Parent view, please, on safest/best middle and high schools (Portland: low income, apartments)

[ShazfrmOz]

I'm moving to Portland, summer 2016. My son will start middle school in the new school year. The "Great Schools" website rates schools on scores; I want to know about the "climate" of the Portland middle and high schools. Which schools:

1. Are safe and tough on bullying?
2. Are community centered (with strong parent involvement)?
3. Have a more international and/or "accepting" perspective?

We've lived in many places, including overseas. Moving to Portland is a dream and an area we'd like to settle in. I would love to hear parents' perspectives on their kids' schools. Thanks in advance!

[jjpop]

Are you moving to Portland proper (Portland Public Schools), or are you moving to one of the neighboring cities? Answering that will help people who have specific experience with the schools and district that you're moving to.

[Yankeemama]

I used great schools before my family's move to Portland from out of state. Now that I have seen many school communities in Portland and now I am in Beaverton I have to say that great schools is pretty worthless. I would look at district websites where you can access demographic info.( I did this for PPS schools over six years ago) and that will help you make decisions based on YOUR needs. For example, my family needed better spec Ed services and a district that had a solid reputation in educating autistic kiddos, so I spoke to educators and parents who recommended BSD and the BSD website backed up the info. I was hearing through the grapevine. I was interested briefly in Happy Valley but after speaking with the Clackamas district on the phone I quickly found out that my NT child would do well in HV, my autistic child needed a different district. You can call districts directly and ask questions and I find that people tend to be helpful. Good luck.

[AndyAMG]

My kids go to the worst school in the metro area. They do fine.

I think people put too much effort into finding a great school.

All schools are "tough" on bullying, but they can't monitor every students behavior every minute.
All schools have strong community involvement. Well at least wealthier white stay at home moms.
My sons school is the most international/diverse but it's also one of the worst schools in the area. So international and accepting but not in a high dollar zip code is probably not what you want either.

Rowe Middle School - Milwaukie, Oregon - OR - School overview

I think you need to find an upscale neighborhood without poor kids and families in the boundaries that suits your needs. then work from there.

Portland works very hard to gerrymander district boundaries to be more inclusive for low income families. The result is increasingly awful schools. Here in Milwaukie they redrew the district so that all the low income apartments on McLoughlin and 82nd were included with more median income neighborhoods. But my son has learned to say Ukrainian swear words and learned Vietnamese slang terms for weener. He got in a fight with a Somali kid, that's multi cultural!

Have you thought of private school?

For the record my kids absolutely love a school rated a 2. I think they like it because they look really good compared to the other kids. Of course most of the other kids dont speak English as a first language. What really counts is that they are learning from the school of hard knocks. I went to a crap middle school too (Reynolds) and I'm glad I did, because it made me appreciate my education once I got to a good school.

[Familyman6]

Oregon public schools are pretty bad, even in the suburbs. If it is that much of a concern you really should budget your housing around the addition of private school tuition.

[Nell Plotts]

You imply that your children are fluent in a language in addition to English. What language is that? I ask because are several foreign language programs in the Portland Public Schools (Russian for example) that are not offered in every school. Your children may benefit from attending a school where their (to us, second) language is taught.

Language immersion programs in Portland are highly sought after and the parents of those students are tigers.

The above writer is conflating Oregon schools in communities with a high % of college educated parents with those in poverty stricken counties where the woods products industries have collapsed. Children of poor parents struggle at so many levels.

[Yankeemama]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

You imply that your children are fluent in a language in addition to English. What language is that? I ask because are several foreign language programs in the Portland Public Schools (Russian for example) that are not offered in every school. Your children may benefit from attending a school where their (to us, second) language is taught.

Language immersion programs in Portland are highly sought after and the parents of those students are tigers.

The above writer is conflating Oregon schools in communities with a high % of college educated parents with those in poverty stricken counties where the woods products industries have collapsed. Children of poor parents struggle at so many levels.

Yes, so true! A school community doesn't have to be wealthy but generally needs an engaged parent group that is not just involved with individuals but also the school's curriculum, recruiting and retaing effective and inspiring teachers, and fighting for real learning... preparing a generation who thinks outside the box. I have been so fortunate to find such people in different parts of the Portland metro. The most important factor in young peoples' lives is the security of a good home and community that helps mentor and encourage students. Some of the most insidious bullying happens at the most prestigious schools in the US. Speaking to families who are very familiar with a particular school is the only way to really know how prevelant bullying is in that particular school. Bullying even varies by grade within the same school. No really easy answers to the OP's question.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

OP, then I suggest you move to an area where wealthy families live.

The wealthy districts don't receive any more city support than the poor districts, but a higher percentage of wealthy educated parents are insistent that their children do well and are adequately prepared to get into a good college. Those parents keep track of how their kids are doing and are prepared to make a lot of noise about the conditions at the school. They also keep after their kids to make sure their children behave in school and learn.

There are parents like that who are low income also, but a lower percentage of them making waves about education. Also, in a school where the parents don't enforce good behavior and learning, there will be more disruptive students.

All schools in Oregon will do a good job of educating your children, if you make sure that your child attends classes , understands the lessons, and does his homework.

If you can get into a school in a really wealthy district, then the parents band together and pay for additional learning opportunities. Those opportunists are not coming from the school district. They are not available in poorer districts because the schools district isn't the one providing them.

[ShazfrmOz]

Originally Posted by jjpop

Are you moving to Portland proper (Portland Public Schools), or are you moving to one of the neighboring cities? Answering that will help people who have specific experience with the schools and district that you're moving to.

jjpop: Thank you for your reply. We're trying to decide where to live based on the schools (which we're finding daunting, not being there). We're favoring West Portland, but no further out than Beaverton.

[ShazfrmOz]

Originally Posted by Yankeemama

I used great schools before my family's move to Portland from out of state. Now that I have seen many school communities in Portland and now I am in Beaverton I have to say that great schools is pretty worthless. I would look at district websites where you can access demographic info.( I did this for PPS schools over six years ago) and that will help you make decisions based on YOUR needs. For example, my family needed better spec Ed services and a district that had a solid reputation in educating autistic kiddos, so I spoke to educators and parents who recommended BSD and the BSD website backed up the info. I was hearing through the grapevine. I was interested briefly in Happy Valley but after speaking with the Clackamas district on the phone I quickly found out that my NT child would do well in HV, my autistic child needed a different district. You can call districts directly and ask questions and I find that people tend to be helpful. Good luck.

Yankeemama: Thank you for your reply. Great input! This is exactly what I was looking for..."on the ground" feedback. We were actually looking at the Beaverton School District and the schools in Happy Valley. Sounds like either one would work for us. Thanks for the advice on calling the districts. I had looked at their websites, but didn't feel I was getting a true picture. Great suggestions.