New Reorg Plan

[jahman]

I do not envy the school board members or Carole Smith. With the
decline in the state budget, limits on the ability to raise money
locally, and with high school enrollments likely to decline for a few
more years before trending back upward, they had some very tough
choices to make. Add to this the cries for greater equity along with
worries about middle class flight further sapping resources, and the
decisions are particularly tough.

I am personally very pleased with the choices they did make. For the
vast majority of high school families, I believe the plan the board
approved is a good one.

The following is a summary of how I believe the various schools fared
under this plan.

FRANKLIN

Franklin is one of the big winners in all of this. In recent years
Franklin had been successful in stemming the tide of flight by putting
together a program that was attractive enough for middle class
families. Much of this was accomplished through temporary funding
sources that were about to run out. This plan truly puts Franklin on
an equal footing with Cleveland, Grant, Lincoln and Wilson as far as
the breadth of offerings they will be able to provide. Franklin may
even briefly find itself as the largest high school in the city with
the highest staffing levels.

GRANT

A number of the ideas kicked around during this reorganization process
would have meant drastic cuts for Grant. This is not one of them.
For Grant, I believe that it is at least as good as the status quo.
As the number of students within Grant’s current boundaries bottoms
out, Grant’s boundaries will expand to include King and Humboldt.
This will still leave Grant with the most compact boundaries of any
Neighborhood comprehensive, but will generally keep it as the largest
school (though Franklin may be larger for a few years). There will be
some reduction in offerings at Grant, especially during the years
enrollment bottoms out, but I believe it will not be drastic.

ROOSEVELT

Things are looking great for Roosevelt! I was at a meeting at
Roosevelt when the favored plan (7a) would have increased Roosevelt’s
enrollment to 940 by 2014. Overall the community was thrilled by the
extra resources this would bring. The current plan’s projection is
1098 students in 2014. This would bring substantially more staffing
and resources than 7a. In addition the school will be receiving a
boat load of Federal Turn Around money over a 3 year period of time.
With all these additional resources, the school should be able to put
together an extremely attractive program for those in its community.

MADISON

Whereas Franklin had managed to secure enough resources over the last
few years to stem the tide of flight, Madison has appeared to fall
just short of this, with a troubling but not crippling outflow. This
plan should abruptly put an end to that problem. Under this plan,
Madison will be similarly sized to Wilson. This will allow them the
breadth of offerings to provide a very attractive program.

LINCOLN & WILSON

Other than some curriculum changes, this plan is pretty much status
quo for the Westside schools.

JEFFERSON

Once one accounts for those attending various alternatives, Benson,
and those that have a right to transfer under the rules of no child
left behind, there simply are not enough students in North Portland to
support 2 decent sized comprehensives in North Portland. For
Jefferson advocates, this is not as good as making Jefferson and
neighborhood comprehensive, and doing something else with Roosevelt.
However it is much better for the Jefferson community than most of the
other ideas that have been considered. Those from the Jefferson
community who want to go there will be able to do so. Those who do
not would most likely have been allowed to transfer due to provisions
of No Child Left Behind. Now these students will be assigned to
Grant, Madison or Roosevelt, with the option of attending Jeff.
Jefferson will gain the highly desirable middle college program, and
get to keep it amazing sports program. To me, this plan seems more
sustainable than the status quo.

BENSON

Though Benson will be giving up a lot as compared to the status quo,
this is much better than the previous proposal for Benson. I will
allow a continuation of 4 year CTE at Benson, as well as their sports
teams. Though these changes are not good for the Benson community,
it is not the doomsday scenario like the previous plan.

MARSHALL

For Marshall advocates, this plan is a doomsday scenario. Currently
only about 40% of Marshall area students attend Marshall, with nearly
as many attending other Neighborhood schools or Benson, and the rest
attending Alternatives. I believe a significant minority of those who
would have otherwise attended Marshall will learn to appreciate their
new assignments. But that still leaves several hundred who would have
fared better at Marshall. Marshall has had a lot of experience
adjusting to many of the special needs of their student population.
It will undoubtedly take many years for the other schools to similarly
adapt. In addition, the burden of greater commute times and distances
is being placed on a community with relatively few resources.

[jahman]

I missed Cleveland, so here it is:

CLEVELAND

Cleveland's situation is similar to Grant. Increased boundaries will
partially offset losses due to the bottoming out of high school
enrollment. Cleveland should remain one of the 3 largest schools,
with Grant remaining larger, and Franklin at least for a while also
becoming larger. Cleveland's boundaries will become less compact.
Overall Cleveland should be able to maintain an excellent program with
the staffing levels it should received, but with slightly smaller
enrollments will have to make some adjustments.