We are a group of South Tabor community members writing with regards to the current enrollment and program balancing process, and the current proposed final recommendations.  Aside from complaints about the timeframe, scope (with notable school exclusions) and seeming arbitrariness of various constraints introduced into the process at different times, our key concern relates to the suggestion that Atkinson’s neighborhood program feed into Harrison Park for middle school, as opposed to Kellogg or Mount Tabor middle schools. There was no public engagement organized to introduce and collect community feedback on this current final proposal which was introduced for the first time 10 days ago – in fact, many families are likely to be unaware of the final proposal, particularly given the dramatic shifts set forth in each proposal of Phase 2.  The district has not made any attempts to reach out to affected communities for this proposal, so we have put together this letter to voice our concerns.

Community. As the South Tabor neighborhood association has already communicated to the PPS board, South Tabor is a neighborhood where the public schools function as central community focal and gathering areas, particularly as South Tabor is not home to any commercial hubs or other municipal buildings. The current proposal creates a dissonance between the community’s relationship to, and use of, these spaces. It also denies children the opportunity to attend the schools associated with such spaces alongside their neighbors. This creates obstacles to building the strong and lasting relationships that are traditionally fostered through school participation, that are of essential value to a strong neighborhood community. We recognize there is inherent privilege associated with the ability to attend schools in physical proximity to home, but that is assumedly the whole nature and purpose of “neighborhood” school programs.

Safety/Transportation. Within the boundaries of the South Tabor neighborhood we are fortunate enough to have a very safe walking and biking environment, given a limited number of through streets as well as a central greenway. Currently, Atkinson students attend Mt Tabor middle school, which many South Tabor parents still consider to be a safely walkable or bikeable commute for middle school aged children. And obviously, Kellogg is within the South Tabor neighborhood, and would be very safely and easily accessible. Particularly as bussing has been increasingly unpredictable and unreliable, this safe accessibility has been an essential aspect of school attendance for families. Harrison Park is the 3rd farthest middle school for many, if not most, of the Atkinson neighborhood program constituents and is situated across multiple major roadways – there would no longer be safe walk or bike access route. This is also true for the South Tabor students that are now being proposed to go to Marysville for elementary. New transportation dependencies that would be required for this proposal have not yet been assessed or considered (we had been informed that would be a Phase II consideration, but have not seen that data), but would have significant effects on bussing needs, neighborhood traffic and increased individual car use. This would not only affect the safety of our streets but also creates environmental ramifications that run contrary to the values and goals of the Portland community as a whole.

Enrollment Objectives. As an organization and a neighborhood, we are deeply committed to the values of racial equity and diversity that we know are central to the objectives of the Coalition & PPS and this balancing process. We are making this suggestion with the assumption that it will not demonstrably negatively affect those equity and diversity goals. However, based on our review of the materials and data provided, the current proposal doesn’t meet the fundamental objectives of enrollment balancing with respect to Mt Tabor middle school, which will become under-enrolled with the current proposal. However, the way the proposal is structured seems to treat the neighborhood program participants at Atkinson as fungible pawns that are available to fill the holes left by the prioritization of other specialty objectives: why, for example, could CSS middle school students not attend Harrison Park instead, which would be much closer to the location of their proposed elementary school program?  Or what about dropping the feeder model and embracing a structure where neighborhood students attend the neighborhood schools closest to them?

The difficulties arising from the various constraints imposed on the coalition were further exacerbated by the exclusion of the currently overcrowded schools in inner Southeast Portland from this entire process. Our community is at a complete loss to understand the reasoning behind that exclusion given the over-enrollment challenges those schools are already facing. How can a Southeast Portland-focused “enrollment and rebalancing” exercise simply exclude the overcrowded inner southeast schools, home to more affluent communities?

Finally, we realize that high school boundaries are outside the scope of the current project, but it appears that the current proposal means that Harrison Park would have a split feeder pattern for high schools. This would effectively create multiple split feeders for the Atkinson neighborhood program, of which is single strand most years (and PPS has emphasized the setbacks single strand neighborhood programs have already endured).

We recognize the difficult nature of the current initiative and are extremely grateful for the incredible efforts put forth by the guiding coalition’s participants. However, the process has been frustratingly devoid of meaningful community outreach. Also, many of the constraints imposed (of which the non-negotiables have wavered over time, except for the exclusion of Southeast Portland's most affluent schools) don’t reflect our children’s best educational interests or even the fundamental goals of the rebalancing project. We appreciate your attention to this matter and your consideration of our request