Orientation to virtual meeting platform
Introduction to the enrollment and program balancing process

Click to see:
Meeting details and agenda
Virtual Orientation Slideshow presentation
Video of meeting
Meeting minutes

Introduction to data, maps, and the Phase 1 springboard option

Click to see:
Meeting agenda
Data packet
Springboard Proposal first draft
Slideshow presentation
Video of meeting
Notes from breakout sessions 
Final Springboard Proposal
Meeting minutes

Racial Equity and Social Justice

Click to see:
Meeting details and agenda
Notes, maps, comments, materials from meeting
Video of meeting
Meeting minutes

Update: Because of the coronavirus pandemic and its impacts on PPS and district communities, the process in 2020 will focus on:

• Enrolling Kellogg Middle School
• Identification of a second comprehensive middle school in Southeast
• Conversion of current K-8 schools to K-5

Original answer: 

1. To help support the eventual redesign of PPS Middle School programs that includes reconfiguration of identified K-8 neighborhood schools to K-5 elementary schools and 6-8 new comprehensive middle schools while maintaining regional K-8 school options to support program pathway continuity (for example: IB PYP to MYP and dual immersion language pathways).
2. Optimize use of facilities at PK-12 to address under-enrollment and over enrollment, and to begin phasing out portable classrooms when possible to create connected, safer schools.
3. Minimize program co-locations of facilities between co-located programs and neighborhood schools at K-5, K-8 and 6-8 schools.

On December 1, Portland Public Schools staff presented a report to the Board of Education on the progress of the district's Enrollment and Program Balancing project. The report summarized feedback received during the virtual open house held on November 19, and focus group sessions held November 17 and 18.

Enrollment and Program Balancing work is initially targeting schools in Southeast Portland. The current work is being conducted in two stages, with the currently ongoing first stage focused on middle school grades. The second stage, focused on pre-kindergarten to fifth grade, will commence in spring of 2021. 

The report was presented during a Board work session by Claire Hertz, Deputy Superintendent; Dani Ledezma, Senior Advisor, Racial Equity and Social Justice; and Shanice Clarke, Director of Community Engagement. To read the report, click on the image to the right.

To see more material from the focus group sessions and virtual open house, scroll below to those dates. Notes, video recordings and transcripts are available for those sesssions.

View the summary report presentation at the Board work session:

Español | Tiếng Việt | 中文 | Русский | Soomaali

Dear PPS Families,

As we recently shared, we will be hosting a virtual Enrollment and Program Balancing (EPB) District-wide Open House and Focus Group Meetings next week. We want to make sure you mark your calendars for the upcoming events. These meetings will specifically focus on schools in Southeast Portland in anticipation of the reopening of Kellogg Middle School, and are designed to share information and gather your input.

District-wide Open House
Thursday, November 19 at 6:00 p.m.

We want to ensure we are hearing from the different communities we support and to that extent, we will be leading community-specific meetings as follows:

Chinese (Cantonese-language) Focus Group Meeting
Tuesday, November 17 at 6:00 p.m.

Chinese (Mandarin-language) Focus Group Meeting
Tuesday, November 17 at 7:00 p.m.

Somali-language Focus Group Meeting
Wednesday, November 18 at 6:00 p.m.

Spanish-language Focus Group Meeting
Wednesday, November 18 at 6:00 p.m.

Vietnamese-language Focus Group Meeting
Wednesday, November 18 at 6:00 p.m.

Black, Indigenous, People of Color Focus Group Meeting
Wednesday, November 18 at 5:00 p.m.

We will share additional details, including links to the virtual meetings and the EPB District-wide Open House website, next week. To learn more about PPS Enrollment and Program Balancing, please visit the PPS Enrollment and Program Balancing website.

Español| Tiếng Việt| 中文| Русский| Soomaali

Dear PPS Families,

We want to update you on the Enrollment and Program Balancing (EPB) progress. As we’ve shared, the initial work focuses on schools in Southeast Portland in anticipation of the reopening of Kellogg Middle School. The Southeast Guiding Coalition has held six meetings aimed at creating a common understanding of the Coalition’s charge and the process for developing proposals and a final recommendation. The process is starting with a focus on grades 6-8 now, and will expand to grades PK-12 next spring.

Over the past few weeks, the Coalition has used data-driven analysis and multiple means of community input to evaluate and discuss several scenarios. Members worked toward developing a more refined proposal to share with the broader community. Next week they will receive results from more than 800 responses to online and telephone surveys. The survey results will further inform the development of scenarios, and be posted at the Enrollment and Program Balancing website.

The District is hosting an online open house on Thursday, November 19, to share information about the coalition proposal(s) and gather your input. The district also will engage other important stakeholders in a variety of intentional focus groups and in many languages that same week. The open house and the focus groups will include background information about the process, visuals to help illustrate the proposal(s), and opportunities to provide feedback. 

The online open house will include a standing web page that you can visit for information throughout this process and a live Zoom meeting where you can hear from Southeast Guiding Coalition members and the District Advisory Team. We will share more information about the open house next week. Links to the open house web page and Zoom meeting will be sent out just before the event. 

