FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Matt Shelby, PPS Communications, 503-916-3027

Superintendent to comment on proposed high school changes Superintendent Carole Smith is available this afternoon to comment on her proposal for a PPS High School System. Orcilia Zuniga-Forbes, trustee for Meyer Memorial Trust, Andrew Dyke, EcoNorthwest senior analyst and Charles McGee from the Black Parent Initiative will also be on hand to share their thoughts on the proposal.

When: 1:30 p.m. today, April 27 Where: Marshall Campus library, 3905 S.E. 91st Ave.

On Monday, Superintendent Carole Smith presented the Portland School Board her plan to develop a PPS High School System that provides all students access to a comprehensive high school while maintaining choice for those seeking a more specialized or personalized environment.

Under Smith’s proposal: Cleveland, Franklin, Grant, Jefferson, Lincoln, Madison, Roosevelt and Wilson high schools would operate as community comprehensive schools with neighborhood boundaries and an equitable, well-rounded high school program.

The Marshall Campus schools – Renaissance Arts, BizTech and Pauling – would close in fall 2011.

At that time, a new Focus School built upon the strengths of small schools in PPS would open on the campus to all PPS students.

 Benson Polytechnic High School would, in fall 2011, become an advanced learning center for career-related and technical learning experiences. 11th and 12th grade students across PPS would have the opportunity to apply to spend half the school day or week at Benson and the remainder at their home school to pursue an in-depth career or technical program. (The proposal for Benson High School is similar to the current successful model of The Center for Advanced Learning.)

In addition, transfers among community schools would be limited and some community school boundaries would change. Monday’s presentation kicked off a comment period where members of the public can offer feedback in a variety of ways. Feedback opportunities and a timeline for decision making are available on the PPS website.

Excluding “inspirational videos” and one page stories, this is ODE’s entire coverage of closing the achievement gap.  Apparently closing the gap in Oregon is an annual banquet.

“The Academic Achievement Gap describes the gap in achievement that often exists between low income or minority students and their peers. Nationally, low income, minority, and special education students as well as students who are non-native English speakers tend to achieve at lower levels then students overall. In Oregon, our focus on this issue has seen results, and in two of the past three years we have seen a closing of the gap. However, the achievement gap still exists and there is still a great deal of work to be done. Minority and low income students still lag behind in state and national tests and are still over represented in dropout numbers.

Changing Oregon Schools

The racial and cultural diversity in Oregon has increased dramatically over the past ten years, adding great richness to our classrooms and communities and posing new challenges for our schools as they attempt to meet the needs of an increasingly culturally, racially and linguistically varied student population.

The number of Hispanic students has increased over 200% since the early 1990’s (up 700% from 1980) and the minority population overall has doubled since the 1995-96 school year. The percent of non-native English speakers has also risen from 2.7% in 95-96 to 11.5% in the 06-07 school year. The percent of students in poverty has increased ten percent in the last ten years. The increase of minority students in our schools has not been mirrored by the teaching population. While 27.7% of students are considered minorities, only 5.2% of teachers are.

Closing the Gap

While we’re not where we want or need to be on student achievement levels, over the past several years, we have seen achievement levels rise for students of color and low-income students. Although graduation rates for minority students are still lower than their white peers, we have seen a real decrease in dropout numbers. For example, in the 1994-95 school year, almost 18% of Hispanic students were classified as dropouts. In 2005-06 it was down to 8.4%. Through focus, strong leadership, use of data, and a commitment to success for all students we are seeing progress in closing the gap.”

Celebrating Student Success Banquet

The Celebrating Student Success Banquet is an annual event recognizing and honoring Oregon Schools that are making substantial progress in closing the achievement gap. The event unites educators, business leaders, community members, legislators and parents to recognize schools from around the state for their successful strategies for closing the achievement gap and to learn from and share their good work. The top schools are awarded an unrestricted, $3000 sponsored grant to further the outstanding work they are doing every day for Oregon students. The 2009 Celebrating Student Success Banquet will be held at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland on May 1st from 6-8 pm.

December 2009

Dishonor Roll

Jerry Lively - Get some balls

May 2001 – Shortly after the Willamette Week story,  The Poisoning of Whitaker , the PPS Facilities Director instructed Jerry Lively (Maintenance Manager) to have his staff increase ventilation in the buildings while they were being tested for Radon gas.  This had the effect of skewing the Radon testing results.  Jerry complied.

May 2008 –  The Oregonian reported in Portland Lets School Building Maintenance Slide  that PPS let its maintenance program sink into chaos.  There were numerous examples of screwed up priorities.  Requests to repair safety hazards in buildings full of children were ignored while district administrators received rapid service for tasks such as interior redecorating. 

The Oregonian’s analysis showed that repairs at schools in the poorest shape received $1 less per square foot than the district’s newer and more affluent schools.

According to the Oregonian, the PPS electronics shop was fixing cheap VCRs while fire alarm systems languished in schools.  The PPS Facilities Director at the time, Bryan Winchester, ordered it stopped but it continued.  “To prevent principals from lobbying to move their chores higher on the ‘to do’ list, Winchester considered yanking the phone out of his maintenance manager’s office.”  That would be Jerry Lively’s office.

November 2009 – Marysville, a high poverty school in SE Portland was destroyed by fire.  Fortunately everyone got out of the building safely.  District records showed that the PPS maintenance department was 6 months behind schedule in their fire inspections. 

In Fire Drilled , Willamette Week reported that a veteran PPS employee who worked with the district’s fire detection systems retired in frustration because he couldn’t certify that the the district was sending children into safe buildings.  The former employee said that PPS administrators prevented maintenance workers from documenting the hazards.  Jerry Lively is the administrator over that department. 

What was Jerry doing during the fall of  2009 shortly before the Marysville fire? 

Jerry and his department were helping with the PPS central office redecoration.  Once again, the priority was on making overpaid, self-indulgent central office staff feel more important by prettying up their surroundings.     

Jerry has repeatedly demonstrated his willingness to overlook the health and safety of children in order kiss the asses of PPS senior staff. 

It’s true that Jerry is just a little fish (very little) in a sea full of sharks but he is a constant in the district’s ugly history of risking the health and safety of Portland’s children.

Please email Jerry at jlively@pps.k12.or.us to let him know that you expect him to put your child’s health and safety first!