Murmurs: Draft Screen Policy Would Curb Use Across PPS

DRAFT SCREEN POLICY WOULD CURB USE ACROSS PPS: The Portland School Board’s policy committee was set to discuss a districtwide screen time policy Sept. 22 that if approved would, in some cases, significantly reduce the amount of time students in grades K–8 spend in front of screens. The draft policy up for discussion is one driven by advocates from Portland’s chapter of Schools Beyond Screens, a national coalition to restrict smartphone use. The policy would ban students between kindergarten and second grade from using screens during the school day, while restricting students in grades 3 through 8 to using screens only in “centralized” locations, like a computer lab. The policy suggests elementary schoolers with access to screens spend no more than 20 minutes on them each day, middle schoolers not exceed 45 minutes per subject each week, and high schoolers not exceed an hour per subject each week. The policy expands Portland Public Schools’ cellphone policy by applying screen time limits to all types of devices, and also looks to limit the use of apps to ones the district approves, restricting access to noninstructional platforms. The policy committee’s discussion of such a proposal is just the beginning of board efforts to regulate screen time at the district; a work plan indicates the board could develop screen time and artificial intelligence policies by December.

PSYCHEDELIC THERAPY PROVIDERS GET RELIEF: After an industry revolt, the Oregon Health Authority on Sept. 22 said it would retreat from plans to double licensing fees for the people and institutions that operate under the state’s legal psychedelics program. The agency had said the new fees—which would have cost some service centers, manufacturers and facilitators thousands of dollars more per year—would be used to patch the budget of a psilocybin regulatory regime that’s supposed to be self-sustaining. But as WW reported this month, there was evidence the fee hikes would backfire: An informal poll by a Bend-based shroom facilitator found that so many centers and facilitators would leave the program if fees skyrocketed they might actually generate less overall revenue for the state than before. Largely because psilocybin remains illegal federally, Oregon operators already work in a business environment with lots of red tape (which explains why a single therapy session can run thousands of dollars). OHA says it scrapped the plans because of the feedback. How the program will patch its stated funding gaps remains unclear. But Heidi Pendergast, Oregon director of Healing Advocacy Fund, which advocates for the psilocybin industry, said the first step should be more budget transparency from the state, which has not been as open about its finances as she would like. The industry is “at the ground level of trying to get a clearer picture of what the regulatory costs are for this program currently, before we can offer solutions on this,” Pendergast says.

DOWNTOWN FOOT TRAFFIC CREEPS UP: Despite sky-high housing costs and dismal office vacancy rates, pedestrian activity in downtown Portland last month hit a post-pandemic high. That’s according to the latest figures from Downtown Portland Clean & Safe, which show that monthly visitors and office workers downtown hit 3 million people for the first time since 2019. That’s higher than last summer, when foot traffic neared 2.8 million. Within that figure, office workers have been the group slowest to return. Since sinking from a high of 819,000 in October 2019 to a low of 179,000 in April 2020, office workers in the Clean & Safe District have hovered around 350,000 since May 2022. Hotel stays in the central city also continued their rise this summer. Nights sold in July increased for the fourth consecutive year, to 240,000—just 6,000 off the 2019 high-water mark. The service district, which has published foot traffic data for around a decade, recorded a high of 3.8 million workers and visitors in July 2019. The recorded low of 878,000 came nine months later in April 2020, just weeks after COVID-19 sent office workers home. Since then, foot traffic has increased annually despite winter dips. The 272-block district’s approximately 409,000 residents are included in foot traffic totals.

CITY TO DEMOLISH NORTH PORTLAND POOL: The city announced this week that the Columbia Pool in North Portland will be demolished later this year. The pool, which shut down in 2022 after engineers deemed it unsafe, became a flash point for Portlanders who begged the city to find a way to keep it open, even if only seasonally, citing a pool desert in North and Northeast Portland. After Mayor Keith Wilson put a one-year pause on the demolition in 2025 at the request of District 2 city councilors, the demolition now appears to be moving forward. Portland Parks & Recreation blamed budget woes for its inability to rehab the facility. “Ultimately, securing the resources necessary to fund the reopening or reconfiguration of the facility was not viable,” said parks spokesman Mark Ross. “Without sustainable long-term funding, Portland risks losing additional community assets over the next 15 years.” Voters last November renewed Portland’s Parks Levy estimated to bring in $91 million annually for the next five years. Even with that funding, however, parks officials have said they can only maintain current service levels, not increase them. And parks officials have warned the levy won’t reduce the $759 million in deferred maintenance at parks facilities, since the vast majority of the money can’t be used for that purpose.