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Board report: Revised field trip and travel policy approved; comment crafted on I-5 expansion
3/22/2019The Portland Public Schools Board of Education approved a significant revision to the district policy on student field trips and out-of-town travel, and passed a resolution to offer comment on proposed construction work on Interstate 5 that would affect Harriet Tubman Middle School.
The moves were part of the board’s meeting on Tuesday, March 19.
Field trip and travel policy: The Board revised a policy originally created in 2002, renaming it as “Field Trips, Foreign Travel, and Other Off-Campus Activities.” The revisions are intended to add additional review to field trips and off-campus activities to enhance student safety, provide guidance to staff and adults who plan trips and travel with students, ensure continuity of learning for students who remain in school while others are traveling, and to align travel planning and approval practices with the district’s equity policy and educational mission..
The changes were made in response to safety recommendations made in the Whitehurst report, as well as work done and public comments taken during multiple sessions by the Board’s Policy and Governance Committee. The revised policy ties into a proposed new policy that emerged from the Whitehurst report, Professional Conduct Between Staff and Students, and requires staff to follow the new conduct policy (if passed) during off-campus activities.
The revisions add language that says school staff should avoid off-campus activities that would keep students from participating because of cost, and should be aware of factors that could affect students in transit or at the destination, such as discriminatory policies or laws based on race, religion, culture, gender orientation, sexual identity or immigration status.
The policy also says that when a large group leaves a school campus for a trip, it should not compromise the integrity of that school’s educational programs, and that students who do not participate in trips should retain the continuity of their curriculum. A limit on the duration of trips in an early revision draft was eliminated in response to stakeholders who testified about the value of travel that goes longer than proposed limits.
The revisions also distinguish between activities that are district sponsored and those that are not, and identify specific parameters of when trips must be approved by the Superintendent, Risk Management and the Board.
The Board also directed the Superintendent to create an “8th Grade Experiential Learning Advisory Group” to explore extended learning opportunities that would be offered to all middle-school students.
I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project: The Board passed a resolution to offer a district comment to the proposed Oregon Department of Transportation-led work on I-5 near the Rose Quarter.
The impact of the work could affect two district properties: Harriet Tubman Middle School and the Blanchard Education Service Center. The district says in the statement that work should have an Environmental Impact Statement that would offer a fuller picture of the potential risks, especially to Harriet Tubman, than the Environmental Assessment that was done for the project.
The district’s concerns include air quality, soil stability, a proposed sound wall, noise, construction and traffic. The district had thorough studies done on such issues before re-opening Harriet Tubman as a full middle school this school year, but the I-5 work could bring the freeway closer to the campus.
“We’ve done a great deal of monitoring on air quality, we’ve spent a great deal of money to mitigate the current conditions,” Board Chair Rita Moore said. “The kinds of changes to traffic patterns that our outlined in this proposal seem alarming to me, and I have to wonder what kind of impact it will have on the air quality.”
Because the period for comment on the proposal closes April 1, the Board conducted a careful deliberation on details of the statement at the March 19 Board meeting.
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