Things with the Southeast Guiding Coalition are quickly changing. At this point, we still do not know for sure that Marysville students will go to Kellogg Middle School. Although Harrison Park Middle School is not our closest and safest school, Marysville could still be assigned there.

The Southeast Guiding Coalition submitted a recommendation to the school board that has Marysville feeding into Kellogg. This is ideal for us, but it is not the final outcome until the board votes on it. The board can make changes. Harrison Park is underenrolled in the recommendation and PPS will need to fix this problem. PPS will likely fix this problem by a)moving another neighborhood school -likely Marysville- to HP or b)moving Spanish DLI from Kellogg to HP.

We are now looking at a new proposal which moves Spanish DLI to HP. This proposal called the "G series" would open up enrollment at Kellogg for more neighborhood schools, ensuring space for Marysville, and giving adequate enrollment to Harrison Park. But the reason why PPS wants to keep Spanish DLI at Kellogg is because the program has already started at Kellogg and they don't want to have to rebuild it at another location. Although we should all be thinking longterm, not shorterm, PPS wants to keep Spanish DLI at Kellogg for convenience at the expense of more neighborhood schools attending Kellogg.

The reason we are now looking at the G series is because a majority of parents (not principals) on the SEGC submitted a dissent to the recommendation because it does not balance enrollment between Kellogg and Harrison Park. The SEGC is having another meeting on Thursday, March 10 to look at the G series. We should know much more after that meeting.

If the G series does not receive traction, the board may want to move Marysville to Harrison Park in order to balance enrollment between HP and Kellogg. HP will be a good middle school, but it is located northwest of 82nd & Division. Marysville students would have to cross 82nd, Division, Powell, Holgate, and in some cases Foster. All students would be bussed and no one would be walking or biking to school.

The goal of the process of balancing enrollment is to center BIPOC and underserved students. Marysville has a high percentage of BIPOC and underserved students. 55% of our students are BIPOC. But what we don't have are parents with the resources to organize and advocate for our interests. Some schools feeding into HP (in the original recommendation) with whiter populations and more resourced parents are already loudly advocating for their school not to feed into Harrison Park, also due to location. Because of this, the board could easily move Marysville to Harrison Park instead. This would be highly inequitable, but is plausible.

It is our hope that PPS comes up with a solution where as many students as possible from neighborhood academic programs can attend their closest and safest middle school.

Although it's the job of PPS, not parents, to ensure equity, we may need to advocate loudly for Marysville and for the BIPOC schools who do not have parents advocating for their interests. Equity is when BIPOC and underserved student needs are met without the parents having to fight for it. The most powerful person at the moment is Dr. Claire Hertz, Deputy Superintendent. Her email address is chertz@pps.net. Once the recommendation goes to the board, individual board members should be emailed and their email addresses are at the very bottom of this page.

Please stay tuned to this website for updates in the coming days and weeks.

February 1, 2022

The SEGC has looked at many different proposals for boundary changes and middle school feeder patterns. They are alphabetized and began with A, B, and C, which you see below. We are now up to the F series. It seems at this point that Marysville's k-5 will remain mostly intact. Families living south of Foster will most likely stay within the Marysville boundary.

December 2021
What is happening?

Your Marysville student may have to switch schools in the fall of 2023.

Portland Public Schools is changing the boundaries for almost all k-5 schools in SE Portland. The boundaries are being determined this winter and spring. This means that Marysville students who live outside of the new boundary will have to switch to Arleta, Woodmere, or Lent Elementary. Luckily, we now know this won't happen until 2023.

Stay informed.

It is possible that all Marysville students will be able to finish at Marysville through 5th grade (called "grandfathered" or "legacy"). This is our hope, but we can't count on this. We created this website to provide you with the information you need to advocate for your family and for Marysville.

Why advocate for Marysville?

Marysville is a strong neighborhood school with outstanding teachers and staff. We think of it as a hidden gem! We are a lower-income, Title 1 school with a high percentage of non-white students, and we provide many needed services to our student population. But unlike other schools impacted by the boundary change proposal, we don't have a language or focus-option program that attracts more affluent families through a lottery, so we have fewer resources to call upon from our families.

We also serve many families who speak English as a second language, and due to translation will take a little longer to communicate important district-wide changes to our community. This all impedes our ability to speak out about how these changes will impact our families in a timely and complete manner.

PPS has committed to prioritizing BIPOC and underserved students with a priority on equity. But in reality, they will make their decision based on community feedback from families like YOU. This is why PPS needs to hear from parents at Marysville. How do you feel about this process? How do these proposals affect you?

Get involved.

See below for links to a PPS survey in several languages and email addresses to schoolboard members. This survey is important to answer, but we have found it to be incomplete and difficult to answer. Our intention is to create a Marysville-specific survey soon.

Here is the website for Portland Public Schools Enrollment and Balancing which has the most up to date information from PPS.

Below are the three boundary change proposals.

Marysville is the dark purple shapes. The solid lines represent the new proposed boundary. The dashed line represents our current boundary. Be sure to note where 82nd Avenue is because Proposal A is quite different than B and C.

PPS SURVEYS:

Please click the link below and fill out your survey.