Category — Did You Know…

Have you ever read PPS Administrators Connection?  The webpage contains newsletter like posts with information for school and central office administrators.  The page is updated weekly.

Administrators Connection includes REQUIRED READING and REQUIRED ACTIONS for administrators.  It’s interesting to read the information provided to administrators.

This is from the May 24, 2011 Administrators Connection;

Marshall Campus Property

The closure of the Marshall campus schools raises questions about the distribution of assets such as classroom furniture, white boards and lockers. Facilities will be supporting future uses in the building. For this reason, campus assets will remain in place for the time being. The IT department is handling the redistribution of IT assets. Title One is handling the redistribution of Title One assets.

Please contact Surplus Equipment at surplus@pps.k12.or.us if furniture is needed. If the Marshall campus classroom furniture is released to surplus, it will be distributed on a first come, first served basis, as usual, requested through the surplus email account.

I wonder what happened with the Title I funds.

Check out the Administrators Connection archives here.

A couple of friends have forwarded this link to an excellent letter from a Laurelhurst parent who has resigned from her position as chapter leader of Stand for Children, and from being a member of Stand.  It was published in the Washington Post and it’s a must read for anyone concerned about public education.

Beth Slovic wrote about this today.  It’s definitely worth a look.

The Portland Tribune has a story in today’s paper about the most dangerous intersections in Portland.  

The overall crash leader is Southeast Powell Boulevard, with 5,345 crashes, including nine pedestrian deaths. In fact, the intersection of Southeast Powell and 82nd Avenue is the city’s single most dangerous intersection, with 356 car crashes during the past 10 years.

Marshall High School is just a few minutes away from the 82nd and Powell intersection.  Seven of Portland’s 20 most dangerous intersections are located in the Marshall cluster where many students will be walking and taking buses to their newly assigned schools.

Kids from Marshall High School got screwed in the high school redesign so that kids across the city could have more.  They continue to get screwed every day that PPS moves forward on the high school redesign because the district is going back on what they had agreed to earlier. 

Do you remember when the district announced Marshall’s closure and said that the school was selected because it would be the least disruptive in terms of commute?  Now, the district is recommending a cohort transition.  Marshall students would be assigned to their new schools based on which school they’re in at Marshall, NOT ON PROXIMITY. 

Smith and crew don’t have a problem at all exposing Marshall students to Portland’s most dangerous intersections.

Every year PPS produces a student achievement report that shows the gains that students make from 8^th grade to 10^th grade.  Director David Wynde mentioned these gains during his statements at this week’s board meeting.  The most recent report shows that students at Pauling Academy at Marshall are making greater gains than students at Grant.     

 It’s interesting that PCC is making a multimillion dollar investment  in the Marshall neighborhood while PPS is abandoning the community.  The news is so big that even the Oregonian is reporting on it!

At a time when the district is strapped for funds, there’s a proposal to give the superintendent increased authority over district contracts. 

Under the old rules, the board had to approve contracts that exceeded $25,000 but under the new rules the board would only have to approve contracts over $150,000.  That’s quite a jump.

The new rules also give Smith authority to ”designate in writing any District employee or employees to exercise all or a portion of the superintendent’s powers and duties”.

On the surface the contracting changes may not seem to be concerning but central office departments have budgeted over $25 million for non-instructional personal/professional services in the upcoming year.  How much of the contracting is truly necessary and how much of that should be diverted to the classroom?

You can read the full document here.

Today I called Teacher Standards and Practices Commission (TSPC) to check on the status of a complaint that I filed against a PPS employee months ago.  The representative that I spoke with (Paul) told me that they are still investigating complaints from 2007.  He said that they have 300 complaints waiting to be investigated. 

Paul said that they investigate the more serious complaints (sexual abuse, use of force etc) first.  How many serious complaints could they have? 

In 2009/2010, TSPC disciplined 30 teachers  (2 from PPS).  Does TSPC need more investigators?  Do school districts need to do a better job screening applicants?  Are people filing meritless complaints?

PPS closed Clarendon Elementary School in 2006 and the building has sat empty (except for homeless people) since that time.  The building is falling apart, covered with graffiti, windows are boarded up, smells like piss and a homeless person is sleeping there. 

