Kelly E McDonald's blog

Please wish our community well as we journey from our beloved Rose City Park School to the newly named Roseway Heights (K-8) at Gregory Heights Middle School. It is ironic that on the 100th anniversary of the Rose Festival we would be closing the school named in part to honor this tradition. It is also ironic that they should be considering a bond to build new schools while closing so many architecturally significant old ones. What will become of this elegant brick lady? Condos? McMenamin's? Charter? It's closure has left a 7 mile gap bereft of any public elementary. Goodbye Rose City Park.
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I attended the September 12th Facilitated Community Conversation (FCC) with every expectation that the meeting would result in a recommendation to the school board regarding the school designation of students west of 57th that were annexed from Rose City Park Elementary (RCP) in an eleventh hour decision last spring. This decision was based on a desire to resolve a split-feeder issue where those RCP students west of 57th went on to Grant, and those east went on to Madison. Although the decision to solve this problem was most certainly well-intended, it may prove to have unfortunate and far-reaching consequences to schools in the Madison and Grant clusters. These consequences were highlighted at the September 12th meeting by many school representatives who have been charged with designating to which Grant feeder school these students should be assigned. Among the representatives were those from Alameda, Beaumont, Laurelhurst, Fernwood, Hollyrood, and Rose City Park. There were no representatives present from Grant or Madison.
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Portland Public Schools
Fernwood Facilitated Conversations Re: School Reconfiguration
Minutes: June 22, 2006

Schools involved: Alameda, Beaumont, Fernwood, Hollyrood, Laurelhurst, Rose City Park

Attendees:
School Representatives
Alameda: Maria Peyerwold, Christine Purvis, Titia Quinton
Beaumont: Otto Schell, Scott Overton, Jane Geason
Fernwood: Holly Burton, Martha Struxness, Leslie Comnes
Hollyrood: Craig Williams, Dana Foley, Prashant Dubey
Laurelhurst: Meg Stern, Nancy Parker
Rose City Park: Anne Laufe, Sarah Robertson, Eric Dunlap

Central NE Neighbors/ NE Coalition of Neighbors:
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Calling on:

Laurelhurst, Rose City Park, Alameda, Hollyrood, Beaumont, Fernwood & Grant:

I'm creating a forum for those interested in participating in a conversation regarding the fate of the schools (listed above) who are affected by the ongoing Facilitated Community Conversations (FCC). This new topic was precipitated by some concerns that were raised at the first FCC on June 7th.

These concerns include:

1. Will Alameda and Beaumont go to a K-8 model?

2. How will the overhauling of the transfer process in 2007-8 affect area schools?

3. What is the demograph/enrollment data for The Triangle (those west of 57th who were annexed from RCP to as-yet-to-be-determined Grant Cluster school.)
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As a Rose City Park parent of Lillian (2nd Grade) and Iris (2006-7 Kinder), I attended the June 8th meeting at Beaumont expecting to hear creative ideas on how to solve The Triangle issue (those RCP families west of 57th who were suddenly annexed from RCP). Although at first angry at the severing of our school, I had come to feel that a solution would come about that may work for everyone involved.

My thoughts have altered again upon hearing, with some dismay, two school board members say that there may be difficulty in granting dual citizenship to The Triangleand that the best we could hope for would be special status to current students at RCP, but not necessarily for their siblings.
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