[As of 9-17-2011, this is still a work in progress... though given new interest in light of the boundary reconfiguration proposals in late 2015-16, I'm going to work on it some more...]
On the last day of February, 2006, then-Superintendent Vicki Philips spoke with a group of parents at Hollyrood Elementary, a small K-4 elementary in the Grant Park area of NE Portland. She informed them that she would close their school due to ongoing funding concerns. This news came back to Rieke parents, and the alert went out to many of the parents that worked together in 2003 to oppose district staff proposals to close Rieke. Along with many new participants, and an even wider range of community participation, a new group formed at the March 7, 2006 PTA meeting to evaluate and oppose closure suggestions being offered by the district.
Despite initial assurances that no specific proposals had yet been developed, the Willamette Week newspaper posted on the web in mid-March a leaked copy of an internal District powerpoint in which staff proposed a massive reconfiguration of PPS elementary schools. The proposal, linked here, suggested closing eleven elementary schools (including two in SW Portland, Rieke and Stephenson), and converting several schools to K-8 programs from the existing elementary K-5 / middle school 6-8 approach. No particulars were provided regarding Rieke beyond closure. In the view of parents and community leaders, the as-yet-"tentative" plan once again demonstrated a lack of careful analysis regarding the demographics of the Hillsdale area, the demand for Rieke's programming, and a significant gap between the general goal -- moving at least part of Rieke's enrollment to Robert Gray and converting Gray to a K-8 -- and the mechanisms by which that change would actually occur. While the Rieke community had already mobilized to respond to the anticipated threats of closure, this leaked document (coming only six weeks before the proposed deadline for a "final" decision by the Board) confirmed that Rieke was once again being directly targeted for closure.
Suspicion became reality at the School Board meeting on April 3, 2006, at which Superintendent Philips laid out a district-wide plan to close and consolidate a number of schools. In many cases, closures were accompanied by proposals to expand programs to K-8 in nearby schools. The justification for this plan included 1) ongoing budget pressures, and the assumption that closing schools would ultimately save money for the district, 2) the belief that in at least some communities, the transition from 5th to 6th grade was particularly difficult and leading to a performance gap for many children; in a properly-executed K-8 program, it was believed, this transition would arguably be less jarring, 3) the belief that the district continued to have too many schools for its enrollment, 4) reliance on population projections from Portland State University that suggested that enrollment in PPS schools would continue to drop, and 5) a belief that "smaller schools" were not able to offer the communities the kind of program support that PPS believed necessary.
The closure of Rieke, in particular, was justified by reliance on all but the second of these theories; under the April 4 proposal, Rieke would be closed, but the district left to an undefined "community discussion" the question of 1) the fate of the Rieke students, and 2) the nature of the program at Robert Gray (i.e., whether it would become K-8 with Rieke students forming the K-5 portion of the school, or whether it would remain a middle school, with Rieke's students being distributed to the surrounding schools. (The latter echoed the fate of Smith Elementary's population, which was divided among three different elementaries when the district closed it in 2005.)
An April 6 meeting with District Representatives in the Rieke gym allowed a number of individuals in the community to weigh in on the; PPS staff did not explain how closing Rieke, without completion of the westside design recommendations, would do anything other than maintain enrollment pressure in the Lincoln cluster. Nevertheless, it appeared that inertia was building once again to close the school.
At an April 11 PTA meeting, the CARE group discussed with the broader community its plans for moving forward with challenges to the assumptions and data underlying the proposal to close the school. As in 2003, parent and community opposition was rooted in an approach that emphasized data over emotional response, and an emphasis on the value of the school to the surrounding community, in combination with a proven track record of retaining students despite ongoing threats of closure. See this document (CARE document) for an example of the kind of approach that the opposition took. To that end, the fundamental premises of the district arguments for closure were challenged at every opportunity. Parents met with all the school board members who were willing to listen, as well as with staff, in order to determine the basis for the decision and places where there may yet be room for compromise. Several parents made a particular effort to work closely with parents from other schools in the district that were proposed for closure.
The community's work culminated at PPS's westside proposal meeting in the Wilson High School cafeteria on April 26. In addition to supporting the testimony of a number of members of the wider community, CARE organized the testimony of several parents in opposition to the district's process and proposed closures. In a powerpoint presentation (offered by yours truly), the district's rationales and supporting data were systematically challenged until only one rationale remained: The belief that the school was too small for its own good, despite years of consistent enrollment and a highly successful program. At the close of the testimony, Superintendent Philips suggested that perhaps the district should challenge the Rieke community to increase enrollment at the school, rather than seek to close it. Parents expressed confidence that the ongoing threats of closure seriously undermined the school's capture rate within its enrollment area, and that if the district committed to keep the school open, it would grow.
A day later, Superintendent Philips formalized her proposal in a discussion with CARE members Valeurie Friedman and Linda Venti. An email to the PTA membership was followed by a community meeting at St. Barnabas church on April 30, 2006, at which some 80 parents and community members met to discuss the proposal, what the goals of the plan would look like, what the community could do to support enrollment at the school, and what the district would have to commit in return. The Board vote on the Superintendent's plans was coming in just four days.
At the May 2 meeting of the Student Achievement committee, members of CARE presented the consensus of the community that parents would accept the challenge to grow enrollment without "poaching" from adjoining schools, and work to pull more students within the enrollment area into the school. The proposal was accepted, and at the May 4 board meeting, the School Board approved the "challenge plan," and the real work began. Under leadership of a number of Rieke Parents and community leaders, the entire Rieke enrollment area was surveyed to inquire into demographics, future students, interest in programming, and other questions. That information was memorialized in a Rieke Marketing Plan (linked at top right) that discussed the school and plans for growth. The board accepted the plan in October 2006, and Rieke went to work. At the moment, I'll just summarize the results, which include the addition of three portables in order to hold the additional students that came to attend Rieke, and enrollment numbers which outstripped even the most optimistic growth plans outlined in the marketing / growth plan.
4/9 SEJ care document
4/11 PTA meeting
4/16 meeting with Wynde and Morgan
4/19 Rieke PPS meeting - Mincberg
4/26 Westside meeting at Wilson / Powerpoint; Testimony / Challenge suggested by Superintendent.
4/27 Challenge to V and Linda
4/28 PTA email --
4/30 St. Barnabas meeting~80 people
5/2 SA meeting
5/4 Board meeting final resolution approval
May 2006 Survey
June 2006 Survey Completion & Tallying
Summer 2006, Marketing plan development
Fall 2006, Marketing Plan completion and approval
9/2006 - - Full day K available, plus one half-day 289 students
10/2006 -- Plan approved.
9/2007 -- Two full K, one half, first portable installed 8/07 325 students
9/2008 -- Three full day K available, three first grade 348 students
9/2009 -- Three full day K available, three second grades, second portable installed 8/09. 373 students
7/2010 -- Andrea Porter, new Principal
9/2010 -- Third portable, three classes in K-3;
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