East End Community School
Will there
be a bubble of K-2 kids and no 3-5?
On Feb
28th we are asking for all folks who are interested to apply. At that time we will see if there is a
bubble. We anticipate that there will
be a bubble and it will be in Grades K-2 since kids in older grades seem to be
more established in their current schools and may not want to switch. (This is also true for kids who are now
attending Clifford or Reiche in the upper grades and may choose to not return
to the new school in grades 4 or 5 - hence creating more openings for younger
students to apply) So for a few years
we may well have more primary kids than intermediate kids in this school, but
eventually the numbers will average out.
(Since staffing will not be determined until after the students
attending have been identified, we will be able to staff for the necessary
grades and will make adjustments annually, as we do in all schools.)
Will there
be a gender question? We will of course be mindful of gender balances, but
with the large number of slots open, I suspect that it will break out fairly
evenly. We know that the children
currently slated to return to this new hill school are fairly evenly
represented so I suspect this will not be an issue for acceptance into the
school.
Will there
be provisions for siblings? In all of our current programs and offerings, we
allow siblings to stay together in most cases.
In the rare circumstance that we can't offer a place for all kids in the
family at one site, we have offered to move them to another program or site
together. Since building long-term
partnerships and relationships between schools and families, every effort will
be made to assure that siblings are offered slots in the new school.
Will there
be teacher recommendations? Once
students and families choose to go to the new school, we will plan for step up
activities where we invite new students to tour the buildings, and meet new
staff. We will also have activities
where sending teachers will share student data with receiving teachers, and the
new school's social workers and special education specialists will also share
information. At the same time, the home
schools will be organizing some kind of closing celebration for staff and
students in late spring to help with the transition for students, families and
staff. In addition, the staff and Adams
PTO will also plan welcoming meetings for new parents in the summer. Details will be more fully developed in
February and March.
Will there
be quotas per neighborhood? We do not anticipate a need for that this first
year. Currently other programs in the
district tend to draw from across the district fairly evenly.
As we
continue to renovate our next elementary facility, I anticipate that its
overarching focus will be something that other families in our district may be
interested in.
Will there
be socio-economic quotas? The children living in the district where the new
school is located already represent a cross section of our Portland students in
many ways. There is already a good size
ratio of English as Second Language learners, children of poverty and special
needs students in this neighborhood so we do not need to specifically recruit
to establish are representative balance of students. With the new students to the school coming from areas of the city
with families from higher economic averages, we anticipate that the new
students will provide for a more balanced ratio then we would have in a school
drawing from only one particular neighborhood.
Is there a
fairness question for less informed parents/children of immigrant families as
there is at Many Rivers? We are making every attempt to inform all of our
parents about our new school through neighborhood meetings and outreach through
our Multilingual Center. It is our
intention to have the student population be representative of the diversity of
our entire student population.
Why don't
we have these offerings at all of our schools? All Portland schools must assure that all
students will meet the same learning standards. Learners are diverse and learn in different ways and require
differing approaches and amounts of time to learn. Each school has developed their choice of learning models based
on what the neighborhood and staff have felt were needed for their specific
students to learn. Options for learning
delivery styles are different classroom to classroom and school to school. The new school has established three models
of teaching because they felt that these approaches would be most successful
addressing the known neighborhood student's needs. Over time students will change and their learning needs may
change, and a different learning model may be chosen to replace an existing one
based on student needs. As our neighborhoods
and our students' learning needs change, all of our schools have to shift their
practices to address these changing dynamics.
Many are in the process of making shifts now. For instance schools are embarking service learning as a way to
deliver instruction in an authentic way.
Many grouping practices are also available across the district, with
looping classrooms, multiage classrooms and team teaching classrooms some of
the options schools are using. With the
opening of a new school, this is a wonderful and rare opportunity to start from
scratch to craft a program and develop a learning atmosphere addressing the
needs of the students as they are today.
If more
parents/students are interested than the available slots, will there be some
sort of lottery? There are 100 slots open, so we do not predict it
will be necessary this first year.
After all applications are in on February 28th, we will
design a lottery process if it is necessary.
If we have to, slots will be chosen from across the grade spans.
Will there
be after and before school offerings for students?? The
recreation department currently provides before and after school child care at
Adams and I am sure that arrangement will continue. Based on student needs and interests, there will also be after
school clubs, plays, and other learning activities as are available in all of
our schools. These are designed from
actual children’s needs and interests so at this time the actual learning
activities have not been determined.
If
a child goes to the East End School will they get automatic or preferential
admission to King and then the EL high School?
At this time we have not examined this for
feasibility yet, but will do so in the future.
Will there be transportation to East
End? to Many Rivers? Yes to both.
How
do I apply? An
application is available on the Portland Public Schools website, or through
Adams School, 874-8228, and will be passed out following each of the parent
information evenings. Applications
should be received by Feb 28th.
How
will the new school approach discipline? In order to develop and maintain a positive
school culture that is most supportive of learning the school will be using the
Responsive Classroom Model. This is a
response to teaching and learning that improves social skills and academic
engagement, establishes positive classroom climate and increases learner
investment and independence.
Will
the new school have the same special services i.e.: Speech and Language, etc.
as other schools? Yes.
What
will be the level of parental involvement?
As the most important member of their children's
learning team, parents will be invited to collaborate with teachers in a wide
variety of authentic and meaningful ways on school culture, programming and
enrichment activities.