Parents vow to fight to keep Chief Joseph Elementary open
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PORTLAND, Ore. – Some Portland parents vented their frustration Friday night after learning their school could close.
Portland Superintendent Carole Smith released her recommended plan to address enrollment concerns in the Jefferson Cluster.
Parents at Chief Joseph Elementary School in North Portland thought the school was safe. The school district didn't mention closing Chief Joseph as an option in January when two scenarios emerged as the most likely for adjusting enrollment.
One option would close Woodlawn School, and the other would have closed Vernon School. But Woodlawn and Vernon appear safe at the expense of Chief Joseph.
And for Kelly Bawden, a mother of a first-grader at Chief Joseph, the shock is turning to exasperation.
"It's a gut punch," she said.
Bawden said Chief Joseph parents were blindsided by Smith's recommendation to eventually close her first grade son's school and shift students over to Ockley Green School, especially after the district focused in on two proposals last month, neither of which mentioned closing Chief Joseph.
"The level of distrust at this point has gone off the scale," Bawden said.
"Parents are not going to back down," said Becca Russell, a parent of another first-grader at Chief Joseph. "We are going to fight for our school. Whatever it takes, we are going to fight to keep our school open because we love it that much."
Russell said she and other Chief Joseph parents will push the school district board to re-evaluate its options, rather than close schools.
"What would it become?" she said. "Would it become just this empty building in the middle of this neighborhood?"
"I know everybody thinks their elementary school is special, but we are a walkable, bikable, true neighborhood school," Bawden said.
The school board meets Monday to hear the superintendent's recommended plan, and Chief Joseph parents plan to show up en masse there as well as next weekend for a special public hearing at Jefferson High School.
Sallykav said it all. L@L and Last scout, please troll on The Columbian site where you belong.Â
All of those teachers who will lose their jobs... HOW'S THAT OBAMA ECONOMY TREATING YA?
Chief Joseph is overcrowded because organized, motivated, well educated parents have worked hand in hand with an amazing advocate of a Principal for years to build that school into what it has become.  It's not some random accident that that school is suddenly highly desirable and overcrowded.  People have been moving TO that pocket of North Portland so they can be part of THAT community.  And so what does PPS do?  Dismantle the biggest North Portland success story in years.  Move those kids out of that neighborhood school, which is located on a beautiful park where the symphony plays in the summer time, where the kids have soccer practice, where the neighborhood gathers... and move them to Ockley Green: a failing school located on one of the busiest street in Portland across from a thriving porn shop?  WHO DOES THIS?  It's sickening.  When you dismantle that school you dismantle that neighborhood.  God forbid a North Portland neighborhood starts behaving like and living like an upper middle class neighborhood.  God forbid.
 @sallykav Sorry to burst your bubble, but Chief Joseph has been a successful school for decades (my kids went there 30 years ago), and the Arbor Lodge neighborhood has been desirable for decades as well. Arbor Lodge park, likewise, has a history of being a thriving, healthy, happy place as well. I don't want any more schools closed down, but where was the Chief Joseph parents' outrage when all the other elementary schools in the Jefferson cluster were being shut down? Chief Joseph isn't even being shut down; it is being suggested as a possibility down the road. And PPS is not planning to branch Chief Joe kids to various different schools (as they have with other Jefferson closures); they would stay together as they move to the larger building. The reality is that the Chief Joe building is too small to house a PreK-8 program, as is the configuration for all other elementary schools in the cluster. Perhaps they can house the lower grades at Chief Joseph (instead of closing it down), then the students could move to Ockley for the older grades (dual campus). "God forbid a North Portland neighborhood starts behaving like and living like an upper middle class neighborhood.  God forbid." Your demeaning, classist comment is a slap in the face to those who have lived here for decades and supported all the schools here (as well as your newer neighbors) and has no place in describing our neighborhood. I support not closing Chief Joseph, but the current Chief Joseph families need to come down off their high horse. They did not suddenly create Chief Joe or the Arbor Lodge neighborhood. This is about creating cluster- and district-wide equity in educational opportunities, something the majority of Jefferson children have been on the short end of for a long, long time. If you care about your community, care about everyone in it. Otherwise, you might want to move to a neighborhood that meets your "upper middle class neighborhood" standards.
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I donât live in that neighborhood; I am not even part of the Jefferson Cluster. The parents from my neighborhood school were putting together a Science Fair while the parents from Chief Joseph were spending every bit of their time and energy fighting to keep their school open. It is NOT fair that certain Public Schools are allowed to thrive while other areas are kept in chaos. It is immoral and unjust. And from where I stand it absolutely IS a class issue - you can call me a classist for calling it how I see it. They deserve better â this entire process has been a travesty.
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 @sallykavI could not agree with you more that it is horrific that some schools in Portland are allowed to thrive while others have been kept in chaos. It is immoral and unjust, as you say. And it has been going on in the Jefferson cluster for decades. It is hurtful, however, when you paint a large part of the city with a negative brush based upon pre-conceived perceptions with little first-hand knowledge..
Just to add something to the mix, "Chief Joseph"? Now, I certainly hope that name is not any reference to a former Indian. Because we've wasted thousands if not millions of taxpayer dollars removing and changing the names of anything involving the usage of Indian namesakes. If it is in reference to an Indian, then the Liberals should be more than happy to close the school, just to honor the name. I know, liberalism doesn't work too well in the real world.Â
So herd we are, GLTB gets all there monies and our education pays the price.. This xertainly is a depraved ideal.If I were you all I would make a demand for an Audit of the books.
Parents should vow to fight for Carole Smith's firing. Where did all of those hundreds of millions of bond dollars go, Superintendent Smith? To how many consultant friends of hers - at $21,000 public dollars a month?Â
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Ah, Superintendent Smith - what's "it" all about, hon? School closures, blackmailing the public tin order to get hundreds of millions of tax dollars ON TOP OF WHAT YOUR SCHOOL DISTRICT ALREADY RECEIVES?:Â
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Is it about the kids, at all, Portland Public Schools?Â
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I wonder...
Maybe the parents who want this money pit to stay open can set up a monthly withdrawal from their checking account to pay for it.
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Or they could just not turn a street into a bike park, and that would pay for it.
 @Lo Pan Lo Pan? Money pit or budgeted school that the school board and Ms. Smith has failed to show proof they cannot keep open.Â
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While Lo Pan - you accept on blind faith that this school district has its fiscal ducks in a row and neighborhood schools must go - you haven't a clue what you are talking about. Case in point Ms. Smith hiring her friends to consult for her at $21,000 per month. Just because SHE secured unjustified hundreds of millions of dollars more from the people - and SHE, the superientendent, just felt like WASTING IT ALL - on outrageous consultation fees to friends of her...
@englishdaisy @Lo Pan Actually, I really could care less. All I see is a bunch of breeders that think the world owes their kids everything.Â
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Throw in some self absorbed condescending busybodies like yourself, and we have fertile grounds for jokers and truthsayers to come out of the woodwork and put their 2 cents worth on here for some cheap amusement.Â
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Thanks for the cheap laughs, its all I can afford after paying for PERS.Â
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@Lo Pan I agree, Chief Joe first, then close Gang Banger,oops, I mean Jefferson High nezt.