family of David Barkley who passed away at the hospital shortly after collapsing at school

yesterday, January 27, 2011.   Mr. Barkley has been an employee with the District and a member of the Pittsburgh Langley

High School community since September 22, 1992 as an Industrial Education teacher.

He will be missed by all members of his Pittsburgh Langley family – the students in his classes,

his colleagues on the staff, and the members of the community. He was a man who was

dedicated to those young men and women who attended Pittsburgh Langley High School, those

who shared their mornings or their afternoons with him as students in his Machine Operations

courses and those in the cafeteria or in the corridors with whom he just happened to share a

conversation.

A Teacher of Excellence Honoree in 2006-2007, the bond he developed with the students went

well beyond lessons; he attended to their lives as well as to their learning. Mr. Barkley played a

vital role for Langley’s athletes as well, assisting in coaching duties for both the wrestling and

the track teams. To his colleagues, he was Dave, the man wearing the plaid shirt, carrying a

coffee cup and sharing a kind word. To the parents, he was the teacher who sparked their child’s

interest in computer aided design and milling and in the careers that such highly technical skills

offer.

David Barkley was an outstanding teacher, a devoted colleague, and a vital member of Pittsburgh

Langley’s community. He will be greatly missed.

We request that the media respect the privacy of the Barkley family and the Pittsburgh Public

Schools family, particularly the Pittsburgh Langley school community. This will be the only

comment on behalf of the Pittsburgh Public Schools and all of our employees in regards to this

incident.