Œ1’1' ^Jartlanh ©bserUer_______________________ Pa&
eA3
Aprii 22.2009
photo by
M ark W ashington /T he P ort land O bserv er
Portland Public Schools is considering drastic changes to its high school system. The plans have big implications for embattled neighborhoods such as northeast Portland where
high schools such as Madison (above) have experienced lower enrollment.
graphic region. U nder this sce­
n a r io , n e ig h b o rh o o d h ig h
schools w ould not be geared
tow ard specific career paths,
b u t in s te a d o f fe r th e sa m e
courses and electives.
T he th ird m odel w ould d i­
vide schools up in to regions
th a t w o u ld in c lu d e a la rg e
sc h o o l w ith lots o f e le c tiv e
co u rse s and sm a lle r schools
w ith s p e c if ic e d u c a t io n a l
them es. L arge sc h o o ls w ould
have 1,000 to 1,200 students,
an d sm a lle r sc h o o ls w o u ld
h a v e 3 0 0 to 7 0 0 . S tu d e n ts
co u ld ta ilo r th e ir ed u catio n to
th e ir in terests by trav elin g to half.
Rum ors sporadically em erge
d ifferen t scho o ls, and w ould
that
som e high schools w ith
have the o p p o rtu n ity to earn
declining
enrollm ent will have
cre d it o ff c am p u s, such as a t­
their
doors
shut- leaving com ­
tend in g P ortlan d C om m u n ity
m
unities
jittery
that th ey ’ll be
C ollege.
Currently students can trans­ left w ith o u t a n eig h b o rh o o d
f e r b e tw e e n n e ig h b o rh o o d high school.
C lo sin g any o f P o rtla n d ’s
schools freely. As a result, some
n e ig h b o rh o o d sc h o o ls h av e high sch o o ls is a touchy su b ­
experienced declining en ro ll­ ject, since they often are c h e r­
ished social hubs for the co m ­
m ent over the years.
For instance, M adison High m u n it ie s th e y s e r v e . A l­
S chool in northeast P ortland th o u g h Jefferso n is the c ity ’s
had nearly 2,000 students in sm a lle st h ig h sch o o l at ju s t
2003. But five years later enroll­ 631 stu d en ts, it has the h ig h ­
m ent had dro p p ed by nearly e s t p e r c e n ta g e o f s tu d e n ts
Candidate Looks to
Correct Deficiencies
Outlines school board priorities
seems focused on standardized
by J ake T homas
tests,
which he says have short­
T he P ortland O bserver
comings.
W orking as an ec o n o m ist,
"We don't do a very good job
Scott Bailey spends his days
counting beans and crunching o f assessing what kids are learn­
ing in the classroom," he said.
numbers.
But Bailey, who is running for "The state test is not a very good
a seat on the Portland Public diagnostic tool."
B ailey ex p lain ed that as a
School Board that is being va­
cated by Sonja Henning, realizes school board member he would
that not everything that happens take a two-pronged approach to
in the classroom can be easily schools: H e w ould give them
m ore au to n o m y so
quantified.
that they can try new
The parent-activist
approach es. But in
fro m G ra n t H igh
some areas, he thinks
School o f northeast
there needs to be solid
Portland recently sat
plans in place to im­
dow n with the Port­
prove them.
land Observer to dis­
He called for a re­
cuss his plans to get
vamping o f the pro­
kids real life skills and
cess to hire principles,
correct deficiencies in
which would bring in
the school district.
stu d e n ts, s ta ff and
Bailey stressed that
Scott Bailey
parents into the pro­
getting students en ­
gaged in more hands on activi­ cess. He also said he would push
ties will give them marketable to have concrete plans to im­
skills and also connect them to prove each school.
Bailey also said that PPS is out
the community.
"Look at how we teach math o f compliance with its Talented
to kids," he said. "We are teach­ and Gifted and English as a Sec­
ing math the same way, essen­ ond L anguage P rogram , and
tially, we've done forever: as if there needs to be a plan to deal
everyone is going to become a with both.
Part of the problem with TAG,
professional mathematician."
