VERY IMPORTANT meeting at FRANKLIN - PLEASE READ!!

[Molly]

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Franklin High School PTA will be hosting a Q&A session with PPS
district officials and school board members regarding the pending
boundary changes due to the closure of Marshall High School. Franklin
is extending an invite to their feeder schools as well as those within
the Marshall cluster.

Franklin Library
Wednesday November 10
7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
The district needs to hear our voices and concerns

THIS BOUNDARY DECISION CAN AFFECT OUR NEIGHBORHOODS & OUR FRANKLIN
CATCHMENT FOREVER!!

If you live in the Franklin catchment area, whether you have kids or
not, and whether you send them to Franklin, Cleveland,
or other high school, middle or elementary school - this boundary
decision will affect YOU!

For those who haven’t seen the 3 options, check out the PPS website
http://www.pps.k12.or.us/departments/high-school-system/4718.htm
We have also included at the bottom of this email, a letter that
Franklin High School PTA and Parent Representative FHS Site Council,
Jeff Hammond sent to the board which eloquently outlines our position
in support of Option 2, which is the closest in implementing PPS's
criteria for deciding new boundaries:
- Minimizing the distance students would need to travel each day

- Increasing socioeconomic diversity in schools

- Balancing enrollment among high schools


Minimizing the distance students would need to travel each day
One of our biggest concerns is Option 1, which removes Creston K-8
from the Franklin catchment. Creston's border is the west side of
52nd - literally across the street from Franklin HS! Removing Creston
from the FHS catchment would remove 25% of the Franklin students who
walk to school! Taking away an integral and historical part of the
Franklin community would be a devastating blow and would disrupt the
heart of the Franklin community.

Increasing socioeconomic diversity in schools
With 48 percent free and reduced lunch in Franklin's current
demographic, we recognize SES (socioeconomic status) diversity as one
of Franklin's greatest strengths. But there needs to be continued
balance within the school. Option 2 best supports this criteria.
According to a report in PPS's study for the HS Redesign project -
when more than 50% of students are low SES, only 1.1 percent of
schools consistently performed at a high level. One could argue that
50 percent is the tipping point. And the ultimate goal of the redesign
is to increase our high schools' graduation rates, while providing
equity in school offerings across the district. Under strong
leadership and with dedicated staff, parents, and community, Franklin
has for years succeeded in engaging and graduating students. Franklin
was last year awarded, for the 2nd year in a row, an Outstanding
rating on the State Report Card. We want to keep this momentum. Why
create a struggle under a statistic that could be ameliorated by the
redesign?

Balancing enrollment among high schools
All 3 options appear to balance enrollment among Franklin, Cleveland
and Madison.

The devil is in the details, folks, and these decisions will have far
reaching effects into our community - it is really important that you
make your voice heard. Below is Jeff's letter to the board as well as
email addresses for board and staff. Please encourage your friends
and neighbors to attend this meeting and or send emails to the board.
Feel free to forward this email.

FRANKLIN IS YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOL!
WHAT OPTION DO YOU THINK WILL BEST SERVE ALL THE STUDENTS AND THE
COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE?

- Molly Cliff Hilts and Dave Hilts, parents of a Franklin HS senior
and sophomore

PS - if you plan to attend Wednesday's meeting - just hit reply or
email me at mo...@mollycliffhilts.com so I can have a sense of
numbers. Thanks!

You can also join Franklin's Catchment discussion group: franklin-
fo...@googlegroups.com (it looks like we have been hacked!)


From: Jeff Hammond 
Sent: Sunday, October 31, 2010 9:59 PM
To:
ssi...@pps.k12.or.us; zsm...@pps.k12.or.us; sal...@pps.k12.or.us;
mdav...@pps.k12.or.us; thu...@pps.k12.or.us; tsar...@pps.k12.or.us;
rad...@pps.k12.or.us; david...@pps.k12.or.us;
pkno...@pps.k12.or.us; highs...@pps.k12.or.us;
mgon...@pps.k12.or.us; dilafruz...@pps.k12.or.us;
bobbi...@comcast.net; Schoo...@pps.k12.or.us;
csm...@pps.k12.or.us; Judy Brennan
Subject: Comments on Options for
Marshall

Good evening Superintendent Smith, district staff & school board
members. Over this past week, I have met with many groups to review
and analyze the district’s proposed boundary options for the Marshall
students attending Lane. These groups include the districts HSPAC,
the ad-hock HS Coalition & Representatives from the Franklin and
Creston communities. As a result of these meetings and many hours
analyzing options, I submit the following analysis and opinion of the
options before us. While I do not attempt to represent all points of
views, I do represent a well thought out in depth analysis, looking at
this from a broad rational perspective.

The district has presented 3 options for boundary adjustments
necessary as a result of the closing of the Marshall Campus. These
options all center primarily on how to distribute students attending
Lane MS. Option 1 was originally proposed last spring, but in an
effort to examine SES issues, the district has developed the other 2
options examining ways to possibly begin to address the SES imbalance
which exists between Franklin and Cleveland. We applaud the districts
willingness to step back and examine other options as we feel the
district must take advantage of this prime opportunity to remedy this
SES imbalance as much as possible.

