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