Balancing Interests: An Investigation into the Boundary Changes of Portland Public Schools in Northeast

Like it or not, the boundaries of Northeast Portland public schools are going to change. While changing the boundaries is not the only course of action available when trying to balance enrollment numbers, it is the option the Portland Public School (PPS) board will pursue.

According to PPS Director of Enrollment and Transfers Judy Brennan, neglecting to change the boundaries has led to the overcrowding and scarcity of students in elementary and middle school classrooms. This does not mean that PPS has not tried to fix the problem in the past.

Judy Brennan, addressing parents at Community Meeting at Grant HS

From closing down schools that could not be financed and reconfiguring boundaries to creating feeder schools and limiting the number of transfer students per school, the PPS board has been trying to balance the enrollment numbers in schools since 2006.

Rigler School, one of the six schools that will be affected by the boundary change, and its surrounding community has experienced these changes more than any other community involved. Since 1999, PPS has tried to settle the issue of overcrowding with Rigler School 7^th and 8^th graders.

For the past 12 years, PPS has reassigned  Rigler middle school students to eight different schools in an attempt to alleviate overcrowding. However,  multiple middle school closures and overcrowding at designated feeder schools have caused Rigler's students to be jerked from one school to the next.

 Though the changes were necessary, PPS is far from pleased with the results. “It’s not a history to be proud of at all,” Brennan comments. “They really do deserve stability especially because of that history.” Brennan believes that out of all the schools involved, Rigler School’s stability should be the highest priority because this problem has been reoccurring.

Community Concerns

 Parents  of the other five schools involved, Alameda, Beaumont, Irvington, Sabin and Vernon, are worried that something similar will happen in their communities. Jane McFarland, a parent of a Beaumont alumnus, feels that history could just be repeating itself as previous changes have caused problems inadvertently. “Over six years, various processes related to Portland schools have resulted in unintended consequences, and that may be the case again this year.”

Her fears are echoed by many parents who attended their individual school forums and the community meetings held on Nov. 29^th at Grant High School and Dec. 5^th at Madison High School. Her and other parents are searching for clarity in the proposed changes.

The biggest concerns voiced by parents at the meetings, aside from misunderstanding, included sending children to  the "good schools", keeping siblings together and the distance between a family’s home and their assigned schools. Susan Samuelson, a mother whose child will be required to attend Irvington, also brought up the issue of neighborhood friends. “The younger children in my area will all go to Beaumont, because of sibling preference, and my child will be left isolated at Irvington.”

Samuelson is not the only one worried that a child’s neighborhood friends and school friends will differ. Some parents find themselves living in a neighborhood near one school but find themselves being assigned to a school that is farther away. Others are worried about whether their children will be able to walk or ride a bike to school.

Concerned parents, such as Susan Samuelson,
voice opinions at  Community  Meetings

Other concerns include continuing family tradition, being informed regularly during the process, schools being converted from elementary/middle schools (K-8s) to just elementary schools (K-5s) and the importance of attending a separate middle school.

Administrators are concerned as well. Principal of Beaumont Middle School, Elizabeth Casson-Taylor is concerned with how school programs will be affected. “I am concerned that all the pieces won’t be on the table for consideration.” By pieces, Principal Casson-Taylor is referring to programs such as Special Education, ELL and other programs provided by Beaumont.

 She also hopes that when the boundaries are changed, all community concerns will be considered and, most importantly, that the change is permanent. “The final decision needs to be consistent. Flip-flopping like this is not good for students," says Casson-Taylor. 

Kate Anderson, a kindergarten teacher at Sabin, touched on the issue of diversity. “If we’re looking at enrollment balancing… and what is best for student, we should consider bringing in more immersion programs.” Anderson believes that the enrollment balancing could possibly inhibit diversity among the schools.

Not all of the feedback received from PPS forums and community meetings has been negative. Some parents and administrators have praised PPS for their continued diligence in providing information on their website and  their attempts to reach out to the community.

Portland Public Schools Concerns

Even though any feedback from parents is help, Enrollment and Transfers Director Brennan is still wary about what she has received. Brennan is worried that parents from diverse backgrounds have failed to step up and speak out about the proposed changes.


"Understanding the demographic that the school's support, we didn't have a very diverse population there. We support Vietnamese speakers, Somali speakers, Spanish speakers and we have families of color... And that's a concern," Brennan explained. She hopes that those parents will speak out as the changes tend to affect them most.

PPS is also concerned with how parents are responding. While the constant changes with boundaries have exasperated school administrators, faculty and staff, parents and the surrounding Portland community, failure to change the boundaries could cause more harm for students than people realize.

