Connect: Vernon Elementary School

Prompted by a recent post Looking to Link with Vernon Parents, this will be one of the first school forums.  Comments, questions, concerns about Vernon Elementary?  Share here.

Vernon Elementary School
PreK-7th
2044 NE Killingsworth
Portland, OR 97211
503-916-6415
503-916-2678
lbutterf@pps.k12.or.us

http://www.vernon.pps.k12.or.us

Comments

[anon]

vernon is a good school. we have a new principal this year,and honestly things have changed for the worse. parents are trying to connect but i really feel like the principal is sort of just there for the paycheck. she's not really involved like the previous principal was. vernon is trying really hard to show the community what a great school and the momentum was going so good until this year. its funny that I came across this post because i was just in the middle of composing a letter to the principal about things that need changes. i don't want to sound like a complainer, but i'm just trying to be a concerned parents and while the teachers themselves are great, the way the school is run, has an indirect effect on the students. last year i was excited to have my son at the school and i was so pumped, and now, i'm wondering if we should try something else. the support is just not there, even from the principal, and it could be really be great because there are parents willing to help out, but without the principal seeming to really care, it's hard.

[Erica]

A group of "future families of vernon," met 1/28/08 at Milagros. The principal, as well as the PTA president, met with us. They both discussed all the great things happening at Vernon- IB program, and very involved staff. I trully believe that Vernon just needs more active community involvement/parent involvement. The group of parents that met on Monday expressed that they wanted to make a commitment to building our neighborhood school. This simple meeting was energizing. The next one is scheduled for Sat. March 15 at the Kennedy School 4:30-6:30pm. I hope to see all future families of Vernon attend.

[anon]

That's actually encouraging. It's great that it's planning for the future, but right now it needs help and the help is kind of lagging because of the lack of parent support. That's major.

[angie]

I was wondering if anyone could post meeting minutes or a synopsis of concerns that were raised and addressed at the "future families of Vernon" meeting. I had planned to go but couldn't make it at the last minute. I'll put the March 15 meeting on my calendar! Thanks!

[Leslie]

It saddened me to see that anyone would perceive that I, as the new Principal, am not involved. I FEEL involved.
I was asked in mid-August if I would take this Interim Principal position. I did give it some thought as I have 99% of my school experience at the high school level, and I knew I would have so much to learn. Nevertheless, I was interested in taking on this work on multiple levels. I have seen how students transfering into Lincoln have had many struggles, and I thought I could help Vernon eighth grade students, and their younger peers, be better prepared for that school as well as all other high schools they might wish to attend. In addition, being a Native American, I have passionate beliefs about equity and equal access, and wanted to advocate for Vernon's very diverse students. I have been working to learn and understand the many aspects of the Vernon school culture since I came here in August. It will take this whole year.
I did, however, see some immediate needs which I quickly addressed in terms of staffing. Consequently, I advocated for additional staff, resulting in a second full-time secretary and an Assistant Principal.
I have attended everything I have known about in terms of family events, and have met with any parent who has expressed an interest in meeting, including most recently, representatives of the "Future Families of Vernon." Having this group of parents be interested in Vernon ahead of their children's entrance in school is very exciting. From everything I can glean, having parents be interested in volunteering outside of existing Prgrams such as SMART, is a relatively new phenomenon. It is my plan to have a structure in place to formalize this wonderful opportunity, with teacher training on how to best work with parent volunteers as well as periodic parent trainings on how to best be of service.
I have been working to strengthen the existing community partnerships and to expand Vernon's partnerships, with the most recent addition being the Portland Lacrosse Team, the Lumberjax. The SUN School Coordinator and I meet regularly to better coordinate the day school program with the after school program. While I readily admit I still have much to learn about K-8 curriculum in general and Vernon's needs in particular, I am always working on it.
My greatest strength has always been my love of kids...of all ages. I believe they deserve our very very best, every day. That's what I strive to do. In addition, I am coachable and willing to listen and learn. If any person or group would like to schedule a time to meet with me, all that person or representative needs to do is call or email me, and we can set a time.
Sincerely,
Leslie Butterfield

