Category — Marshall

Trudy Sargent has been the most disappointing board member throughout this entire redesign process.  She was nominated to represent the Marshall area but when asked about that her response was “well, I live on Mt. Tabor.” 

She’s been unresponsive, rude and disrespectful to Marshall parents, staff and community members.  Her statements at last week’s board meeting demonstrate her inability to think critically.  Check out how she responds (1:53) to the concerns about student achievement.  “There’s lots of red on this chart and red is not very good.”  That’s deep Trudy.  Please slow down so I can catch up.   

As for having an intelligent discussion, she opts out (3:01).  “I’m not going to try to answer all of the very good comments and questions that my colleagues have raised.”  Why not Trudy?

So what will happen with Marshall’s Voluntary School Choice grant funds now that the PPS board has approved the complete closure of Marshall High School?  Remember, the Voluntary School Choice grant is a $6 million grant that targets Marshall, Jefferson and Roosevelt.  Marshall students no longer have a choice to attend Marshall.  Among the Voluntary School Choice grant goals:

“Phase II of Portland’s Voluntary Public School Choice program will focus significant resources on ensuring equity in neighborhood choice by supporting less successful local high schools in their long-term plans to attract students (neighborhood and beyond) to innovative and rigorous focus options that include access to higher education.  Current choice options allow high school students in more prosperous areas to access colleges and universities, but these opportunities are limited at Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Marshall High Schools. 

Phase II will contribute to the increase in enrollment in higher education within one year of high school graduation by 5% across the district and 10% for the targeted high schools.  At the current time, there is a significant gap in the percentage of students from targeted district high schools who graduate from high school in the Spring and enter college in the Fall as compared to their fellow students in more affluent and academically successful high schools. Phase II of Portland’s Voluntary Public School Choice project will implement both programs and safeguards so that all students may select their home schools as credible options and that all of these schools operate on a level playing field, preparing their students for academic success through high school and into college.”   

Despite the fact that Marshall has been on the chopping block for quite some time, Kelley Duron (PPS Project Director) fails to mention that in her third year report to the federal government:

“During the ’09-10 school year, Superintendent Carole Smith launched a massive effort to engage the community in the district’s efforts to redesign the high school system to better serve all students in PPS. VPSC sponsored a series of phone surveys and in-person focus groups to shape the overarching “look” of the new system. In addition, we provided funding to facilitate more than a dozen community meetings which attracted hundreds of Portlanders to give their feedback in the early shaping of the proposal. VPSC provided support for research on succesful focus options, site visits to local vocational technical schools, and temporary clerical support for redesign staff.

The high school redesign proposal was submitted for consideration to the Board at its April 25th meeting. It includes recommendations for eight comprehensive community (neighborhood) high schools plus two focus option schools. The proposal under consideration by the Board includes some boundary changes and policy changes regarding the ability of students to transfer between neighborhood catchment schools. The Board is expected to vote on adoption of the high school system design plan at its June 21st meeting”.

Considering that Marshall was one of three schools targeted by the grant, don’t you think it would have been important for Kelley to have mentioned that Marshall High School was recommended for closure?

A couple of parents have tried calling the US Department of Education’s Voluntary School Choice Program Officer but she hasn’t returned our calls.  Parents in the Marshall community are due a “voluntary choice” or taxpayers are due a refund.  Maybe if a few more parents call and email her she will feel compelled to respond.  Here’s her contact info:

Jeanne Gilroy

US Department of Education Program Officer

(202) 205-5482 or via e-mail at jeanne.gilroy@ed.gov

Just a quick update on our plans to change the PPS district boundaries…Our efforts hit a snag last summer because we were waiting for the state to review our legal description of the new boundaries.  We just heard back from the state.  Unfortunately, we need to make changes to the legal description and we need to bring in some experts. 

We have a proposal from a firm that will provide us with the legal description for  $4,000.  We are seeking donations and we will gratefully accept any amount!!!

Donations can be sent to:

JMHS Class Of 1965

PO Box 66306

Portland, OR 97290-6306

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

Once again the school board will be relying on blind faith if they vote to approve Smith’s proposal to close Marshall.  Do you see an implementation plan here? 

Summary of key elements of operational plan for implementing the recommendations:

Action Steps/Timeline

TIMELINE EVENT

November 2010 Student Assignment – gather feedback from parents, students and PPS staff

November 2010 Student Transition – Develop detailed process for integrating students with new schools

November 2010 Notify all district partners (after school programs, state and county etc..) of school closure

December 2010– December 2011

Student Transition – Implement detailed process

December, 2010 Student Assignment – Finalize new boundaries

December, 2010 Student Assignment – Determine where students will be assigned

December 2010 Student Assignment – Inform families of new boundaries/assignment

December 2010 Reassign staff – Decide upon approach to staff reassignment

December 2010 Reassign staff – staff meetings with affected parties staff reassignment

January 2011 Update/Revise enrollment projections

March 2011 Update/Revise budgets / (new accounting codes etc…)

March 2011 Reassign staff – staff reassignment implementation

January – June 2011

Facilities – Determine new use of Marshall facility

November 2010- August 2011

Facilities – Prepare receiving schools for increased enrollments and core program requirements

November – December 2010

Facilities – Ensure all legal requirements with City are met

December 2010 – April 2011

Facilities and SPED – develop plans to accommodate needs of students with special needs

December 2010 Transportation Plan – finalize transportation plan for affected students

March 2011 School moves – Develop comprehensive plan for moving staff, equipment and materials

January – March 2011

School/ Program moves – find location for teen parent program, clothes closet

December – August 2011

School/ Program moves – work with county to relocate health clinic and/or SUN program

December – August 2011

School/Program moves – determine if and how SUN program can be located at Franklin and/or Cleveland

April – May 2011

Student Cumulative Records – develop plan to transfer and/or store student records

June – July 2011

Student Cumulative Records – implement

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. 

