High school shakeup tosses equity into the mix

Superintendent Carole Smith endorses proposal to blend large high schools with magnet schools

By Jennifer Anderson

The Portland Tribune, Jun 23, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Hold onto your hats, youth of Portland.

Portland Public Schools’ high schools are in for a major redesign, a shakeup district leaders say will go a long way toward increasing equity, student engagement and graduation rates while reducing the achievement gap.

Superintendent Carole Smith was set to announce Wednesday morning that she’s endorsing a plan that will close at least two high schools (or change their current structure), completely redraw attendance boundaries and eliminate transfers in some cases. The district’s high school design team has shaped the plan during the past year with feedback from the public, including four recent meetings held in the past few months.

Under the proposal, six or seven large community high schools, serving between 1,100 to 1,400 students (with the exact number to be decided upon this October), would function as neighborhood schools.

Having the same size schools means the same number of teachers, so the same amount and types of courses (including college-prep and electives) could be offered on each campus.

Students would be guaranteed attendance at the school within their geographic boundary, and transfers between community high schools would not be allowed. Boundaries would be redrawn across the city, even possibly across the river to ensure greater socioeconomic equity.

Schools with more needy students may be given more funding to meet their staffing needs. The district would also look to develop these as community centers, partnering with local businesses, social services and nonprofits to keep them open day and night for families and residents’ use.

The second element in the mix would be three to six magnet schools, serving between 300 to 1,100 students depending on their focus, which could be anything from the arts to technology.

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