This letter was sent to the CPPS mailing list on June 1, 2009.

Dear Member,

It is my pleasure to invite you to attend our CPPS Annual Members’ Meeting on Sunday, June 7. This annual meeting is our opportunity to meet you and other supporters face to face. We want to personally thank you for your support of CPPS and for your involvement in Portland’s public schools.

Event Details

What: 2009 CPPS Annual Members’ Meeting
When: Sunday, June 7, 1:00-3:00
Where: Kennedy School Community Room; 5736 NE 33rd Ave; Portland, OR  97211 (view map)
 
Enjoy light refreshments and great conversation with other public school education advocates as we speak with Heidi Franklin, PPS Chief Financial Officer, about the budget for PPS.

Tentative Agenda

• Opening remarks and introductions
• PPS budget discussion with Heidi Franklin, PPS Chief Financial Officer, and Doug Wells, CPPS President and co-chair of the PPS Citizen Budget Review Committee
• Discussion of CPPS vision for next year
• Election of new officers and board members
• Discussion and approval of CPPS budget
• Closing remarks

We hope to see you there!

Special Education Survey

If your child is one of the approximately 6,000 students receiving special education services in Portland Public Schools, you will be interested to know that PPS is conducting a review of its services.  Please take a short online survey designed for parents. It will become part of the data the District considers in making any changes in the Special Education Department.

School Board Elections

Thank you to everyone who voted in the May 19 school board elections, and congratulations to Pam Knowles, Martin Gonzaléz, and Trudy Sargent for winning seats on the school board. We look forward to working with each of them throughout their four-year terms.

Please Support Our Work

CPPS remains fully committed to building a sustainable network of diverse parent, family and community voices to ensure a high-quality education for all children in Portland Public Schools. Please become a member or make a donation today.
 
As always, thank you for all that you do for Portland’s children and public education!
 
Best,
Doug Wells
CPPS President
doug@cppsportland.org

CPPS’s work was recently featured in The Portland Tribune in an article titled “The Principal Problem”. Read the excerpt below, or read the full article online.

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At a time of year when principals across the district are being shuffled around, the Madison controversy is just the most recent example of the nagging dissatisfaction parents, teachers and others have with the processes the district uses to place and evaluate principals in school buildings.

The education advocacy groups Portland Stand for Children and Community and Parents for Public Schools made the issue a priority last year when they sat down with human resources administrators to adopt improvements.

While district leaders say the system has been “revamped,” some parents and teachers still report feeling stymied and stonewalled when they feel their principal isn’t a good fit for their school, the Tribune has found through numerous interviews.

“I taught in a school district for 31 years, have many friends who are teachers, and I have never, ever known of anyone asking me what I thought of my supervisor,” said Rick Barasch, who retired from the district last year after teaching in four elementary and middle schools. “Whether they were the world’s greatest principal or the worst principal. Most of my principals have been OK. But no one has ever asked me, and there’s something not right with that.”