Heather Lee
535 SE 27th Avenue
Portland, OR 97214
February 15, 2005
Superintendent Vicki Phillips
Portland Public Schools
501 North Dixon Street
Portland, OR 97227-1807
Dear Ms. Phillips,
I am enclosing my letter of petition to transfer my daughter from Sunnyside Environmental School. There are many parents who feel as I do and I would like you to know how we feel about the methods of communication and attitudes of inclusiveness of the school.
I first became concerned with the inner workings of the administration at the school last November when an email was distributed by an outraged parent regarding a proposal to the board to change the enrollment status of the school. This proposal would change the status from a neighborhood school with a focus option to a focus option school only. I am not alone in thinking that comments should have been solicited from the entire school and the neighborhood surrounding it before this change was sent to the board. Site Council had made this decision alone and had made an announcement in the PTA meeting the night before the board meeting. The PTA was told that parents did not need to do anything.
I went to that board meeting. The board did not look very happy to see so many parents flying blindly into their meeting wanting to know why this was new information. The board appeared to stand by their decision to leave the enrollment status alone – a neighborhood school with focus option. Furthermore, in order to make the transition easier for the neighborhood families, they were to have neighborhood enrollment status at several surrounding schools.
Several announcements went out into the school newsletter, and a survey/information sheet was distributed to all the parents letting them know they had such “wonderful options.” December was a very bleak month in the building. Rather than creating a space for airing out all the emotions and distributing clear information about what was happening in the school, the administration chose to encourage perceived troublemakers to leave the school. All complaints, questions and concerns were relegated to the level of educational philosophical differences. Since most of the rumblings were about safety, I have to wonder if the safety of children in the care of Portland Public Schools a matter of philosophical differences?
In an attempt to find a way to clear the air and keep the school from imploding, I chose to research the methods and means of school organization created by the Board of Education for PPS and discovered that our site council was not organized according to the principles set out in board policy 7.10.010-P. Additionally, there was not a Local School Advisory Committee. I went to the site council meeting in December and did not feel that they were concerned with the best interests of the community, only in installing their own agenda in the school. I scheduled a meeting with the principal and got permission to organize more elaborate communication for the school administration to communicate with the families but was specifically told that we did not need any more committees in the school.
I have looked into the actual implementation of the neighborhood transfer options for Sunnyside neighborhood families and they do not have neighborhood privileges at the provided list of surrounding schools, they have priority – which moves them to the top of the waiting list. All of the surrounding schools have waiting lists. It is thus my understanding, based on that research into the enrollment figures for the surrounding schools, that there is no way to restructure the district neighborhood divisions and allow Sunnyside to be a focus option only school. In light of that, I find it unconscionable that the board of education allows the administration at Sunnyside to persist in their illusion of being a focus option school. Unless there is a change in the special 'exit' policy that was created for this implementation of a neighborhood focus option school, they are going to have to accommodate the neighborhood status of the school in both their philosophy and their curriculum.
As things stand now, an LSAC has been created in the school against the wishes of the principal. However, most parents already feel so disenfranchised with the administration that I feel it is too late to address many of these issues at the school level. I personally feel that there is no possible scenario that involves a win-win outcome for the families and most especially the children attending the school. For this reason, I have removed my children from this school. Poorly handled politics and nepotism are not things I want them to learn.
Sincerely,
Heather Lee
February 14, 2005
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