[anon concerned parent]

wow! It's great to see that Leslie is "listening". I have to say that she might 'FEEL' involved, however actions speak volumes louder than words. Her visibility is low. Meaning, we rarely see her in the halls. I realize she his busy- but it feels almost like we have an absentee principle. I believe it makes a big difference to walk in the school in the morning and see her standing outside the office greeting parents and kids. It's just nice to SEE her. To know that she's concerned who's coming and who's going and what's happening in the morning. That she's INTERESTED. I know she has plenty to do but for 20 minutes or so in the morning? I also don't see her in the afternoon when I come to pick up my child. I mean, she's supposed to be overseeing things, right? Maybe I'm being picky? Maybe I'm comparing her too much to last year's principle (who was great)too much. All I know is, it's the "little things" that make the difference between a mediocre school versus a great school. There doesn't seem to be a lot of communication between the principle and the parents. I always wonder: where is she? what is she doing? There are events sometimes that we don't hear about until the last minute,and I just think, why weren't we told about this before now? Things trickle down from the top, and if people at the top don't appear to be really interested, it indirectly impacts all the things down below and at the student level.

[Erica]

I appreciate that we are all on here talking about Vernon. To see that we are all so passionate about this school gets me excited. My daughters will be starting Vernon in the Fall. I have an entering Kindergartner and Pre-K child.

To the parent who is having concerns, I have to say I was a director of a preschool for many years, and the first year is the hardest. You are learning so much about the school, community, staff, students and the every day operations of running a school. I hope that you meet with Leslie, the Principal, to talk about the things you would like to see. Also, I hope that you are connecting with other parents to help the school. Vernon needs to be connected to list serv, so parents can get information regularly and fast. Is there anyone in the school who could help with this? Remember, the schools who converted to K-8 did not get extra support staff or administration, although I think the district is working this into the budget for next year. Also, are there parents out there who are can donate web design. We need to find someone who is willing to donate some time to get this site up and running. Can the PTA start raising money for web site development and maintenance?

I really want to make a difference in our neighborhood school. We have a great neighborhood. I encourage all of us to work for our school. The schools that are successful have strong parent and community involvement. Instead of complaining about the Principal, ask her if she needs help.

[cindy]

I just want to let anyone thinking about Vernon as a school of choice know, that Vernon is a wonderful school! I currently have a 2nd grader at Vernon and one starting pre K in fall. We've had the opportunity to attend a few wonderful schools, but we are so happy that we landed at Vernon. My older daughter was lucky enough to attend Nike Paterno Preschool, so leaving that wonderful, nurturing environment was scary and a challenge to find a place in the public school sector that met our needs as parents and our daughters needs. We first started with a private Montessori program and quickly found that with a new baby that we could not afford to put both children through private school. We won the lottery and ended up at Alameda. Alameda is a great school with a very committed principle and parents. They have a strong parent support, they also have a large population of families with one working parent allowing more time for school/parent involvement. Although it was a great school, we just didn't feel like we fit in. Afterall, it wasn't our neighborhood school. We moved to our neighborhood because we liked our neighborhood and it made no sense that we were not going to our neighborhood school? For us Alameda lacked in diversity and felt way too competitive. Although a great school, Alameda just wasn't the school for us. I contacted Vernon and asked if I could schedule a tour of the school. I spoke with Kathy, who has been at the school for 20 years. She told me, "You don't have to schedule a tour, please come anytime and we would be happy to show you around." When I visited the Vernon for the first time, I was quick to realize that the school was proud and confident of who they are and the accomplishments they've made and continue to make. I also saw a completely dedicated staff, who most all have been there 10+ years. The students were excited, inspired and happy to be there as well. The school was made up of a diverse population, to us, a true representation of our neighborhood.