All community members are welcome to attend the open house. We especially encourage our Southeast families to provide feedback that will support PPS optimizing the use of our facilities. Your feedback will help us weave the perspectives of students and families in our final recommendation. 

More About the Guiding Coalition and EPB Process 
The Guiding Coalition is made up of students, parents and principals representing Southeast schools (see the member roster). The coalition is currently holding a series of meetings focused on the middle school grades, including the open house on November 12 and focus groups that week.

This process has two phases: Phase 1 concludes with a recommendation in mid-December. Phase 2, scheduled to begin in spring 2021, will focus on PK-5 grades. 

Enrollment and Program Balancing uses both a data-driven analysis process and community input to address needs such as equity and inclusion, transportation, facilities constraints, and much more. Meeting agendas, materials, minutes, and videos are posted at the Enrollment and Program Balancing website.

Español| Tiếng Việt|中文 | Русский| Soomaali

Dear PPS Families,

We want to update you on our progress on the Enrollment and Program Balancing project we have undertaken. As we have previously announced, our initial work is focused on schools in Southeast Portland in advance of the reopening of Kellogg Middle School.

The Southeast Guiding Coalition has held three meetings this month (all virtual because of the pandemic) that focused on orientation to the material and data. They concluded last week with the introduction of a first draft, also called a springboard, proposal. Key highlights of the proposal:

• Kellogg Middle School would reopen, with the Spanish Dual Language Immersion program that is currently at Mt. Tabor Middle School moving there.
• Harrison Park, which is currently a K-8 school, would become a middle school.
• Other K-8 schools (Arleta, Bridger, Creston, Lent and Marysville) will be converted into K-5 schools.

Feeder patterns, boundaries and shifts to DLI programs were also proposed. Details can be seen in the first draft document. This is a starting point of possible options for the Southeast Guiding Coalition to think about, and they will continue to work together in October to ask questions and develop additional versions of a possible plan.

The Guiding Coalition is made up of parents and principals representing Southeast schools. Starting October 8, its work will shift into Phase 1, a series of nine Thursday meetings focused on  the middle school grades. The series will include a virtual open house on November 12 that will be open to all, a community survey, and will conclude with a final Phase 1 recommendation on December 17.

Phase 2 will focus on PK-5 grades, with meetings in spring 2021.

Enrollment and Program Balancing uses both a data-driven analysis process and community input to address needs such as equity and inclusion, transportation, facilities constraints, and much more. Meeting agendas, materials, minutes and videos are posted at the Enrollment and Program Balancing website.

Update After Coronavirus Pandemic

Enrollment and Program Balancing is still underway but is now starting with Southeast. This is because of the reopening and enrollment of Kellogg, and because we want to give the process the attention it needs as the District and PPS families continue to handle many challenges right now.

Original Update

https://www.pps.net/cms/lib/OR01913224/Centricity/Domain/4/Letter%20to%20Community_%20Enrollment%20Balancing.pdf

At its Feb. 25 meeting, the PPS Board of Education unanimously passed a scope of work for enrollment and program balancing. The Board, by a 7-0 vote, passed Resolution 6059, which accepts a proposed scope that includes information on background, reasoning, values, outcome goals, and the approach and sequence of the work.

Read the resolution and full scope of work

As Board undertakes policy changes to guide balancing work, we need your feedback

In order to make informed decisions on enrollment and program balancing, the PPS Board of Education is undertaking revisions to three policies that will guide the work.

To help inform the revisions, the district’s Community Engagement team is collecting feedback through a questionnaire.

Take the questionnaire

To see a summary flyer on the changes being considered, click on the image to right.

The three policies that will be amended are (click on name to read the full policy):

• 10.045-P: “Student Assignment to Neighborhood Schools.” The policy establishes a process for assigning students to neighborhood schools, and provides consistent guidelines for changes to school boundaries.
• 10.051-P: “Student Enrollment and Transfers.” The policy intends to provide equal access to educational options for all resident students through an open, fair and accessible process and to promote equity and diversity in student transfers and admissions.
• 10.022-P: “Education Options Policy.” The policy seeks to implement goals by offering students and their families the support they need to make informed choices among a variety of educational options, and to provide consistent guidelines and procedures for educational options.

FLO Analytics Baseline Assessment completed.

Guiding Coaltion for Enrollment and Program Balancing is formed.

Board of Education approves Resolution 6049.

• Launch community surveys
• Workgroup design #1

• Continue stakeholder interviews with community organizations, school-affiliated groups, and public officials
• Establish guiding principles for Enrollment & Program Balancing
• Finalize data inputs
• Deliver draft Enrollment, Capacity and Program Analysis Report
• Update Board of Education
• Develop springboard proposals

• Refine key inputs for analysis, including information on students, programs, facilities, future enrollment, and District and Board of Education priorities
• Build communications and community engagement team, including District staff and FLO

• FLO presentation to Board of Education
• Launch Enrollment & Program Balancing Web page
• Board meetings, interviews and updates
• Initial stakeholder interviews (PPS equity, community engagement, communications staff)
• Initial data discovery
• Review historical processes
• Integrate student information and enrollment forecasting
• PPS Pulse update to community

• PPS Board of Education approves contract with FLO Analytics