Monday, June 2, 2008

 

From the superintendent

This week, more than 2,400 seniors in Portland Public Schools are walking across a stage, accepting a diploma and basking in the well-deserved recognition of their families, friends and classmates.

This special e-newsletter puts a spotlight on our high schools, recognizing our graduates' achievements and providing an update of the changing face of high school in our city.

I especially want to note one milestone: The six small schools on the Marshall and Roosevelt campuses will graduate the first seniors who have experienced four full years of the more rigorous and personalized education those schools offer. (Please read more about our small schools and their students below.)

There's another word for graduation, "commencement." That truly is the point our young people have reached in their lives: a new beginning. Whether they will launch a career, head off to college or train for a new trade, let's wish them well as they explore the new world unfolding for them, with their diplomas in hand.

Graduates, we salute you.

Carole

 

 

 

"This has been a very involved class, a very giving class."
-- Toni Hunter, principal, Grant High School

 

 

 

"Cleveland's class of 2008 has been notable for its civic pride. This year's seniors -- the first to play on our synthetic turf field -- actively raised money for not only the field but the improvements to the track that will be realized after they're gone."
-- Pam Joyner, vice principal, Cleveland High School

 

"Lots of students have overcome obstacles and found success in this class."
-- Julie Howland, vice principal, Madison High School

 

One diploma,
thousands of stories

Who are the members of the class of 2008?

They are full-ride scholarship winners, former dropouts, political activists, budding (and budded) musicians, orphans, robotics experts, sailors, soon-to-be Ivy Leaguers and Web site designers. They are athletic superstars, students with alcoholic parents, avid volunteers and skilled mechanics.

There's even a Franklin High School student who missed not one day of school in 13 years, from kindergarten through 12th grade.

The senior class is diverse, representing 77 countries and speaking more than 49 languages. Its members are generous and world-aware. At Benson High School, a group of students designed health clinics for underserved populations, administering more than 200 flu vaccinations and winning an award for their efforts. Lincoln High School students organized a weeklong Iraq war education event, pasting footprints in hallways to represent casualties, hosting speakers and covering walls with posters. Students have arranged countless blood drives and spent Saturdays picking up trash.

The class of 2008 is smart. Seven were named Gates Millennium Scholars, covering all unmet financial needs for higher education (Read more). Two winning Jefferson High School students, Grace Muange and Amin Tuffa, are headed to George Fox University and the University of Arizona, respectively. Another recipient, Toni Myers of Grant High School, says: "I know for sure I'm going for a doctorate. Why not? It's such an opportunity." [Read more]

  

 

"Fifteen hundred students gave a standing ovation to Presidential Scholar Rebecca Anderson at a pep assembly. It's cool to be smart here."
-- Peyton Chapman, principal, Lincoln High School

 

 

 

Franklin High School senior Bobbi Cronn (above) has never missed a day of school: "Even close friends don't always know. 'Oh, you never missed a day of school?' They're all shocked, they don't believe me. And I'm like, well, I can get the records and show you."

 

 

Yelena Kernogitski, a senior at the Pauling Academy, is headed to the University of Rochester in New York on a near-full ride scholarship. But first, she'll spend a year doing volunteer work in Nigeria, assisting in a hospital, among other things.

 

Principal Charles Hopson took the reins at Franklin High School when today's seniors were freshmen. He says: "They have grown as a class, and I have grown as their principal."

 

Seven days, 17 ceremonies

For one week, it's all about the class of 2008 as seniors in Portland Public Schools graduate. Thirty-three Metropolitan Learning Center students will meet at the Friendship Masonic Lodge in Northeast Portland, where they'll be handed their diplomas by a teacher they've selected and then enjoy a potluck meal together. At the other end in scale, 422 Grant High School students are set to graduate at Memorial Coliseum, which is the venue for the majority of schools. The three small schools on the Marshall Campus will celebrate graduation separately in the Marshall auditorium; Franklin High School students, families and friends will gather at the Franklin Stadium. Jefferson and Wilson high schools were the first to hold ceremonies this year -- on Sunday, June 1. For dates and locations of other ceremonies, click here.

V is for valedictorian

Almost 80 students in the class of 2008 achieved the highest grade point averages at PPS schools and campuses. To read brief biographies of this year's valedictorians, go to the Office of High Schools Web page.

"Some kids are reserved, and would sit in the back of the class in a comprehensive high school and never say a word. It's that personalized attention that draws them out."
-- Suzie Brighouse, teacher, BizTech High School, Marshall Campus

 
 

 

 

Three of Ronnie McKenna's siblings dropped out of high school. Ronnie, a junior at BizTech, is still in school. His siblings, he thinks, "didn't get the attention they needed." As for him, "It's easier to work with the teachers. You can communicate with them a lot more easily."

 

 
 
 

"Our students have surmounted overwhelming odds: teen parents, homelessness, many working more than part-time."
-- Fred Locke, administrator, Renaissance Arts Academy


 

Small schools four years later: Where are we?
 
In the spring of 2004, the Portland School Board voted to divide lower-performing Marshall and Roosevelt high schools into small schools. Next week, the first class of students who entered those small schools as freshmen will graduate. Their high school careers have been marked by changes and transitions, and improved success in class -- but most memorably by more personal relationships with their teachers, classmates and their school. As one senior said about Renaissance Arts Academy, "I found a home."

The small schools movement came to Portland Public Schools by necessity. Marshall and Roosevelt high schools were not delivering the results their students deserved: Dropout rates were high, most students were far below state achievement standards, families were transferring to other schools, and student and staff morale was low.

Recognizing that these schools were not working as big, comprehensive high schools, the staff and the school board pushed for dramatic change. Each large high school would divide into small schools, divvying up their teachers, students and even the floors of the large school buildings.

Marshall Campus, in Southeast Portland, now holds BizTech, Renaissance Arts Academy and Pauling Academy of Integrated Science (Portland Academy of International Studies merged into Pauling after one year).

Roosevelt, in North Portland, is home to three small schools: School of Arts, Communications and Technology (ACT), Pursuit of Wellness Education (POWER) and the Spanish-English International School (SEIS). [Read more]

 

   

 

"I wouldn't work in a comprehensive school again. I enjoy the personalization. I know kids when they walk in the halls. I know every face immediately; I know pretty much everybody by name."
-- Ralph Maxwell, teacher, Pauling Academy, Marshall Campus

 

 

"Over $200,000 in merit and citizenship-oriented scholarship resources were awarded to a select number of graduating seniors from the POWER Academy at Roosevelt Campus -- in some cases, turning college ideas from dream to reality."
-- Rich Recker, administrator, Roosevelt Campus

 
  

 

Future is now for PPS high schools

Our world is changing fast. How can schools prepare young people to take full advantage of the promise and uncertainty of a rapidly evolving global and local community? Portland Public Schools is meeting this challenge through the Superintendent's Action Team on High School Strategy. This action team is looking at ways we can improve student achievement by transforming our high school system and delivering more flexible, accessible, equitable and sustainable high school options. The team will report to the School Board on June 23 and will roll out its proposals for community review in the fall. [Read more]