"equity"

Yep, that word does not mean what many people think it means.

Why not have a 'trade' school for students who do not plan to go (and also should not go) to college?

Why get massive amounts of debt just to sling lattes as a hipster barista?

Why not get just enough education (from a high school) to get a solid trade like a plumber, welder or electrician? Those jobs do currently pay, and will pay $50-$80K, with no college debt. That equates to $100K+ job that covers your $50-$80K college loans. No many $100K jobs out there. Go big, Go trades!

Dollars to donuts this wrongheaded thinking is being perpetrated by people who feel the need to stay ensconced in their fiefdoms at Jefferson, Madison and Roosevelt. Crushing the dreams of these kids who just want a shot at earning a decent living in an honest trade isn't just stupid, it's selfish and evil. The people who are behind the demise of Benson should be ashamed of themselves.

It's a blatant display of incompetence and another breach of fiduciary and other legal duties.

The dumbing down of our kids has been a fairly well documented INTENTIONAL effort for decades. If you look at text books from the early 20th century, the subject matter is far superior to what is being taught today.

So by the time kids reach the 8th grade, they are not prepared for high school (or what used to be taught in high school). So the school board has to keep eliminating higher level classes to keep the percentage of graduates from looking completely dismal.

At a school like Benson that is based on technical learning, this has become a travesty. I agree with the email that programs need to be reinstated, but disagree that they should let anybody in who doesn't want to go to an even crappier school. If kids are not prepared to do basic math, English, and science then they will drag Benson down even further.

And this issue is endemic to the USA, not just Portland. Here is a headline from NYC:

"Nearly 80 percent of New York City high school graduates need to relearn basic skills before they can enter the City University’s community college system."

Even those elitists that planned this dumbing down have realized that they have gone way too far - thus the efforts by companies like Exxon to fund science and math are being put in place.

Idiocracy here we is.

Here is a very good summation of the issue

http://www.heldtoanswer.com/2013/03/benson-tech-played-as-a-pawn/

Did that guy learn to write at Benson, or what?

Like Lincoln HS, Benson HS must be sitting on property with high 'vibrancy' potential.

you guys are so racist.

Why end up as drudge welding for profit making corporations like Gunderson
http://www.gbrx.com/Careers.php

when you could be a Jefferson dancer?
http://www.pps.k12.or.us/schools/jefferson-dancers/

There has been a call from both business leaders and political leaders to increase technical training in schools.

Message to the PPS Board: Close Jefferson (it is a money pit that has been failing for decades), turn the campus over to PCC and increase programs and enrollment at Benson.

Lessee - A marketable job skill like CAD or reserving the space and funding for the LGBTQ group?

You should already know the answer to that. They don't even teach basic life skills like personal finance at PPS.

Again, anyone who wants to send their kids to public skills does so at their own risk.

The things I learned at high school in mechanical drawing and shop classes have served me well over my years in business. Latin and biology classes....not so much.

I had a front row seat to the insanity that is PPS management as General Manager of KBPS radio.

During my nearly 8 years there I watched as one of the best principals in the district (Christie Plinski) was forced out in favor of someone the district could manipulate to help implement their transparent plan to destroy Benson.

One by one programs that kids flocked to were cut, including architectural drafting engineering drafting, and computer technology. Things finally hit the radio station when they eliminated my position and opted for a part-time person to try and keep the lights on.

With the national push for more, not less, career technical education, you would think the focus would be to do everything possible to improve Benson. But instead Benson suffers while futile attempts continue to rescue a dying Jefferson High School.

Here's what most people are unwilling to say out loud: Jefferson needs to be closed and the building bulldozed. Most of the kids from the Jefferson area either are current Benson students, or want to be. Jefferson will NEVER flourish. The experiment there is a failure.

The Portland School District has a long history of ignoring its critics and blindly doing whatever it wants. Sadly, their actions have resulted in harming, not helping, students. Its time to clean house at PPS and get someone into the superintendent's office who really cares about the educational future of our kids.

Today's definition of equity. Equity = equal outcomes.

It's hard to have equity when one party is succeeding. To fix it, it's much easier to down the successful rather than build up the one that's struggling.

We need more Bensons, not to discourage the efforts of the one we've got. Not all students are well-served in current model that assumes everyone is headed for a four-year degree at an expensive university, often one that won't help them get a job in today's economy. Most vocational tech careers pay well and can't be outsourced. Kids who disrupt traditional classes often find direction with a focused hands-on learning program with a goal in sight. Mr. Obama and others, quit acting like the goal of every American student should be a traditional 4-year college education. Our Voc-Tech, business partnership and journeyman programs deserve respect and support. They work. Another commenter made a good point (in a backhanded way): It may be fun to be a Jefferson dancer (hey, I'm sure it's fun to be a cheerleader, too) but it's not a sustainable career move.

Well said by a fellow classmate.
I've written stupor Carol before on the trashing of Benson and gotten nothing but platitudes and denials they have any intention of harming the school.
Anyone with half a brain can see that the PPS school board and the administration is doing just that. Be it by neglect or malice it really doesn't matter, that is the result of their actions.

What is happening to Benson and in school districts nation-wide is a result of a monopoly of k-12 education using our tax dollars. Making all schools independent charter schools would be a great start to giving students and parents opportunities to select the schools of their choice. Vouchers that parents could take to any school, even private schools, would be even better.

The only thing holding this back are the teacher unions and the entrenched administration and bureaurocracy that value their power and jobs more than doing what's best for the kids. For some, this is just a game of politics, but other educators believe that what they offer is best for everyone and that by making popular schools like Benson disappear they can force students back into the pure path of their choosing. Religious fervor mixed with union tactics is doing as much harm in education as it is in transportation where planners ruin streets for popular automobile travel to get people to take politicly correct trains instead.

Privatizing education as much as possible with vouchers and/or an all-charter district will finally give parents the clout they need. If I had a kid in school today... I'd enroll him or her in a community college for a high school degree (yes, they offer diplomas) and the trade-oriented education being squashed at Benson. The main problem with this plan is that only those who can afford tuition and books will have that opportunity, and those who might benefit the most will be doomed to suffer the worst kind of education public schools have to offer - the kind where the system is going to "help" them.

Benson class of 72. The PPS is killing Benson with the death of one thousand cuts. No single cut is fatal but the aggregate is. When I started the Freshman class was 500 students and my Graduating class was over 400. Some families had moved and a few were tossed out for behavior issues. I strongly support allowing all who apply admission.