Category — High School Redesign

The post below originally appeared on December 4, 2010.    It’s now almost a year later and time to look back at what was promised and what’s been done.

Student Representative Henry Li’s Student Representative’s report being distributed at Monday’s board meeting (11/28/11) states ”Students related how, at both Madison and Franklin, TriMet buses were the main way for students to get to their new schools. The buses are so packed that some have to wait for two or three more buses to come before they can arrive at school or home. Some students who live closer to Franklin have to attend Madison instead, and vice versa – because the school district apparently transferred students to their new schools by cohorts: Renaissance Arts, BizTech, etc.” and “at Franklin, students described crowded conditions such that students must sit on windowsills in class.”

Yes, after spending who knows how much on hiring a firm to determine school closures based on enrollment and neighborhood demographics, PPS moved kids based on cohorts not proximity.

And Franklin student, Jazzmine Alcala commented this morning “First of all.. there has been no effort to monitor the former Marshall students’ well being other than the occasional ‘how are you doing?’ from a former Marshall teacher.  I can promise you the number of former Marshall students even attending class is not being monitored because I see that number depleting everyday myself.”  She asks “How many more students does PPS plan on losing, now that even more students will have a harder time finding their way to school?”

From 12/4/10:

A Marshall parent (Kelly McGrath) serving on the Marshall Transition Advisory Committee posed the following questions to PPS.  Their responses are included below:

What’s going to happen with the millions in grant funds that were obtained for Marshall? Will the funds follow the students? How will the district’s funding formulas be changed to address the increased needs of the schools?

A. Some grants were designated for the district and the district decided which schools could benefit. In those cases, money can be moved from one school to the other. Some grants have restrictions on the populations or usage, and they are being reevaluated this year to see what can move with the students. We will not know our funding/budget for several months. The general fund money that pays for many of our employees is expected to be less than this year considering the economy of the state. At this time no funding formulas have been confirmed for the 2011-12 school year.

Q. What is the plan for the 11 Marshall Project Return Homeless Youth students that fall under the McKinney Vento Act?

A. Those students will maintain their Title X status and continue with their present support system when they transfer to Franklin or Madison.

Q. Does the program for teen parents with infants/toddlers move to both Madison and Franklin? What happens to other incoming new or to be parents in the district when Marshall closes? Will they continue to receive TriMet passes?

A. As part of our capacity analysis, we are looking at the feasibility of placing the childcare at Madison where we are anticipating the likelihood of placing Marshall Night School. It is our hope to continue with two district-wide childcare facilities that will serve additional students (one will be at Roosevelt). The district and TriMet are in negotiations. We are advocating for all of our high school students and asking that the free bus passes continue next year.

Q. Will the night school program transfer to both Franklin and Madison? How does the closure affect those currently enrolled?

A. If the night school moves to Madison, we do not anticipate any break in their education.

Q. What are the plans for special education students and ELL concerns?

A. Students who are on an IEP and go to the resource center rooms for support will continue to do that at both Franklin and Madison. They will go to their assigned school based on which small school they are presently attending, exactly the same as non-special education students. We have not yet determined the placement for students who are in our special education self-contained classrooms. This cannot be done until the new boundaries are voted upon by the school board. Where the students live will be a significant factor in their new placement. ELL students will continue to receive the appropriate level learning supports regardless of their placements at Franklin or Madison. Both schools are adequately staffed.

Q. What happens to the MESD Health Clinic and the SUN program? Will Franklin become a SUN school?

A. This is another capacity issue. We have to make certain that there is room for additional programs at both Franklin and Madison. Madison has a health clinic, and Franklin would like to have one if capacity and finances allow for that addition. Madison will maintain its SUN program and Franklin would like to have it at their school if space allows.

Q. Is there any flexibility in school choice for displaced students, especially when programs aren’t currently offered at their new school?

A. The superintendent’s decision regarding school assignments included an option for students to enter into a lottery for the other assigned school. If students are still displeased with the final outcome, they can go through the lottery process with the rest of the district in February.

Q. How do teachers follow students? Will certain science, art, business teachers follow groups of students into each new school?

