District plan calls for gradual return for Westinghouse students in wake of shooting that left 4 teens injured

Students who attend a Pittsburgh school where four students were shot last Tuesday will return to classes over the course of the coming week, school officials announced Sunday.

A “phased-in” approach will be used this week to gradually return students to Pittsburgh Westinghouse Academy in Pittsburgh’s Homewood neighborhood, officials said.

Plans call for all students at the high school to work asynchronously from home on Monday.

Students in sixth through eighth grades will return for in-person instruction Tuesday. Students in ninth through 12th grades are scheduled to return to in-person instruction Wednesday.

“Our focus is the recovery of the Pittsburgh Westinghouse school community,” Superintendent Wayne N. Walters said in a news release.

“We must provide teaching and learning environments that support varying responses to trauma. The gradual reentry will allow staff and students time to process and seek assistance as needed.”

District officials said Westinghouse staff and students’ families have been notified about the reentry plan.

Students have been on a remote-learning schedule since Wednesday, the day after four students were shot outside the building when school let out.

The injuries suffered were to the hands and extremities and none of them were reported to be life-threatening, according to investigators.

The victims were two 15-year-old boys, a 17-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl. They were shot at 2:23 p.m.

No arrests have been made, but police issued an alert for area police to be on the lookout for two males who were in a gray Chevrolet Malibu that was last seen in the area of Fielding Way and North Murtland Street after the shooting.

After the shooting, authorities said more police officers would be patrolling near the school during the next several weeks.