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Right now, most of the action at Portland Public Schools is centered on the protracted negotiations over the teachers' contract. That impasse is drowning out other issues, such as the simmering dispute over the future of Benson Polytechnic High.
The district's 2011 high school redesign capped enrollment at Benson, whose focus on technical and vocational education has long made it a magnet for ambitious minority students.
The purpose of that cap was to redirect students back to Jefferson High School, which has seen its enrollment fall to 510 students, about one-third of the enrollment of the district's thriving high schools.
This morning at 8:53 am, Lainie Block Wilker, an education activist and supporter of removing the cap on Benson's enrollment, sent out a widely-distributed email encouraging community leaders to lobby PPS Superintendent Carole Smith to raise the cap (a decade ago, Benson served 1,500 students and it was built to hold 2,000) and to join a tour of the school on Jan. 27 (emphasis added).
Today, Tom Koehler, who along with Steve Buel joined the board last summer, replied to that same email list with a response that signals there will be robust discussion of Benson's cap in the future (emphasis added).
WWeek 2015