Sunnyside parents, students oppose plan to end Portland school’s environmental focus

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - While the building will still be there next school year, parent Hanna Neuschwander worries the heart of Sunnyside Environmental School will not.

“I’m irate. I’m furious,” Neuschwander said.

Her emotions stem from a Portland Public Schools proposal to close up to 14 schools. While Sunnyside is not on that list, the district would eliminate the school’s environmental focus and convert it from a K-8 to a neighborhood K-5 school.

“I think this is a huge mistake,” Neuschwander said. “There are things that we do really well here that the district should be replicating, not cutting from their offerings.”

The district said it needs to create a “more sustainable school system” to address decades of declining enrollment and serious budget issues. Fourth-grade teacher Jeremy Thomas told FOX 12 Sunnyside is not part of the problem.

“The district hasn’t really given us a really clear reason as to how we are one of the only specialized programs that’s being ended, even though we can show data that shows that our program is working,” he said.

PPS said changing Sunnyside to a K-5 would help balance enrollment at nearby elementary schools. Under the proposal, middle schoolers would move to Hosford for “more electives, athletics and middle school staff.”

However, many students do not want to leave.

“I’ve had a great time here, and I want to continue that. All the friends I’ve made, just like basically gone if our school gets closed,” seventh-grader Everett Reynolds said.

Not only would they miss their community, Reynolds and several other students said Sunnyside gives them an experience no other school can.

“I like it because... when we go on field studies... we learn, we sketch, we listen to nature,” fourth-grader Everest Brough said.

Neuschwander said those non-traditional ways of learning are exactly what some children need.

“Our program offers kids the opportunity to change it up, do things a little bit differently and touch and feel the world that they live in, and experience their education through that,” she said.

Parents and staff started an online petition to keep Sunnyside as is. So far, more than 1,700 people have signed on.