“The performance of our Public Schools will shape the future of our City. We need a school board
focused on ensuring every child receives an excellent education, and a system where taxpayers trust their
school board will be a strong fiscal steward of their tax dollars,” said Rys.
PITTSBURGH – Today, Pittsburgh Public School parent Kirk Rys announced his candidacy for School
Board Director, District 2, which includes parts of Spring Hill, East Allegheny, Polish Hill, Morningside,
East Liberty, Spring Garden, Washington’s Landing, the Strip District, Highland Park, Fineview, Troy Hill,
Lawrenceville, Stanton Heights and Bloomfield. This district represents Pittsburgh Arsenal PreK-5, Spring
Hill K-5, Arsenal 6-8, Sunnyside PreK-8, Dilworth PreK-5, Woolslair K-5, Fulton PreK-5, Schiller 6-8 and
Spring Garden Early Childhood Center.
“The performance of our Public Schools will shape the future of our City. We need a school board
focused on ensuring every child receives an excellent education, and a system where taxpayers trust their
school board will be a strong fiscal steward of their tax dollars. We cannot accept a system where the
district overspent by $32M last year, yet results have not improved, especially for our most vulnerable
students. The time has come for a new direction.” said Rys.
Aside from his day job as an attorney at BNY Mellon, Rys has also served for years as a volunteer board
member of an ACTION-Housing subsidiary (one of the largest non-profit providers of affordable housing
and supportive services in the Pittsburgh region), and of First Food & Friends, an East End soup kitchen.
He will bring to the school board a strong understanding of the complex issues that face large
organizations. He will work alongside other board members, families, schools, the administration and
city partners to come up with real solutions for our schools.
Kirk Rys is 49 years old. He completed his undergrad studies at Villanova University, and followed that
up with a 28 month tour in the Peace Corps, serving in Nepal. He then came to Pittsburgh in 1996 for a
joint degree program offered by the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management (CMU)
and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. In 2000, Kirk graduated with both a masters in public
policy and a law degree, and then started his career as a practicing attorney. Kirk and his wife, Allyson,
live in the Morningside neighborhood of Pittsburgh with their son, who attends Pittsburgh Sunnyside.
Kirk is excited to share his vision for his campaign, focused on high quality schools for all kids, where tax
dollars are spent to improve schools, not wasted in the central office and administration, where there is
a relentless focus on student achievement and holding the administration accountable for results.