SWNI Schools Committee

Promoting the BEST possible schools

for ALL students in Southwest Portland

through STRONG neighborhood involvement

Welcome to the SWNI Schools page. Here you can find and share information about all schools, both public and private, serving families in the SWNI area. *** Last changed Wed, 5/1/2013 *** Check back periodically as we add features.

Click here to join our Schools Committee Email List

Meetings

The SWNI Schools Committee meets the third Thursday of every month except December (2nd Thursday) June and July (no meetings), at Multnomah Center, 7688 SW Capitol Hwy.

Next Meeting: Thursday, May 16, 7 PM in Room 4, Multnomah Center 7688 SW Capitol Hwy at 31st.

View meeting dates

Meetings are open to the public and everyone is welcome. If you are able to attend our monthly meetings and report at your neighborhood meeting, please contact Will Fuller or your neighborhood board to be nominated as a Schools Committee representative for your neighborhood. It's an easy commitment of a few hours each month and an enjoyable way to learn about schools and your neighborhood!

For minutes of past meetings, see below

Current Action Plan -- updated February 10, 2013

Cuts in Funding for Public Schools -SUN and ONI at risk

The mayor's proposed budget eliminates pass-through funding for SUN programs. If Multnomah County doesn't pick up the missing funds, then some SUN programs will be cut. According to the Neighborhood House SUN coordinator, "If the pass through cut remains in place, the SUN Coordinating Council will use the allocation methodology they adopted to determine how to pull the $$ out of many sites across the city to the three lowest SUN School sites on the poverty/equity index. Currently, those three SUN School sites are R. Gray, Jackson and Buckman."

City budget hearings schedule:

Thursday, May 16th, 6:30pm-8:30pm (same night as Schools Committee meeting) City Hall – Council Chambers 1221 SW 4th Ave
Saturday, May 18th, 3:00-5:00pm Warner Pacific College 2219 SE 68th Ave.
Thursday, May 23rd, 6:30pm-8:30pm Jackson Middle School 10625 SW 35th Ave

Most of our local public schools face reductions in staff and resources. Wilson may lose 7 or more staff positions.

Portland Public Schools hearings - tonight (May 1) 6PM

What can you do?

1) Testify:

Tonight's budget hearing at BESC 501 N Dixon at 6 pm and/or school board meetings on

May 6 or May 13 evenings. Contact Caren Huson-Quinones at chusonqu@pps.net or 503-916-3906 to sign up for testimony

2) email school board members about budget priorities at:

Ruth Adkins radkins@pps.net

Matt Morton mmorton@pps.net

Bobbie Regan bobbie.regan@pps.net

Martin Gonzalez, Co-Chair mgonzalez@pps.net

Pam Knowles pknowles@pps.net

Trudy Sargent tsargent@pps.net

Greg Belisle, Co-Chair gbelisle@pps.net

Alexia Garcia, Student Representative agarcia2013@pps.net

Oregon Education Plans

Click here for Oregon Education Investment Board (OEIB) site

Click here for Governor Kitzhaber Education Priorities

Click here for OEIB plan executive summary

Portland Plan

Click here for a look at the plan and links to other resources

Click here for Comprehensive Plan updates

Schools Committee Role and Issues

Take a look at this slide show about the committee's role and the need for neighborhoods to be involved in the schools serving them.

Click here for a review of issues that the Schools Committee currently follows.

View meeting dates

Meetings are open to the public and everyone is welcome. If you are able to attend our monthly meetings and report at your neighborhood meeting, please contact Will Fuller or your neighborhood board to be nominated as a Schools Committee representative for your neighborhood. It's an easy commitment of a few hours each month and an enjoyable way to learn about schools and your neighborhood!

Volunteer In Our Schools - latest update

Click here for PPS volunteer page

Call 503-764-5501 for latest changes.

* UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, ALL VOLUNTEERS MUST HAVE A BACKGROUND CHECK *

Rieke needs readers

Currently, all backpack and SMART positions are filled

State of our Schools

Take a look at this PDF file for a summary of the results from our survey of principals in 2011-12

Share Good Ideas for School Support

What can we neighbors do to support our schools? Thanks to Michael Reunert, we now have an online forum on the SWNI website http://swni.org/forums/swni_committees/schools This is a free-form brainstorm -- the sky’s the limit. You will need to register in order to participate in the forum, but registration is quick and easy. Participation currently is limited to residents of the SWNI area, but we may open it up later on.