Option 1, which was the original proposal laid out by the
superintendent in her recommendations last spring, adjust boundaries
so that all of Marshall high school catchment will attend Franklin
with the 1 exception of Harrison park which is proposed to attend
Madison high school. In addition, this proposal changed Creston K-8
feeder pattern from Franklin to Cleveland to help balance enrollment
numbers. Under this plan, the estimated 2014 FRL populations at
Franklin are 55%, whereas at Cleveland they are 30%. A huge
disparity.

While this option may seem logical, there are several reasons we feel
this option does little to achieve the ultimate goals of the HS
redesign process. 1. This option concentrates a large portion of
lower socioeconomic families at Franklin and Madison, and does not
work to balance the disparity between SES FRL populations at Franklin
and Cleveland. 2. This option relocates Creston from Franklin to
Cleveland. Creston students if moved to Cleveland would be about 1.5
miles from their high school as opposed to their current .5 mile
commute to Franklin. The majority of students in the Creston
catchment who attend Franklin walk or bike to school. This would be
difficult if they were to attend Cleveland and most would resort to
taking the bus or driving. Isn’t the whole premise of neighborhood
schools, that they are within the neighborhood and within walking
distance where possible? The Creston boundary is literally across the
street from Franklin.

The only advantage 1 would be proximity for those students of Whitman
and Woodmere which attend Lane. They would be marginally closer to
the Franklin campus than the Cleveland campus. Roughly a 30 minute vs
40 minute tri-met bus ride. We do not believe this commute difference
alone should be enough to disregard the possibility to provide a
closer SES balance between Franklin and Cleveland. In 2009-10 the FRL
populations at Franklin were 48% whereas Cleveland’s FRL population
was 26%. This is a staggering difference that must be addressed.

Option 2, proposes to split Lane MS and distribute 2/3 of their
catchment (Woodmere & Whitman) to Cleveland. In addition, due to the
enrollment numbers, the Woodstock catchment which currently feeds to
Cleveland would be shifted to Franklin. (except for those students in
the Chinese immersion program). This proposal does the most to
balance SES, resulting in an estimated 2014 FRL population of 50% at
Franklin and 37% at Cleveland. At first thought, there may be concern
with the shifting of Woodstock K-5 to Franklin, but in reviewing
historic feeder patterns, prior to the closure of Kellogg MS in 2005,
Woodstock did feed to Franklin. Therefore this feeder pattern has
precedence and has melded well with the Franklin community in the
past. One concern though, is the continuation of the Woodstock
Chinese immersion program creating a split feeder of to Cleveland,
much like that which exists with the Richmond Japanese immersion
program that splits Mt. Tabor to Franklin and Grant HS.

If the district is not committed to the concept of immersion programs
existing within a single cluster and willing to change the Richmond
Japanese program, then this Chinese split shouldn’t be an issue. We
recommend the district implement this option and as a means to
minimize the transportation impact to these students provide “yellow
bus” service to Cleveland, much like that provided for the Skyline
community to attend Lincoln HS.

Option 3, is a hybrid split of Lane, shifting 1/3 to Cleveland, 2/3 to
Franklin, leaving both the existing feeder patterns of Woodstock and
Creston in place. With Whitman attending Cleveland, and Woodmere
attending Franklin the 2014 FRL populations are projected to be 53% at
Franklin and 34% at Cleveland. Still a 19% differential. We believe
this option does not go far enough to promote SES balance among our
high schools when there are opportunities before us which come much
closer. In addition, this splits the close communities of Woodmere &
Whitman and reduces the efficiency of a common “yellow bus”
possibility for these students.

In closing, I would recommend the district implement option 2. I must
say that like in most situations, some options are much easier to
implement than others. With this said, I caution the district from
taking the path of least resistance and instead, use this opportunity
to make long term changes which benefit the district as a whole, never
losing sight of the ultimate goals of the HS Redesign process. In
addition, ideally we would be reviewing the elementary and middle
school boundaries as well, as they are random and inconsistent across
the board, many were developed decades ago with a different portfolio
of high schools, elementary schools, middle schools and K-8’s. I urge
the district to take this next step and tackle this issue along with
the K-8 transfer policies which eat away at our ability to truly be
successful with HS redesign. We must address the system with a
holistic approach and not only limit this exercise to our High
schools. I am confident in Superintendent Smith’s vision and will
continue to be an advocate and supporter. With this said, I am
confident in Carol’s desire for community input and wiliness to
engage. I thank you all for your commitment to the students of
Portland and look forward to working with you thru this process.

I invite your comments and suggestions and urge you to let me know if
you have any questions or need additional information

Sincerely,

Jeff Hammond

President - Franklin High School PTA, Parent Representative – FHS Site
Council, “an advocate for all students of PPS”