Common Sense in Facilities Planning
February 4, 2008 7:25 am
Udate: I fixed the link to the flier. Sorry to anybody who tried to download it earlier!
Also braving the cold wind and rain at the Last Celebration was Neighborhood Schools Alliance member Steve Linder, who distributed his flier (644KB PDF) which details the common-sense criteria for good neighborhood schools:
- Schools to which more children can walk or bike
- Schools designed to fit growing neighborhoods, with room for art, music, computers and PE
- Well sited schools, adjacent to parks, with playfields meeting Oregon’s State School Acreage Standards
Ironically, many of the schools closed in recent years have met these criteria, with their students shuffled off across major arterials to inadequate facilities.
The free-market fetish at PPS has left major swaths of Portland, such as the Kenton area, without an elementary school. And, amazingly, they are often the areas expected to gain school-aged population over the coming years.
It’s time to rethink our facilities planning. Linder’s document is a good starting point. Everybody at Portland Public Schools who has anything to do with facilities planning should read it, as should all concerned community members.
Steve Rawley published PPS Equity from 2008 to 2010, when he moved his family out of the district.
filed under: Equity, Facilities
