Four pledge to put students at the fore Two college professors, a bank executive and a parent activist won Portland School Board seats Tuesday night, forging a new majority that pledged to raise achievement and rebuild the district's tattered image.

School board blues Karla Wenzel has hopes for the new board, but the chairwoman leaves disillusioned and worn down The feces in the mail may have made the decision for her. May 20, 2003 Tribune

Education chief charts series of reforms Saying a sweeping strategic plan has been largely ignored, the new education chief in Portland Public Schools promises a series of reforms to raise standards and expectations for all students. Oregonian 1/27/03

Portland parents launch pro-school lobby Parents frustrated about school funding problems have launched a lobbying group that aims to become one of the biggest political contributors in Salem. Oregonians for Schools, organized by Portland parent Frank Selker, is a new political action committee fishing for cash to back legislative candidates, pour money into pro-school ballot measures and mobilize volunteers to help win close races. KATU 12/25/02

Students walk out over budget cuts Hundreds of high school students walked out of classes Thursday in a citywide protest against education cuts that threaten class time, academic programs and sports across Oregon this school year. Oregonian 12/20/02

Cover Story | Anywhere, U.S.A. Lots of cities have something Portland lacks. But Portland has something that virtually no other major American city has--a public-school system supported by the middle class. WW 12/11/02

Lots of talking but not listening loud enough Five minutes. Hardly enough time for a good simmer, let alone a heated exchange. Monday night went something like this: Chairwoman Karla Wenzel calls the Portland School Board meeting to order about 6:30 p.m. The mood is tense, expectant. Oregonian 12/11/02

Tensions Rise in Portland Teacher Contract Negotiation Portland School Board members and the teachers union say they're not sure how the abrupt halt to last night's board meeting will affect upcoming contract negotiations. Board chair Karla Wenzel put an end to the meeting after people in the crowd of nearly 500 people jeered and yelled at board members. OPB 12/10/02

Sports heaved into budget hole Team sports and the long-running Outdoor School will be tossed from the Portland School District budget next spring as part of a new batch of cuts Superintendent Jim Scherzinger disclosed Monday night. Oregonian 12/10/02

School board walks out on teachers A crowd of protesting teachers convinced all but one member of the Portland School Board to abandon their meeting Tuesday evening, shortly after hearing a contract proposal that features benefit cuts and wage caps. KGW 12/10/02

PIL Spring Sports In Jeopardy Could it get any worse for Portland Public Schools? Monday night Superintendent Jim Scherzinger said the Portland School Board will cut funding for spring sports to slash $12.8 million from the budget for the 2002-03 school year. KATU 12/10/02

Shortening school year puts funding, student credits at risk Shools that cut teaching days this year to plug a budget shortfall must avoid doing the same next year or the state will withhold funding and deny high school credits, state education officials said. More than a dozen Oregon school districts, including Portland's, are considering cutting days from this school year to balance their budgets in the wake of state funding cuts and diminished local tax collections. KATU 12/7/02

KATU TV News - Portland District looking at closing more schools First Portland school administrators said they may cut school days to help balance next year’s burgeoning budget. Now, Portland Public Schools are looking at closing more schools as well. KATU 12/6/02

Fraction of proficient grads grows The percentage of high school graduates earning Oregon's certificate of academic proficiency inched up this year, rising from 24 percent of the class of 2001 to 27 percent of the class of 2002, new state figures show. Champions of Oregon's high academic standards said they were disappointed that nearly three-fourths of students completed high school without proving they could meet all state standards in reading, writing, math and public speaking. Oregonian 12/2/02

Schools may seek regional tax A group of high-level Portland, Metro and regional school leaders is quietly studying the possibility of a new regional tax to bolster Portland-area schools. The idea is tentative, incomplete and hasn't been pitched around the Portland region, the group's leaders say. Oregonian 12/2/02

Teachers shaken but determined to settle Despite hard-line demands from Oregon's largest school district, Portland teachers say they want to settle a five-month contract dispute and avert a strike this school year. Oregonian 11/24/02

Good teachers for bad schools The big question: Who gets to decide where teachers work. They’re arguing over pay and benefit cuts, of course. Still, the most volatile disagreement between the Portland school district and its teachers union might be over a contract proposal that has nothing to do with cash. The proposed change would overhaul how teachers are assigned to schools. Tribune 11/22/02

Portland Public Schools request mediation with teachers union Portland School Board Chair Karla Wenzel and Superintendent Jim Scherzinger have requested that a mediator be assigned to assist with the negotiations between Portland Public Schools and the Portland Association of teachers. KATU 11/19/02

School puts out SOS for teachers Whitaker Middle School Principal Tom Pickett offers a startling pronouncement: My school is unlikely to educate children adequately until one-fourth of the teachers get replaced. With Whitaker under the gun to make a huge academic turnaround, students, parents and some teachers have joined in the unusual plea: Please free us from our bad teachers, because we'll never get better fast enough with so many of them here. "The issue is us," Pickett says. The Oregonian 11/18/02

KATU TV News - Portland parents and students react to new cuts Terrible, unacceptable, just plain wrong were the comments said today about the possibility of losing more days in school. Parents, and school kids both feel that the school district should find a better solution than the 15 fewer school days that has been proposed. KATU 11/18/02

Portland parents brainstorm to avoid school cuts Jeanine Sullivan has tried everything she can think of to support her children's public schools. She has done fund-raiser after fund-raiser, coming back to the same people for money again and again. She serves on the PTA, the school foundation and the school site council. And she has written letters and sent e-mails to lawmakers. Oregonian 11/18/02

Teacher talks enter hot zone. Portland’s plan to cut the school year faces angry opposition In a year of deep budget cuts and increasingly bitter teachers’ contract negotiations, Portland school district management and its teachers union disagree about plenty. But possibly their biggest point of disagreement was laid bare in the rancor that bubbled around a contract bargaining table late Tuesday afternoon. Tribune 11/17/02

Schools consider three-week cut Portland school leaders Tuesday proposed cutting three weeks of school to balance a budget gap, moving the district closer to a stalemate with teachers over their expired union contract. Superintendent Jim Scherzinger, jeered by teachers during a contract negotiation meeting, said the 15-day cut -- an increase of six days from the previous nine-day cut the district proposed -- is necessary to balance a budget shortage for this school year that began at $37 million and now approaches $50 million. Oregonian 11/13/02

Budget Strain Could Shorten School Year The school budget doesn't seem to be getting better, especially when you crunch the numbers and find that $37,000,000 in cuts will not improve the situation. KATU 11/12/02

Multicultural lessons and respect In the classroom, Charles McGee says, race matters. The issue courses through history books and classic novels. It sparks debate or forces silence. It affects students -- and touches teachers. Oregonian 11/03/02

Portland school enrollment stumbles Enrollment in Portland Public Schools dipped by nearly 1,200 students this fall, continuing a slide that brings total enrollment to the lowest level since 1986. Oregonian 10/31/02

Parents shop for special programs Portland parents are shopping around for schools like never before, and a record 2,000 parents and students are expected to scrutinize their options at a School Fair this week. Oregonian 10/21/02

School food workers say yes to no raises School nutrition workers will forgo raises for two years under a tentative contract with the same union that represented school custodians who lost their jobs last summer. Oregonian 10/25/02

Personnel chief is point man for labor's ire Steve Goldschmidt gets an earful from a woman who makes $12,000 a year working in a Portland school cafeteria. Oregonian 10/21/02