June 9, 2010
dlu fJortlanh (Obsvmer
IN S ID E
The Week ¡n Review
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Page 3
Fred Meyer
page 2
Jeff Closure on Table
ph - w Redesign plans
hit more snags
L aw &< J ustice
J ake T homas
T he P ortland O bserver
by
A high school redesign pro­
posal has hit more snags, putting
into doubt whether it will be ap­
proved by the school board by a
June 21 deadline. The latest skid
cam e M onday w hen School
Board members suggested con­
verting Jefferson High School
from a neighborhood school to a
specialized magnet program.
Superintendent Carole Smith
had recom m ended m aking the
d istrict’s only predom inantly
A frican A m erican high school
a com prehensive neighborhood
school and enforcing bound­
ary requirem ents for a tte n ­
dance with lim ited transfer op­
portunities.
The initial concept also called
for converting Benson Polytech­
nic High School into a special­
ized tw o -y ear program and
Marshall High School into mag­
net school. The seven other re­
maining high schools would be
transformed into comprehensive
neighborhood high schools, with
roughly the same amount o f stu­
dents, funding, and course offer­
ings.
But this was before news that
the state was facing a massive
budget shortfall, which could
result in $ 19 million decrease in
funding to PPS. Because o f the
lack o f funds school board mem-
cal programs to Jefferson, which
evoked a spirited reaction at a
community forum at Self En­
hancem ent Inc., a northeast
charter school that serves low-
income and minority students that
feed into Jefferson.
At the meeting, Tony Hopson,
SEI president and CEO, scolded
school board members and Smith
for continuing a history o f ill-
fated tinkering at Jefferson that
One o f the driving forces
behind the redesign is to close
in on the Portland’s sobering
achievement gap.
ber Bobbie Regan and Trudy
S argent, w ho co -ch airs the
board, both said they couldn’t
get behind the eight comprehen-
siv e sch o o l m odel. M artin
Gonzalez also said he w ouldn’t
vote for the proposal because o f
cuts to Benson.
Last month, Gonzalez sug-
gested moving Benson’s techni-
1
has sapped the school o f the
resources it needs to thrive,
Interestingly, Jefferson was
converted to a perform ing arts
magnet school in 1974 with the
aim o f attracting more white stu-
dents to the predominantly black
school. The proposal failed to
attractive a significant number
continued
on page 17
No Sign of 2nd Grader
C lassifieds
pages 12-13
O pinion
pages 14-15
' 7 J?
F ood
page 20
Vanished from
Skyline
Elementary
tip line.
Many parents were at a sci­
ence fair Friday morning before
the boy vanished. Gates said
investigators planned to inter­
view everyone who was at the
(AP) — Relatives o f a 7-year-
school.
old Portland boy missing from
K elly Ram irez, the sister o f
Skyline Elementary School for
K yron's m other, issued a state­
five days have urged those work­
m ent M onday evening thank­
ing to find him to carry on the
ing everyone who has "w orked
search with optimism.
tirelessly on K yron's b e h a lf'
Twenty-two state, local and
and asked people to print and
Kyron Horman
federal agencies have been fol­
distribute fliers w ith the boy's
lowing up on more than 1,200 sheriffs Capt. Jason Gates said photo.
tips in the search for Kyron Tuesday at a brief news confer­
"Above all do not give up hope,
ence.
Horman, who disappeared from
as we certainly never will," she
He said investigators have in­ said. "He is out there and we are
the northwest Portland school
terviewed the families o f about going to find him and bring him
on Friday.
"There has been nothing o f 90 percent o f the school's stu­ home safe where he belongs."
significance in terms o f results dents, and he asked those who
continued
on page 17
to report," Multnomah County haven't been questioned to call a