Now 3 years into it we couldn't be happier to finally settle and send our second daughter to pre K next year at Vernon. Our older daughter continues to excel, reading at a higher grade level, learning to play chess, learning to knit, making all kinds of friends and most importantly learning the world is a bigger place than Portland full of diverse cultures and people. She has had the opportunity though Vernon to take classes at Oregon Ballet Theatre, attend an art camp sponsored by Weiden & Kennedy, represent her school at chess meets, plant an amazing garden and many more wonderful things.

Bottom line, grade school is not Nike's Paterno Daycare anywhere. I remember the anxiety of searching for the "perfect" school for my kindergartner. Being an intelligent parent, who has always prided myself on independent thinking, I was shocked how quickly I succumbed to rumors and quick decisions about Vernon.
Everyone needs to make their own decision of the best school for one's family and Vernon may not be the school for you, but take the time to find that out for sure. Come visit with an open mind...I think you just may be pleasantly surprised of what a wonderful school Vernon really is!

[cindy]

Hi it's me again...I posted above. I wanted to make a correction. I said that "Vernon was a true representation of our neighborhood" Actually that's not completely true. The Alberta neighborhood has changed dramatically in the past 8 years that we have lived in the neighborhood. Alberta is a true melting pot of ethnicities and culture. Many of the new families moving to the neighborhood now are white families, yet Vernon does not seem to reflect this in the population of children attending the school because many of these families choose to send their children to school outside the neighborhood. ...I guess making Vernon not a true representaion of the current Alberta neighborhood. Again, Vernon is a great school and welcoming to everyone. I hope more of our neighborhood folks will give it a chance!

[anon]

Cindy, thank you for posting this. I had the chance to visit Vernon today. We were impressed with the staff, facility, and the big smiles that we saw on the faces of children.

[concordia_mama]

I also attended the visit/tour today and found everyone I met to be friendly and welcoming. The kids looked happy as I peaked in rooms and watched them at an assembly of Do Jump. And yes - the diversity is impressive. Leslie was on top of answering questions too. I'd imagine being an interim principal at a school transitioning into K-8 isn't easy.
My concern/fear, in general, is the sense I get of dumbing down in order to "teach to the test" going on and I didn't get a sense that Vernon was different in this regard. I don't even think it's the teacher's or school's or administrator's fault. It just seems to be the way the school day goes now. It saddens me immensely.
At the same time, if our child doesn't "win the lottery" then we'll proceed as if it's a blessing in disguise and do our darndest to help turn Vernon into the school we all dream about.

[annie]

I didn't get a chance to go to the open house I heard about...could someone please tell me what age they start pre-k? 2 or 3? and if anyone knows the approximate class sizes for pre-k that would be awesome. Thanks!

[anonVernonMom]

Annie, your child has to be 4 in order to enter their pre-k. In my experience, the pre-k class size is about 20 students.

[annie]

well I guess I don't have to think about it for a while then... thanks!

[anonymous]

I ama teacher at Vernon and I would be happy to try to answer any questions about what goes on. I agree with Cindy, that Vernon cant really represent its neighborhood because a huge percentage of our neighborhood kids transfer out. Its very frustrating to us and it greatly affects the services and staffing of our school.
If you are unhappy about the interim principal, and I know MANY are, feel free to have your voice heard at the scheduled community meetings hosted by the dstrict to help us select qualified candidates for the position.
I am not so concerned about the "teaching to the test" because I still feel that those skills that will be tested are integrated into curriculum that can easily be implemented creatively by all teachers. I think you need to really think about your child and what kind of fit would best serve your family. I also think people should not be so afraid to expose thier children to diversity and challenging situations. Prepare your child for things not to be exactly the same in every environment, let them know they are still responsible for making thier own good choices and talk to them. Be in the classrooms. Be in the halls. Come to community events. We have several performances coming up that will be open to the community and I will try to post those. OBT, Norman Sylvester (with Ethos) and a few others are already scheduled.
Good luck. I know its a very hard, personal journey.

