Category — Did You Know…

This video was made in response to Superintendent Smith’s original recommendation to close Marshall and replace the three small schools with a small focusless school. 

The video was shown during a community meeting where about 200 people were in attendance.  All expressed support for a comprehensive high school on the Marshall campus. 

Smith said she listened but later revised her recommendation by speeding up Marshall’s closure.  The closure which was supposed to take effect beginning fall 2011 is now effective for fall 2010.

And oh yeah…now there may not even be a focus school.   

Don’t these kids deserve to go to school in their own neighborhood too?

Not PPS but David Douglas

Let’s not make this another year where PPS fails to use Title I money.  Last year PPS failed to use almost $3 million in Title I funds (including $180,000 in Optional parent involvement).  Ask your school principals for a spending report today!

How sad that Portland is being touted as a national model.  PPS must have taken their show on the road since people here aren’t buyig it.  Read and comment on the Portland Observer story.

Portland’s High School Overhaul Makes Los Angeles Times

In the spring of 2004, the Portland School Board voted to divide lower-performing Marshall and Roosevelt high schools into small schools. Next week, the first class of students who entered those small schools as freshmen will graduate. Their high school careers have been marked by changes and transitions, and improved success in class – but most memorably by more personal relationships with their teachers, classmates and their school. As one senior said about Renaissance Arts Academy, “I found a home.”  [Read more →]

Let’s be clear on Superintendent Smith’s high school redesign proposal. 

She is recommending that 3 Marshall Campus schools close and a new school opened on the campus.  She is also recommending that Benson High School close and a new program is housed on the campus.

Both recommendations are in violation of  PPS School Initiation and Closure policy 6.10.030-P.  Where are the School Initiation and School Closure Reports?  Is she planning to produce those after the board votes?

Dear Superintendent Smith,

We are extremely excited that our youngest children have exited or will be exiting your public education system very soon.  For the past twenty years each of us has spent countless (until we counted) hours volunteering in schools or working on the outside to improve your woefully inadequate public education system.

We never planned to be paid for our services because we felt like it was our duty to contribute to our community AND we thought that PPS was broke.  Thank gooodness for Zeke Smith.  Zeke made it clear to us last Monday that PPS isn’t concerned about the money. 

Marshall parents have had to work twice as hard as parents from other schools just to get a minimal level of district support in our neighborhood.  Many of us are the reason that you have successful high poverty schools.  You blame us for failure.  Credit us for success.  We’ve been involved in the education of children in the Marshall neighborhood and throughout the system.

We’ve attached a bill for our services.  We weren’t sure of the best way to bill you for our hours so we hired a consulting firm from Florida to figure it out for us.  They came up with BILLIONS of possible scenarios but we ignored those and decided to charge Zeke’s rate. 

We recognize that we are probably cheating ourselves by using his salary as a guide ($124,067) since EVERY one of us has more education experience than Zeke but we’re okay with that.  Besides, none of us have Zeke’s degree in theater.   

Sincerely,

Marshall Cluster Moms Inc.

April 20, 2009 PPS Big Ideas Q & A offers some insight into the future.  Pull your wallets out because it will require BIG BUDGETS.

Q9: Is high school redesign leading to a facilities bond for PPS?

YES. However, to make any decisions about high school buildings, we must make decisions about the programs within those buildings.  How many high school buildings do we need?  What size, and where?  Should they include special spaces such as labs, workshops and performance space?  This high school design conversation will answer those questions and allow us to finalize a long-range facilities plan for PPS that includes high schools. [Read more →]

Reunited 
Peaches and Herb 

I was a fool to ever leave your side
Me minus you is such a lonely ride
The breakup we had has made me 
Lonesome and sad
I realize I love you 
‘Cause I want you bad, hey, hey

Breaking News!!!

I read this on p. 67 of the Superintendent’s HS Redesign proposal (emphasis mine):

 ”After high school boundaries are finalized, staff will undertake a community engagement process to address these structural issues at the K-8 level. Starting in fall of 2010, the process will result in recommendations on system wide changes to the school board during the 2010-11 school year and for implementation in 2011-12. The scope of these recommendations may include boundary changes, feeder pattern adjustments, school configuration changes and potentially school consolidation, and the initiation of a new focus school that replicates Sunnyside Environmental School.”

Didn’t we already ring around this rosy 4 years ago?  Isn’t this what CAUSED the “structural issues at the K8 level”?  How does doing more of the same fix the problem?  For example, how would “school consolidation” relieve the overcrowding at Laurelhurst, Alameda, Cleary, Rigler and Scott (which, interestingly, was also acknowledged in this document) as opposed to reopening Rose City Park?  How would “school consolidation” relieve the overcrowding at Sunnyside and Abernethy as opposed to reopening Edwards?  The School Board has already allocated $11.2 MILLION for trailers; five of the aforementioned schools are among the recipients.  Is there going to be a contest to see which school gets the most trailers???

WHERE DOES IT END?????