A. The assigning of teachers to Franklin and Madison will depend on seniority first. The teachers’ contract has a provision for mergers and closures of schools. There are enough students going to a particular school that teachers will follow them depending on their seniority in the district and what courses are taught at the new school.

Q. Are Marshall students going to be able to get the classes they need to continue their tracks?

A. Courses that are required for graduation are offered at the new schools. There may be unique courses offered at Marshall that are not offered in the new school. That does not mean they could not be offered in the future. Please note, that by attending a school with a larger population, students will actually have more course offerings from which to select.

Q. Will Marshall students have priority in the new schools when registering for classes for 2011-12?

A. Probably not. They will be students of their new school and treated on an equal basis with all other students who are new to the building or already attending.

Q. What is the outline for the cohort program? Based on small schools, location, grade level?

A. The superintendent decided that students of small schools will travel together to their newly assigned high school. There is no Marshall cohort within the new schools.

Q. When will new core programs be revealed in all schools?

A. Entering freshman will have access to the defined core program by the time they graduate. This includes advanced courses (IB or AP), two world languages, career preparation programs, visual and performing arts, and supports, such as ninth grade academies, additional literacy and numeracy support and online credit recovery options. Because ninth graders have very few electives and being off-track in ninth grade is predictive of not graduating, schools will first focus on ensuring that basic supports are in place at all schools for ninth graders; additional elective programs will be phased in over the remainder of students’ careers. However, Madison and Franklin, already offer the vast majority of the core program. For example, both Madison and Franklin offer 9 or more AP courses, at least two world languages and visual and performing arts programs.

Q. What additional resources and supports will PPS designate in Franklin and Madison for former small school students use to a personalized teaching model?

A. It is our hope to have the support services of SUN and Step up at Franklin, and it already exists at Madison. There is a mentor/academic support model at both schools. Every school that has such supports in our district has developed a unique program. As you visit the school, that would be a good question to ask for specific answers.

Q. What happens to Senior Inquiry for current Marshall juniors?

A. The Inquiry classes are not funded under PPS general funding sources. Title I funds were no longer covering this budget item. The Deputy Superintendent, Mark Davalos, used one-time stimulus funds this year to enable the classes to continue. Those particular federal funds will not be renewed to our knowledge. Both Madison and Franklin offer dual credit and AP College credit possibilities which could make up for Senior Inquiry.

Q. How does consideration for scholarships, valedictorian, varsity sports, etc. transfer to the new schools? Athletics – letters of recommendation from Marshall coaches for inclusion in sports?

A. Since all courses on transcripts will transfer over to the new schools, scholarships and opportunities for honors would not be hindered in any way. The school athletic directors and the district athletic director, as well as the coaches, will be meeting to discuss the sports questions and the Marshall students.

Q. How do we monitor Marshall students’ progress through 2014?

A. The school administration and the district Research and Evaluation department have a variety of evaluation instruments to measure student progress. This is done for all students in the district. PPS, through the input of principals and the Marshall Transition Advisory Committee, will also develop measures related to ensuring a smooth transition for Marshall students as well for the High School Design project in general. The Board will be holding the High School Design project accountable to these metrics on a quarterly basis.

Q. How do students receive credit recovery?

A. Both schools presently have credit recovery courses, including online options, and are expecting to continue with them.

Does it sound to anyone like PPS has a plan for Marshall students?

Parents :  Have you received your high school student’s schedule for 2011/12 yet?  Does it include study hall for the eighth class?

I’m hearing from Madison and Franklin parents that both schools are forcing kids to take study hall for their eighth class.  I’ve been told that PPS campus security will be monitoring those study halls.  Really?  Why do schools have security if they’re not needed to monitor the halls and grounds?

Maybe I’m crazy but it seems that with PPS pitiful graduation rate and the problem with high school seniors not meeting reading benchmarks that PPS could have come up with a better use of student time.

Boston Public Schools are under a federal investigation because of the district’s Redesign and Reinvest plan…which sounds just like PPS’s.

Oh those  poor Grant students..maybe they can attend the Jefferson Middle College. 

http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=129850630995607500&utm

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.

