are those people staying? Switching to remote learning during the NFL Draft is becoming a thing, some school districts in Wisconsin switched when Green Bay held the draft in 2025. Bread and circuses is coming to Pittsburgh.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
