Urban Mamas

If you have a 3-5 year old and are interested in exploring sending your child to Woodlawn, please send me a message on Facebook.

Thanks.

Chip Shields

The teachers and parents here are great and the neighborhood is wonderful. The campus at the school is also beautiful, with a large community/neighborhood garden and Woodlawn Park nearby. (The actual school garden is quite small and is the part in the little wooden structure). Unfortunately, PPS has placed a principal here who doesn't have the proper training (nor motivation) for the position if you consider the demographics and Title I (low income) status of the school. She was moved to this school from her earlier position at Hayhurst because of so many parent complaints there. (As often happens, an untrained/unapprenticed Principal is placed in a low-income school with the thinking that nobody will complain and the district can't spare any money to hire someone with more experience.) If we could get a principal with experience in running impoverished schools with as much racial and economic diversity as Woodlawn has - the school could be amazing. Part of this may be funding, but regardless, it's unacceptable because the kids suffer for it. (Currently, there is much debate around training educators to be in Title I (low income) school positions and many educators agree that apprenticeship is the best way.) Many other Title I schools in the city have Principals who fund arts, theater, technology, environmental, etc...programs by writing grants, whereas the current Woodlawn Principal is doing no such thing (nor showing any signs of being able to accomplish any such task). Schools nearby have been able to make some amazing strides - their Principals understand that the arts, physical education and citizenship development are very important things to develop in this community. Many of their Principals have gone above and beyond to fulfill requirements for International Baccalaureate status at these schools. This kind of care and change can happen at Woodlawn too, if enough parents speak out.
It is the Principal that creates the culture of the school and while the parents, teachers, staff and neighborhood members are doing so much - we really need the district to step up and give us a leader, meaning a Principal who firstly has a VISION for where the school is going, who has a VISION around which (s)he can build a school culture and create goals to move towards. Raising test scores is not a vision and it is doing nothing to enhance the quality of the school, nor is it putting the kids first. A leader is willing to work with families at the school as well as the entire community, interact pleasantly and in a timely manner with community partners, write grants for the portion of funding that is the responsibility of the school/Principal's vision and make sure that every action and comment is in service to the children.
So, what we have here is a pretty beautiful neighborhood, with a pretty beautiful school that has a whole lot of potential and a whole lot of community members working to manifest that potential. It's a work in progress...and I can only hope that in the next year or two, some real change can be made here - that benefits all of these children, brings art, music, gardening and community into the school and raises up our ability to create true citizens of the world.

Is there any new info? Squidmother, how is your placement going?

Anyone have recent experiences with this school? We just got a special ed placement there for next year so I am curious to know more about it.

Is the parent involvement still chugging along? How about science and art and music?

Sarah,
I recieved a call from Melinda at Woodlawn. What you heard is true. There will be a new principal next year and there is indeed a meeting next Wed. to gain parent input on what parents want in a new principal. I also discussed PTA with Melinda. The next PTA meeting is May 20 6-7pm (PTA elections). I plan to attend both meetings (next Wed and May 20). I hope to see you there.

I just heard that Woodlawn is getting a new principal for 2010-2011 and that there is a meeting next week about the search for a new principal(Wednesday April 28th 6:30). Can anyone confirm or expand on this?

There are a lot of neighborhood families that would love to be involved in Woodlawn School in some way. I would also love PTA information.

Questions about Woodlawn PTA. We're sending our daughter to Woodlawn this fall (KG) and would like to get involved with Woodlawn PTA. I've called the school and left a message with Melinda, but have not recieved a response. Does anyone have recent experience with Woodlawn PTA and could provide contact information?

Thanks.

Sarah, yes I'm interested in meeting up at the park. My daughter will be joining the Pre-K class in the fall. Are you still reading this thread?
Julie

Any Woodlawn parents with preK and or Kg age kids want to plan some informal times to meet at Woodlawn Park or Woodlawn School's playground this summer?

Woodlawn's open house is Wed March 4 at 1pm. Hope to see lots of new faces there.

Thank you piedmontparent!

Nic,
Woodlawn has an active PTA and a parent involvement coordinator who organizes a Parent Coffee once or twice a month and helps parents get connected to volunteer opportunities at the school. I think her name is Melinda, and you can reach her by calling the school, 503-916-6282. I've done some volunteering at the school for the SMART program and SUN program, and we're thinking of sending our child there in the fall for 1st grade. Feel free to contact me if at Piedmontparent [at} ymail.com if you want to talk more.

There is a community listserve for Woodlawn and the other schools in the Jefferson cluster. To join you send an email to GetInvolvedWithJeffSchools-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

You may also be able to connect with other parents in the neighborhood through www.portland.brightneighbor.com which was featured in The Oregonian a few days ago.

Good luck with your decision!

I'm considering Woodlawn (our neighborhood school) for Kindergarten in the fall. Anyone have any comments? Anybody out there doing the same? What's parent involvement like there?