Instead, schools should teach according to Bailey, is that mi­
subject matter with a practical nority and imm igrant students
application in mind, said Bailey. don't get recognized.
"Too often I think we have
For exam ple, he pointed to
teachers
who look at a kid and
Jefferson High School initiating
have
lower
or higher expectations
a hands-on sustainability project
just
based
on their color o f the
in recent weeks, and a project his
skin
or
what
country they come
son was involved with at Grant
from," he said.
High School to dig bio-swales.
But that's not the only issue
Such projects, said Bailey,
could help kids get jobs in the facing m inority students, said
area's burgeoning sustainable Bailey. M inority students are
energy sector and put them in also suspended or disciplined at
better touch with the community. a much higher rate than white
"Boy, w hen adults see kids students. There is also a glaring
doing good stuff, it has a really achievement gap between minor­
positive effect," he said. "Kids ity and non-minority students.
Bailey said that part o f the
have so much energy; let's chan­
issue is cultural, with teachers
nel it in positive ways."
However, Bailey was vague on m isinterpreting the behavior of
how to be so innovative when
continued
on page A 6
much o f a school's curriculum
from the su rro u n d in g area at­ th ere w ould be 6 to 8 n eig h ­
ten d in g it o f any school in the b o rh o o d h ig h sc h o o ls. T he
plan is silen t on the n um ber
sy stem .
It’s h ard to get a handle on an d size o f m ag n et schools.
T h e seco n d o p tio n w ould
w hat each proposal w ill m ean
p
u
t 1 ,100 s tu d e n ts in ea ch
fo r e m b a ttle d s c h o o ls lik e
n
e
ig
h b o rh o o d s c h o o l, an d
J e f f e r s o n b e c a u s e t h e y ’re
w
ould
have district-w ide m ag­
m ean t to be co n c ep tu al and
d etails have y et to be d e te r­ n e t s c h o o ls th a t w o u ld in ­
m ined. I t’s also likely that the clu d e 400 to 1,100 students.
T his plan d o e s n 't state how
ad o p ted plan w ill be su b stan ­
tia lly re v is e d b e fo re b ein g m any neighborhood and m ag­
n et sch o o ls w o u ld be m a in ­
im plem ented.
H ow ever, a look at each o f tain ed , but even if there w ere
the plans in th eir c u rren t state ju s t tw o m agnet schools with
co u ld sp ell o u t clo su re s for 4 0 0 students that w ould m ean
s o m e n e i g h b o r h o o d h ig h th a t th e re w o u ld be 10,000
stu d en ts atten d in g n eig h b o r­
sc h o o ls.
A ccording to PPS, there are h o o d sch o o ls, resu ltin g in a
about 11,000 high school stu ­ to ta l o f 9 n e ig h b o r h o o d
dents attending 10 public high sc h o o ls.
It’s worth noting that at the
sch o o ls, (not in clu d in g a lte r­
last PPS School Board meeting,
n ativ e sch o o ls.)
T h e first o p tio n w ould put board mem bers brought up the
1,400 to 1,600 students on av ­ possibility that som e m agnet
erag e in each n eig h b o rh o o d schools could be housed in the
high school. Im p lem en tatio n neighborhood high schools.
T h e th ird p ro p o sal w ould
o f th is plan w ould m ean that
have high schools in each re­
gion o f the city serving 1,000 to
1,200 stu d e n ts an d sm a lle r
schools serving 300 to 700 stu­
dents.
The process of redesigning
the city ’s public high schools
is far from over. Committee mem­
bers are scheduled to meet with
com m unity organizations and
are having public forums to hear
com m unity concerns. The next
meeting is Wednesday, April 29
at 6:30 p.m. at W ilson H igh
School.
In Ju n e , S u p e r in te n d e n t
Carole Smith is slated to settle
on one option, and begin im ple­
menting the changes in the fall.
It could take five to 10 years to
phase in.
PPS s p o k e s p e rs o n M att
Shelby said that the redesign
could still go any direction at
this point.
“W hat we really want people
to focus on is w hat's possible,”
said Shelby.
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