Comments on: Randy Leonard http://ppsequity.org Covering the beat of Portland Public Schools Sat, 27 Mar 2010 00:00:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Steve Rawley http://ppsequity.org/election-08/leonard/comment-page-1/#comment-766 Steve Rawley Fri, 11 Apr 2008 01:00:07 +0000 http://ppsequity.org//leonard/#comment-766 Great point, Nicole. I wish I would have included the Jefferson PTSA question in the original survey. Since so many candidates haven't responded to the original questionnaire, maybe I'll send out a round two version which includes a question about this. Great point, Nicole. I wish I would have included the Jefferson PTSA question in the original survey. Since so many candidates haven’t responded to the original questionnaire, maybe I’ll send out a round two version which includes a question about this.

]]> By: Nicole B http://ppsequity.org/election-08/leonard/comment-page-1/#comment-763 Nicole B Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:42:08 +0000 http://ppsequity.org//leonard/#comment-763 Mr. Leonard, In your answer to question #4 you said "I am happy to discuss the rationale of the district continuing this [transfer] policy with the superintendent and school board members. I would want to know more regarding the districts' reasoning of continuing a policy that appears to cause harm to some students before I took a firm position." Since the Jefferson PTSA formerly asked the City Council in January to ensure that the issues raised in the June 2006 City of Portland and Multnomah County audit of the PPS student transfer system are adequately addressed and remedied, I was wondering: - Have you have discussed it with the Superintendent and School Board yet? - What did you learn regarding the districts’ reasoning of continuing a policy that appears to cause harm to some students? - And are ready to take a firm position on question 4? Also, since you are the city commissioner responsible for the department that enforces the City's zoning code, I was wondering why the city didn't do the necessary land use reviews to change the grade levels of schools during the recent school closures and reconfigurations - such as adding elementary grade students to middle schools, and middle grade students to high schools? Mr. Leonard,
In your answer to question #4 you said “I am happy to discuss the rationale of the district continuing this [transfer] policy with the superintendent and school board members. I would want to know more regarding the districts’ reasoning of continuing a policy that appears to cause harm to some students before I took a firm position.”

Since the Jefferson PTSA formerly asked the City Council in January to ensure that the issues raised in the June 2006 City of Portland and Multnomah County audit of the PPS student transfer system are adequately addressed and remedied, I was wondering:
- Have you have discussed it with the Superintendent and School Board yet?
- What did you learn regarding the districts’ reasoning of continuing a policy that appears to cause harm to some students?
- And are ready to take a firm position on question 4?

Also, since you are the city commissioner responsible for the department that enforces the City’s zoning code, I was wondering why the city didn’t do the necessary land use reviews to change the grade levels of schools during the recent school closures and reconfigurations – such as adding elementary grade students to middle schools, and middle grade students to high schools?

]]> By: Steve Rawley http://ppsequity.org/election-08/leonard/comment-page-1/#comment-284 Steve Rawley Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:08:22 +0000 http://ppsequity.org//leonard/#comment-284 Thank you Randy for participating. Two things jump right out at me, and I'm curious how the community will react. First, the hint that maybe we need one big school district in Portland, which could even out the growing pain issues of outlying districts and declining (now stabilizing) enrollment in PPS. I'm totally open to hashing this out, though I know some folks have suggested the best way to get equity in our most neglected clusters would be to secede from PPS, i.e. go the other direction. That aside, I really appreciate Randy's exhortation to consider the problems that exist city-wide. My response to him on that is that I'm grateful for civic leaders who can see the big picture, while people like us take on the more localized battles. (I personally don't have the bandwidth to fight for David Douglas, but I'm happy to vote for candidates who want to help solve their problems.) Thank you Randy for participating. Two things jump right out at me, and I’m curious how the community will react. First, the hint that maybe we need one big school district in Portland, which could even out the growing pain issues of outlying districts and declining (now stabilizing) enrollment in PPS.

I’m totally open to hashing this out, though I know some folks have suggested the best way to get equity in our most neglected clusters would be to secede from PPS, i.e. go the other direction.

That aside, I really appreciate Randy’s exhortation to consider the problems that exist city-wide.

My response to him on that is that I’m grateful for civic leaders who can see the big picture, while people like us take on the more localized battles. (I personally don’t have the bandwidth to fight for David Douglas, but I’m happy to vote for candidates who want to help solve their problems.)

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