Oregon Public Broadcasting

The Portland schools superintendent Monday unveiled her long-awaited plan to re-design high schools in the state’s largest school district.

The district had suggested it might close as many as three high school campuses. As Rob Manning reports, the district has stopped short of that – but is still shaking things up.

At first, Portland Public Schools’ officials said they needed to create high schools with at least 1350 students.

They said that number would provide sufficient teachers to offer a breadth of course offerings and sufficient support classes for the students who need them. But by the district’s initial math, that meant closing at least two, possibly three schools.

Last night, Superintendent Carole Smith soft-pedaled the news about Marshall High School – the one campus being affected.   

Carole Smith: “The Marshall campus will lose its neighborhood attendance boundary.”   

Marshall’s three small schools are a major legacy of the last big plan to shake up Portland high schools.   Now the district is moving back toward a “comprehensive” model.

In the run-up to the new plan, many parents and teachers opposed changing Marshall.  Its future is now likely to be as a magnet – or what the district calls a focus "option" school.

The district is hoping for help from Portland Community College and the nearby David Douglas school district.

Marshall parent Bonnie Calneck is worried about students who’ve already been through a tough transition, when Portland consolidated elementary and middle schools.  

Bonnie Calnek: “Those students will be seniors in 2012, and will be affected again, you know, when they need to move schools again. Again, to keep that continuum of education - there’s a lot that dropped off the radar.”   

The district says it can still follow through on its plan to equalize course offerings across the district and improve graduation rates. But that’s dependent on changing Benson High School.

It’s now a four-year high school magnet with a technical focus. Superintendent Smith proposes bringing juniors and seniors from other area high schools to Benson for career classes, just part of the day.   

Carole Smith: “This will ensure that students throughout our entire district have access to a high-quality advanced learning experience, while continuing to remain a part of their home school community.”

Benson supporters are already gearing up to fight the district over the changes being proposed.

John Slaughter is a Benson graduate, and a long-time advocate for the school.   

John Slaughter: “Frustrating parts are that we’ve been told from the district that they value Benson, they value what we do, they understand us – why would they want to change? We’re a very successful school. There’s a number of other schools that aren’t, and haven’t been successful for the past number of years. Why would they want to change Benson, and not close those other schools down?”

The district is counting on one other change: making it hard for students to transfer away from local neighborhood schools.  

Carole Smith says she listened to parents’ demands not to close certain schools – even though parents often had a tendency to send their kids to other schools. 

Instead, Smith says, it’s up to local leaders to invest in those  neighborhood schools.

Carole Smith: “Part of the success of this plan counts on people accessing it close to home, and saying ‘this is my community school, and I will attend here, and I will make it strong. And as a community, we will wrap around it, and we will make it the heart of our community and make it strong.” 

The superintendent’s proposal will be the subject of a board work session Tuesday. But board members don’t plan on voting on it until late June.