 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!

I challenge EVERY board member and Smith to do the Marshall to Madison public transportation commute every morning and afternoon for a week just as they’re expecting Marshall students to do for FOUR YEARS!

Marshall’s auditorium was packed for last night’s testimony.  For the most part, the board heard many of the same things that they heard when people testified last spring.

Many of the people who testified in opposition to the school’s closure are  and staff.  Don Elwell corrected some critical misperceptions about Marshall. 

First, Carole Smith has been spreading a lie (my word, not Don’s) that the the teacher’s union contract would prevent Marshall from returning to a comprehensive high school.  She says that there would be problems with bumping, teacher assignments etc.  That’s not true.  Don said that teachers are willing to do whatever it takes to keep Marshall open.  

Last, Don said that current enrollment is well over 700 at Marshall.  It would have been higher but Smith hurt enrollment by announcing that Marshall wouldn’t be taking any freshman this year then later changing her mind. 

Another teacher, Paul Ferris, got laughs when he said that he teaches math and he can’t figure out Smith’s math.  It doesn’t add up for saving money or enrollment. 

Students and parents testified saying that they would leave PPS if Marshall closes.   

Trudy Sargent was rude and disrespectful while at the same time admonishing audience members and speakers about their behavior.  I find it disrespectful for an elected official to be rolling her eyes and carrying on side conversations while people are testifying.  Trudy does this regularly.

One elderly man’s testimony ran long and Trudy was nasty towards him.  At one point when Trudy tried to cut off testimony, the audience pushed back.  Trudy let the speaker finish.  She would not have treated Tony Hopson that way.  Why is that? 

I have a problem with the board rules for public comment.  They say that speakers cannot publicly attack individuals.  Who determines what constitutes an “attack”?  Trudy at the moment she hits the gavel?  Speakers have a right to free speech with some limitations.  The limitations don’t include board members not liking the criticism. 

Trudy interrupted a speaker last night because the speaker was talking about Carole Smith (specifically her excessive salary).  The speaker pointed out that singling Marshall out for closure in the way that Smith has done is an attack on her family.  I agree.  The board may expect and want the Marshall community to sit back and take it but we’re not going to!       

The meeting was supposed to be televised but I was told that didn’t happen.  The district edited comments from at least one of the school closure meetings last spring so I’ll be watching to see if they do it again.  (Channel 12 coverage was inaccurate but channel 8 got it right.)

The state’s school report cards come out today.  Will the board have time to review them before voting to pull the plug on Marshall?

In his Oregonian opinion piece (“Portland’s high school redesign: Equity?  Not so much,” October 4, 2010), Steve Buel pretty well dissects how Portland Public Schools is messing up its “high school system redesign,” which basically amounts to closing one poor school, further constricting the tech school (which has historically served poverty-affected students) and ceding Oregon’s only majority black high school to the local community college, scattering students in its current attendance area to the winds.

Here’s what they should have done, but what the real politik of Portland’s entrenched elite ruled out:

• Merge Lincoln into Wilson. The Lincoln catchment area has the smallest number of students in the district. Lincoln’s facility is sub-par, and the property is highly valuable. Sell the  property and use the money to upgrade/expand other facilities. Move the IB program (and other successful programs) to Jefferson.
• Merge Cleveland into Franklin. Cleveland’s campus is inadequate for a modern high school. Nearby Franklin is a great campus and is underutilized.
• Make Jefferson a performing arts magnet again, and require participants in its reconstituted programs to actually attend classes there. Add in the IB program from Lincoln to further draw students and funding to this currently under-served neighborhood.
• Once and for all, scrap the stinking transfer lottery, and ensure that every neighborhood school has the same basic offerings.

This would leave the district with six comprehensive neighborhood schools (Franklin, Grant, Marshall,   Madison, Roosevelt, and Wilson), each with about 1,500 students (assuming 500 – 1000 each at Benson and Jefferson). These schools would still be smaller than in surrounding districts, and would thus lack the full scale programs available to every high school student in Beaverton and Hillsboro, for example, but would preserve ample room for growing populations.

This idea makes sense from afar, but it would never fly. Even though the rich wouldn’t lose much in the end, it would require them to endure some amount of change (though nothing on the order of what poor neighborhoods have endured over decades of failed experiments in urban education policy trends). They’re happy with what they’ve stolen, and they’re not about to risk losing it.

Instead, Portland’s elite neighborhoods get to keep what they’ve been hoarding for decades, and minorities and the economically disadvantaged get the usual fare of school closures and reconfigurations in their chronically under-served neighborhoods.

If, at the end of the line, they’re just going to close schools in poor neighborhoods (like usual), why did they waste two-plus years of public involvement? Like Buel said, it’s hard to see the equity in this plan.