Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero (photo by Beth Conyers)

Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero (photo by Beth Conyers)

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The Portland Public Schools Board of Education voted unanimously to extend PPS Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero's current contract by another two years during its Tuesday, June 25 meeting. Since he will be entering the third year of his original contract, the Board has committed to a total of five years through June 2022 with Guerrero at the helm. The approval came after board members offered a comprehensively positive review of his performance.

“An astonishing amount of work has been accomplished” over the 21 months that Guerrero has led the district, said Board Chair Rita Moore. Other board members noted that Guerrero has laid foundational groundwork that will allow the district to more squarely focus on improving student outcomes in coming years, starting with 2019-20.

“All the pieces are in place to have an excellent year,” said Director Julia Brim-Edwards. Guerrero also was praised for his work ethic and for setting in motion an initiative to define the district’s vision and develop a strategic plan.

Guerrero, whose PPS tenure began in October 2017, said he looks forward to continuing to spend time in schools and focusing on how to support principals and educators in ways that will allow for greater student success -- the most important and ultimately, central measure of success for him and the district. He noted the stability of his leadership team and their ability to devote more attention to schools and school communities.

Board members noted a string of achievements, among them:

• Opening two new middle schools at Roseway Heights and Harriet Tubman.
• Engaging the community in setting a new vision for PPS.
• Prioritizing academic programming and behavioral supports for students.
• Clean financial audits and a readable, transparent budget.
• Hiring a stable, high-caliber leadership team.

“I appreciate the Board’s expression of confidence in my leadership,” Guerrero said. “As a team, we have made substantive progress, and I recognize that we have much more work ahead of us.”

He added that he is “proud to work alongside our dedicated educators, hard-working support staff and our dynamic school and central office leaders towards our shared goal of raising student achievement outcomes to an exemplary level at PPS.”