Is Jefferson on track for this?  It could be the district’s response to the Jefferson neighborhood community members differing views on what should happen at the school. 

It would also be consistent with PPS path of resegregation.  “As conceived, interaction between academies would be limited.”

KEX radio reported this morning that the student population of PPS has increased for the second year in a row, including the addition of 400 new HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS. 

Is this really the right time to close a high school?

In case anyone has forgotten, the rash of closures of elementary and middle schools over the last 5 years was immediately followed by an enrollment increase at those levels, especially in the primary grades.  Those children will reach high school in less than a decade.  Right now, the schools serving them are woefully overcrowded, but rather than reopen any of the shuttered buildings, the PPS Board has decided to solve the problem by purchasing “portable” classrooms.  It has been reported elsewhere on this blog that over $11 million has been allocated for this purpose over the past two years.

It has been a while since PPS offered any figures on how much this high school “redesign” is gonna cost in the end, but the last figure I recall was $14 million.    

So, from where I am sitting, it appears that PPS has, or soon will have, spent $25 million on school closures.  Had all, or even most, of our schools stayed open, PPS would be $25 million ahead, and no schools would be overcrowded.  $25 million could have paid for music, art, and foreign language instruction for the entire district.  Or am I missing something?

So, I repeat: is this really the right time to close a high school?

Last spring Tony Hopson pleaded with the superintendent and school board to “give us four years.”  Superintendent Smith has used that request to justify her school closure agenda for Marshall. 

Smith’s been meeting with members from the black community behind closed doors for over a year.  Who is “us”?  Who is willing to publicly sign off on the high school redesign?

Ruth Adkins ran for the school board on a platform that opposed school closures and promised equity.  Where does she stand on these issues now?

This is what Ruth said in 2007:

Tuesday, April 4, 2006

Portland district facing closures, deficit woes

By JULIA SILVERMAN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

“Neighborhood schools are keeping families in Portland,” said Ruth Adkins, a parent activist whose daughter Harriet attends a small elementary school that is set to close.

“My husband can walk our daughter to school, then take the bus downtown,” she said. “We can walk to the park, the pool, the library, and that’s repeated all over town. I just hope people don’t vote with their feet.”

Why are you running? :

I have been involved in Portland Public Schools since 1996, at my three children’s schools and also, through my involvement with PTA, multiple school funding campaigns, and the Neighborhood Schools Alliance, as an advocate for schools citywide. It’s time for me to step up and help shape policy as a member of the School Board.

I want Portland to be a city where every family is excited about sending their children to a great neighborhood public school. I respectfully disagree with many of the recent decisions by the majority of the School Board, in particular the approval of sweeping changes and reconfigurations. I’m concerned about the District’s proposed standardized curriculum, about the lack of a reasonable school size policy, and about continued inequities between schools in different neighborhoods. I also want to help PPS work closely with the City in developing affordable family housing near schools so that we can increase enrollment and keep Portland a livable, walkable, family-friendly city.

I know the history and the issues, and I will be a strong, independent voice on the Board who can help PPS reconnect with the community.

What need(s) will be met if your campaign is not successful? :

The status quo will continue — one that is not always in the best interests of the broader community.

My record of working hard at the local level, caring passionately about this city and its neighborhoods and schools. I am known for thoughtful, detailed, intelligent advocacy.

If you are endorsed, what one-line slogan would you like us to use in our communications about your campaign? :

Strong Schools, Strong Neighborhoods

All staff, parents, students and community members concerned about the district’s move to close Marshall need to read the board book for tomorrow night’s meeting.  Smith has continuously spouted lies and half truths about the reasons behind closing the school.  You HAVE to be at tomorrow night’s meeting. 

Make your voice heard.  Nobody else is going to do it for you.  Not your school board representative (Trudy Sargent), not the Urban League, not  the Jefferson community, not Self Enhancement and certainly not the Close the Gap, Not the Schools group!

I was proud to be a part of the community meeting last Wednesday because the community made it clear that we’ve had enough.  NO BULLYING MARSHALL. 

The meeting is at the BESC tomorrow (Tuesday), October 12th at 5:30.