Category — Equity

Here’s another staffing change at PPS.

How many complaints can PPS rack up before they face serious consequences?

Thursday’s Tribune has an interesting story ( http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=129426691696564500 ) about the district’s plan to either reconfigure or redraw boundaries affecting Sabin K-8, Alameda elementary and Beaumont middle schools.  There are three reasons for this. Alameda is bursting at the seams, while Beaumont has a small number of neighborhood kids enrolled.  And Sabin has small numbers of 6-8 kids in its neighborhood program, while the ACCESS program (also housed at Sabin) continues to expand.

Apparently some Alameda families are not thrilled at the prospect of sending their kids to a different school, one that is about as close to their homes as their present school.

From the Tribune:

“If PPS is successful in a boundary redraw,” Alameda Neighborhood Association president Scott Rider says, “parents who purchased homes in the Alameda neighborhood expecting to be able to attend Alameda Elementary will not have adequate time to make alternative plans, as kindergarten roundup for Sabin school (their new school after a boundary change) is scheduled for Feb. 1, seven days later.They will be blindsided from a lack of transparency and appropriate notice.”

And parent Kristin Childs Rios says,   “We are a house with small children, with one starting kindergarten next year – our intention in buying a house in Alameda, at Alameda prices and Alameda taxes, was obviously that he would attend Alameda Elementary,” she wrote.

She also worries about a potential drop in property value.

Under two of the three plans, three areas within the Alameda attendance zone would be moved to… gasp!… Sabin.  Sabin, of course has a significantly higher percentage of Free and Reduced Lunch kids.  You know, those kids.  Apparently, parents in the area will need to make “alternative” plans so that their child does not have to attend Sabin.  At least that’s what Scott Rider thinks.

How about just going to the kindergarten roundup and checking the school out? 

And as for lack of transparency, meetings about this reconfiguration have been held since December and have included representative parents from all of the schools involved.  The same cannot be said about the Marshall closure.  Of course, that school taught those kids.

Has anyone watched the rerun of the December 13th board meeting?  Citizens commenting on the proposed Spanish immersion changes were allowed to talk for as long as they wanted.  Trudy never interrupted them to tell them that their time was up.  It’s like she didn’t even hear the timer.

The Chalkboard Project’s December newsletter shares a link to a new study on Oregon’s Small Schools, one of which is Marshall High School.  Marshall is the district’s newest high school and the one that is making the greatest gains for at-risk students.  It’s the school that the PPS board voted to close. 

ECONorthwest’s Oregon Small Schools Initiative Evaluation, Quanitative Analysis 2004-2009 tracks student achievement, attendance, drop-out rates, graduation rates, and college-going rates. Since 2004-05, the longest-established schools in the initiative have increased the share of graduates enrolling at college by ten percent, doubled the share of their students meeting state math and reading benchmarks, reduced dropout rates by more than 25 percent and increased high school graduation by 15 percentage points.

 The initiative schools’ demonstrated success in achieving important student outcomes is especially significant given that 53% of students at initiative schools come from low-income households, compared to 42% for the state as a whole.

The research also concluded that the small schools were more cost effective than larger, comprehensive high schools in terms of expenses involved to reach desired outcomes, such as the cost per high school graduate.

What more could the board ask for?

Who knew that board member  Bobbie Regan was capable of emotion.  Last night the board voted on a resolution that would change who gets into the district’s language immersion programs.  Bobbie was angry and accusing when defending Lincoln families guaranteed right to the Spanish immersion program at Lincoln. 

She called the district’s plan to restrict the Spanish immersion program “ridiculous” and appeared to be openly hostile towards Sara Allen (Systems Planning and Performance). 

Bobbie argued that families had made a commitment to the Lincoln program and urged her fellow board members to show some compassion.  After hearing fellow board members plans to support the resolution, Bobbie said she didn’t know how her fellow board members could be so “callous”.

Compare those comments to her stone-faced reading of a prepared statement in support of closing Marshall High School.  On October 12th Bobbie said, “We’ve directed the superintendent to work with Marshall families to find optimal school assignments going forward…I’m also convinced that Marshall students will be well-served and will succeed at other PPS high schools.”

Considering that Bobbie and her fellow board members just voted to dislocate close to 800 Marshall students, I’m sure that the superintendent will be experienced at finding optimal school assignments for the 40 students that Bobbie is so vehemently defending. 

I have to give the board credit on this one.  The majority finally had the balls to be consistent on both sides of the river.  Who knows how long it will last.

Tuesday, November 30th the PPS School Board will discuss and take action on the English Language Learner Audit Report. I hope to see educational advocates, parents, students and community members present. It is time to do right by ESL students.

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.

In September, I wrote about PPS receiving a $6 million Voluntary School Choice grant that targets Marshall, Roosevelt and Jefferson high schools.  I’ve read all of PPS annual reports on the Voluntary School Choice grant.  None of those reports mentioned that PPS had proposed closing Marshall. 

Last week I learned about 2 more grants that target Marshall.  One grant is small ($31,796) but the other is large $7 MILLION:

Serving students attending Marshall and Roosevelt High Schools and their nine feeder middle schools, School District 1J Multnomah County’s Partnership for Graduation project will implement early intervention, prevention, and reentry supports to help students get on track and stay on track to achieve high school graduation. The project will implement a new early intervention strategy to better match supplementary services to students who have been identified as being at greatest risk of dropping out. Camp Fire USA Portland Metro Council will implement a new intensive after-school program for at-risk middle school students that will include academic skill building and guidance in developing social and life skills. The project will extend the Step Up ninth grade transition support program at Marshall and Roosevelt into the tenth grade, focusing on students who do not earn all of their freshman core academic credits. Grant funds also will be used to enroll more students in two of the district’s most successful re-entry programs, Open Meadow Alternative Schools and Mt. Scott Learning Centers. Both programs currently have waiting lists.

Roosevelt has been given a fresh start got a fresh start through a transformation model grant.  Smith chose not to apply for the transformation grant for Biz Tech even though the school was eligible.  If she was planning on closing the school last year, why was she applying for grants for Marshall?  Where will Marshall’s share of the $13 million go now?

Portland Public Schools ESL Director is being provided with an Intervention Coach in response to the district’s 13-year history of failure to comply with civil rights laws and to improve the ESL program. 

Where’s Smith’s Intervention Coach?  Why does Smith get a glowing appraisal and extension of her contract when she’s failed to meet all of her performance benchmarks?  Were there benchmarks that the public didn’t know about?

I guess when you have leaders like Trudy, Bobbie, Pam and Ruth, you have to expect that the leadership bar is set extremely low.