Portland needs to close another high school, school board members argue | OregonLive.com

Portland needs to close another high school, school board members argue | OregonLive.com

Portland needs to close another high school, school board members argue

By Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian

June 07, 2010, 7:35PM

The Portland School Board will not approve Superintendent Carole Smith's proposed high school redesign by the planned June 21 deadline -- and may never approve it as outlined, board members said Monday.

Three board members, including co-chair Trudy Sargent, said the district needs fewer comprehensive high schools than the eight Smith proposed if it is to offer a strong enough program at the schools that remain. They said they would close Jefferson High and drop to seven neighborhood high schools.

Only one board member, Ruth Adkins, said she is prepared to vote for Smith's eight-school plan, which would close Marshall High, scale back vocational magnet Benson High and create neighborhood high schools of about 950 to 1,300 students each.

High schools in Portland suburbs average 1,650 students apiece, allowing them to achieve efficiencies of scale and to offer a full array of electives and advanced classes. Four of Portland's nine high school campuses currently enroll fewer than 900 students.

A plan to change Portland high schools would need four of seven board members onboard, and no plan has that much support so far.

When the board will be ready to endorse any plan is unclear, although a majority of board members say the city's current system of nine