[Vernon PTA]

Vernon PTA is having the 1st Annual Culture Night on Friday, Feb 29th at 6:30 pm in the Mulitculture room. I encourage everyone to attend!

[anon]

Parents ARE informed through the Vernon Voice which collect in student backpacks along with other important parent communications from teachers and the school! Other examples of communications are reminder notes about parent conference times, school calendars, field trips, tutoring opportunities for students who need extra help, TAG and other important community opportunities that are posted inside the school in the main hall by the office. Parents need to be actively involved. The information they need is available if they take the time to ask, look, read and get involved!

[concordia_mama]

Dear Vernon parents, faculty or otherwise,
Does your child love attending this school? If so, please take a moment to give me some intelligent, challenging, creative and wonderful educational examples. This will be greatly appreciated.

And now I just want to take a moment to describe exactly what frightened me about my visit to Vernon, our neighborhood school. Partially because I'd like someone on the inside to shed some light and partially because I hope by writing it out the image will leave my mind. Here goes...
There was a bulletin board in the hallway portraying the study of plants. I believe this was done by the 2nd grade. (?) What I saw were sheets of blue construction paper with soil and part of a plant glued on and labeled. The soil was a 1/2 sheet of brown paper. That's fine but then there were 2 precut pieces of paper, definitely not cut out by the children, one shaped as the leaves & stem and another as the roots. Then the children had labeled, in their own handwriting, the stem, leaf & roots. The bottom half of the bulletin board had a short blurb telling that the kids had learned basic information about plants.
This disturbs me because aside from hand writing the labels, children can understand this entire concept and do this project when they are 2-3 years old. And where is the rest of the plant? This is an unfinished project in my eyes. Is it leading to the rest of the information? The bulletin board didn’t say.

Please know that I am not trying to start trouble where it doesn’t belong. However, it troubles me immensely when children are not treated or respected like the intelligent people that they are and I feel strongly that teachers who are not willing to teach intelligently should find a different profession. Perhaps a factory job.
Does someone at Vernon care to comment?
In addition to this, I’m curious to know if the Kindergarten teacher who commented above has her children attending Vernon. Do any of the faculty at Vernon have their children attending this school?

Thank you for your time.

[anon]

hmmm. somehow I find that above comment about second graders' work a little hard to believe. I bet there's more to the story. I doubt it was done by second graders...or maybe something else..

[anon]

hmmm. somehow I find that above comment about second graders' work a little hard to believe. I bet there's more to the story. I doubt it was done by second graders...or maybe something else..

[pdxmomto2]

I noticed I have a "future families of Vernon" meeting on my calendar for Saturday. Is this event still happening? Anyone else attending?

[erica]

Yes, we are meeting Saturday, March 15th at the Kennedy School in the community room from 4:30-6 PM. I plan to be there with my two little ones. Hope to see you there!!

[erica]

Yes, we are meeting Saturday, March 15th at the Kennedy School in the community room from 4:30-6 PM. I plan to be there with my two little ones. Hope to see you there!!

[Vernon Community Meeting]

We will be having the next "Future Families of Vernon" meeting on Saturday, May 17th at the Kennedy School. The meeting will be from 4:30-6:30 in the community room. Please spread the word!

[possible vernon parent]

One of the things that I think is really, really critical for making this next year at Vernon a success is to add another kindergarten teacher. I belieive that there are currently 28 kids in the kindergarten class. That is just too much for one teacher, and too loud of a noise level for kids to learn in. This is WITHOUT many of the neighborhood families sending their kids there.
This year, I know a lot of people in the neighborhood are finally ready to take the plunge and commit to their neighborhood schools, but if the teachers are not there to support this, and the class sizes swell even more, this could do years of damage to the schools reputation, and deter other families who are considering joining soon (and there are A LOT of us out there whose kids are turning 5 in the next 2-3 years).
Leslie, if there's one thing you can do for your school for next year, its to get another Kindergarten teacher. Trust me, if you build it, we will come.