PPS superintendent visits James John Elementary amid closure plan

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - Parents at James John Elementary made their way inside Wednesday, hoping they would be able to get through to Portland Public Schools Superintendent Kimberly Armstrong.

“We hope that by being here, she will very clearly see and feel the effects of what would happen if we closed this school,” parent Bill Righter said.

The Portland Public School District would not allow FOX 12 to attend the meeting. However, parents said the superintendent toured the North Portland school and talked to them about her proposal to close James John and up to thirteen other schools because of declining enrollment.

PPS says the historic James John building faces “accessibility challenges” because it is multiple stories.

“I’m not sure I believe that,” parent Laura Streib said. “There’s an elevator, there’s all the ramps … ADA accessibility, all the upgrades have been done.”

Under the proposal, students would move to Sitton Elementary, which is a single-story school. Kids in the dual language immersion program would join a regional Spanish language center at Cesar Chavez.

“For parents and all of the families, this is going to be a heavy load, and the school board is making a really tough decision,” Portland City Councilor Dan Ryan said.

To help board members, Ryan has asked the city to create a report about what infrastructure local tax dollars have funded around each school that is now being recommended for closure.

“So looking at PBOT investments, pedestrian safety, any pipes that we’ve done recently for water, sewer, looking at parks,” he said. “I want to respect that they have the authority and the agency to make this decision. I just want to make sure the city as a partner provides our intelligence and information.”

Righter, who has a first grader at James John, said he hopes Superintendent Armstrong realizes all that has been done to improve the area around the school.

“The city has invested in our streets and sidewalks, the county just revamped our library that’s right across the street,” he said. “So, there’s a lot of money coming into the neighborhood because of advocacy work. We just want to make sure she sees that.”

The infrastructure report should be released Monday. During Wednesday’s council meeting, several councilmembers said they supported Ryan’s idea, and they believe the information will help the school board make an informed decision about which schools should close, if any.