I've been working on this issue for some time and I will make it a priority on the School Board. Are schools of 400-600 the best or only size of school we can have in Portland Public Schools? I think not. Should we continue to sell off our historic school buildings, the heart of our neighborhoods? Not without a compelling reason to do so, and significant community input.

We need a community-based, long-term plan for our school buildings--maintaining and preserving our historic buildings, remodeling or building new ones where needed, creating new partnerships with the community to strengthen our schools. Let's not destroy our proud heritage of neighborhood schools.

For more detail on the school size issue, see below for the online petition I recently circulated and a letter I wrote to the Oregonian in 2004.