The property is adjacent to a nice little park with an abandoned playground.  Is this what we want for our neighborhoods?  

  Welcome

Enter with care and love. 

If it looks like piss and smells like piss…

Second bathroom.

1 Bedroom.

Who knows what happened here

Working on making a skylight

Watch your head

There’s paint in the dust that runs along the outside wall.  Clarendon was built in 1970.  Lead paint was banned in 1978.  Are children being exposed to lead? 

Don’t want to guess what’s smeared on the windows

Where are the children?

The Clarendon building has an interesting history.  Like Whitaker Middle School and Marshall High School, Clarendon is one of PPS newest buildings.  This is from PPS Historic Building Assessment:

While Clarendon does not meet the 50 year standard for National Register eligibility and is not considered exceptionally significant, the following eligibility determination is provided for future district planning purposes. Given the uniqueness of both the design and planning process used to arrive at the design choice, the Clarendon School is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criteria A and C. As the first Portland school planned in a decentralized and collaborative manner that involved citizens, school administrators, and teachers, Clarendon set an important precedent for community involvement. It is therefore associated with a significant historical pattern or trend in educational facilities planning and policy thus meeting the standard of National Register Criterion A. The building is also eligible under Criterion C, as a unique school building type in the City of Portland. No other hexagonal unit schools were constructed in Portland either before or since the Clarendon building was erected. The building retains much of its historical integrity on the exterior and interior.  You can read more about it here.

The following story is from the Oregonian archives:

District aims wrecking ball at Whitaker
History – The school board OKs borrowing $2.1 million to raze what’s become an eyesore
Thursday, August 24, 2006
PAIGE PARKER

Vandals inspired by Whitaker Middle School’s vacant, dimly lit hulk have made a mess out of a building already burdened with one of Portland’s messiest pasts.  This week, the Portland School Board pledged again to clean it up, giving district officials the go-ahead to borrow $2.1 million to raze the building.

Wrecking crews could begin knocking down the Northeast Portland school in early November, said Kerry Hampton, the district’s property manager. It could take as long as three months to completely clear the site, he said.

Marcia Taylor, who has lived across the street from the school since 1974, says she’ll be relieved to be rid of the building. Three of her children attended the school when it was Adams High School.

“It’s just really been a shame,” Taylor said. “It was just a beautiful school when it was built.”

Students haven’t attended the school since district leaders closed it in 2001. Whitaker was built in 1966 with windows that didn’t open, a flaw that contributed to the buildup of radon. A leaky roof and lack of ventilation encouraged the growth of toxic mold, and a host of other structural problems made the 268,899-square-foot building too costly to repair.

And though the community uses the adjacent track and grounds, the school itself is riddled with graffiti and garbage, and boards cover most of the windows.

Whitaker neighborhood students now attend Tubman Middle School, a seven-mile haul across the city by bus. Apart from the toll that traveling takes on students, leaving the school vacant has cost taxpayers. Since 2002, the district has spent just shy of $700,000 in maintenance, utilities and insurance for the empty building.

The district will borrow the demolition money, Hampton said, because interest on the loan will cost as much or less than the district now spends maintaining the building. After the building is gone, the district intends to sell the southern 5.8 acres of the approximately 10-acre site to a residential developer. Hampton estimates that the land will bring in at least enough to repay the loan, with as much as $787,000 left over.

But construction of a replacement school, which former Superintendent Jim Scherzinger promised five years ago, will have to wait. Portland Public Schools’ construction bond expired in 2005, and the district doesn’t have money to replace the school.

The school board passed a resolution in 2005 that sets aside half of the proceeds from the future sale of Washington High School for capital improvements at the Whitaker site. With an elementary school costing between $12 million and $15 million, and a middle school ranging from $18 million to $23 million, the district must raise much more to replace Whitaker.

Michelle Ovando, chairwoman of the Concordia Neighborhood Association, said neighbors hope the district sells to developers who will build affordable homes that fit in with the neighborhood.

“We’re anxious to get that school brought down. It draws in gang activity and drug activity,” Ovando said. “It’s a big building and easy to hide behind.”