If the boundaries do not change, students could be affected by either a lack of student-teacher interaction or patronizing programs that promote academic excellence. PPS cannot express to the community just how important these changes are.

Pamela Van der Wolf, assistant principal at Alameda Elementary School, agrees. “There definitely needs to be a change. We’ve got huge classrooms. We’ve got 33 to 34 students in a classroom, which for an elementary school, is not good practice.”

Assistant Principal Pamela Van der Wolf

Not only do crowded classrooms affect a student’s individual learning, it has an effect on the schools that are below their school target size. 

Schools such as Beaumont, Sabin and Irvington have reached their target minimum successfully for the last five years.


 However, these schools could be housing more students. The more students a school has, the more funding a school can be allotted. The more funding a school has, the more programs and supplies a school can acquire.

Portland Public School funding is regulated through the state of Oregon’s Department of Education. Each school budget is determined on a per-student basis. Schools can also receive funding through allocated grants related to Title I eligibility, administration support and the socioeconomic status of students.

 For example, Beaumont middle school is allotted $5200 per student. With an enrollment of  455 students  last year, Beaumont’s budget was $2,366,000. The majority of this money is allotted towards faculty and staff salaries while the rest goes to support school programs such as special education or English Language Learning.

A School's budget is dependent on the number
of students enrolled.

With recent state budget cuts, PPS has found itself needing to adjust accordingly and reconfigure the entire budget.


 “Schools that used to be considered small became schools we couldn’t support financially,” Brennan explains.


Schools such as Marshall High School were closed in an effort to consolidate students and resources.

                                               

The Proposals

In an effort decrease the number of students at Rigler and Alameda schools and to increase the number of students at Beaumont, Irvington and Sabin, PPS has developed a two-part proposal. The first part of the proposal focuses on changing the boundary and grade reconfiguration while the second part focuses on changing the transfer system.

Should it be approved by the Superintendent, the boundary change would occur along the western edge of the Alameda/Beaumont boundary. The boundary would shift east, giving more area to the Sabin and Irvington boundaries, assigning more students to those schools.
 

  Proposed Boundary Shift

                       
                                                         View Proposed PPS Grant Area Boundary in a larger map


Along with the shift in boundaries, certain grades would be reconfigured. It has been proposed that Rigler be converted from a K-8 to a K-5 and the extra students be placed at either Beaumont or Vernon for 6^th to 8^th grade. Additionally, Beaumont would become a feeder school for either Rigler or Sabin depending on the results of the first change.

In regards to the transfer system, it has been proposed that transfer students from Sabin to Beaumont either continue to be able to transfer as stated in a previous guarantee but have limited transportation resources or that the guarantee be ended and phase out transportation to the transfer students.


There would also be a limitation to the amount of students allowed to transfer into any PPS neighborhood.
This change is an attempt to discourage families from sending their children to schools outside of their assigned boundary.

The proposal has received both praise and criticism from the Portland Community. While some parents are displeased with the proposed changes, such as Sabin parents who are against the grade reconfiguration, others, such as Rigler parents are hopeful that this change will be the one that fixes the problem.

Some Rigler parents, such as Laura Peraza, are in full support that Rigler students should eventually attend Beaumont. “Rigler students would benefit from attending Beaumont because it’s a middle school, and at Vernon, our children would have to blend in with kids who have been together since kindergarten.”  Peraza also mentioned that at least 66 other parents agree and  they are collecting signatures.

Conclusion

Despite most of the negativity about the proposal, Brennan of PPS knows that you cannot make everyone happy. “We haven’t found a way to change boundaries without a big shake up.” Brennan explains. She realizes that parents  have  made some decisions based on feelings instead of facts.

While all 85 PPS schools are staffed and maintained under PPS, Brennan understands that there are still schools with certain reputations. In this case, schools that are under capacity are sometimes considered to be “bad schools.” 

Brennan understands how parents come to this conclusion but insists it is not true. “If we can balance enrollment between schools, so we don’t have smaller schools with few programs and bigger schools with a lot of programs, then we wouldn’t have the perception that some schools are better than others.”

As for the disgruntled parents, Brennan wishes everyone would look at the bigger picture. “At the end, your kids are going to be fine” she says. “The most important thing that happens for kids, regardless of the school they attend, is the relationship with the teacher...it's the most important thing.”





Additional Information

The PPS proposal was reviewed by the PPS Board on Dec. 12th, 2011. Superintendent Carole Smith will offer a recommendation and the School Board will make a final decision in January.

For more information about Enrollment Balancing or updates on the process, please visit: http://www.pps.k12.or.us/departments/enrollment-transfer/enrollment-balancing.htm