In the last decade, the Sellwood-Moreland neighborhood has seen huge growth in families with young children. Though most of our neighborhood is thriving, Llewellyn Elementary School has more students than the building can hold. This school year we have 547 children attending; our buildings, even with three portable classrooms, have a planned capacity of only 475 students. By mid-March, kindergarten enrollment forms for next year already total 88, so it is likely that the 2012-2013 kindergarten class will be at least as large as this year’s class of 104. If more than 100 kindergarteners enter and only 61 fifth graders move on to middle school, crowding will be even worse next year.
On February 22, 2012, PPS presented Llewellyn parents with four options to ease overcrowding in the 2012-2013 academic year:
• Move the computer lab to create one additional classroom
• Move the SPED focus classroom to another site to create two offices
• Move equipment (e.g. copiers, laminator) to create office space
• Reduce the number of sections at one or more grade levels
As a community we support all of these proposals except for reducing the number of sections which would lead to an undesirable, and unnecessary, increase in class size. Even if all of the solutions we support are implemented, we remain short one academic classroom for 2012-2013 and Llewellyn will have no alternative but to use the option we do not support-increasing the number of students in some classes.
We also request that PPS work with us to meet the following objectives before the start of the 2012-13 school year.
• Provide enough academic classroom space to prevent an increase in class size
• Provide suitable space for key programs including music, PE, library, computers, and art.
• Provide office space that is quiet and private for support services including counseling, school nurse, speech therapy, psychologist, ESL, and special education.
• Constructively engage with the Llewellyn community to evaluate the strategies produced by the Llewellyn Overcrowding Workgroup.
The workgroup has investigated several proposals to relieve overcrowding and maintain current class sizes; these will be finalized and presented to PPS in early April after gathering additional community input. We request that the District not only evaluate each alternative solution, but also provide an opportunity for our community to work in partnership to overcome any financial or administrative barriers to these or similar solutions.
We love our school and our community; we urge you to work with us to create solutions that will allow our school and children to thrive.
Updates
April 3, 2012
I have spent the last few days meeting with other parents who are just as worried as I am about our kids losing their learning spaces. Walking through these halls and seeing the portable classrooms pushed to their absolute limits proves that we cannot wait for the district to act on their own.
April 3, 2012
Seeing this kind of momentum confirms that I am not the only parent worried about whether our kids will have enough room to learn. It is clear that the district cannot keep ignoring the reality inside these hallways.
Reached 100 supporters
April 3, 2012
6 Comments
My kids have been in portables for two years. Its not fair to lose the computer lab just because the district cant plan ahead.
547 kids in a building built for 475? That is just unsafe. PPS needs to wake up and start building.
STOP THE PORTABLES. They are cold and disconnected from the rest of the school. My daughter is freezing every winter.
We need a real solution not just shuffling rooms around. This is our neighborhood school!
So many families moving into Sellwood and nowhere for the kids to go. Total lack of foresight from the district.
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In the last decade, the Sellwood-Moreland neighborhood has seen huge growth in families with young children. Though most of our neighborhood is thriving, Llewellyn Elementary School has more students than the building can hold. This school year we have 547 children attending; our buildings, even with three portable classrooms, have a planned capacity of only 475 students. By mid-March, kindergarten enrollment forms for next year already total 88, so it is likely that the 2012-2013 kindergarten class will be at least as large as this year’s class of 104. If more than 100 kindergarteners enter and only 61 fifth graders move on to middle school, crowding will be even worse next year.
On February 22, 2012, PPS presented Llewellyn parents with four options to ease overcrowding in the 2012-2013 academic year:
• Move the computer lab to create one additional classroom
• Move the SPED focus classroom to another site to create two offices
• Move equipment (e.g. copiers, laminator) to create office space
• Reduce the number of sections at one or more grade levels
As a community we support all of these proposals except for reducing the number of sections which would lead to an undesirable, and unnecessary, increase in class size. Even if all of the solutions we support are implemented, we remain short one academic classroom for 2012-2013 and Llewellyn will have no alternative but to use the option we do not support-increasing the number of students in some classes.
We also request that PPS work with us to meet the following objectives before the start of the 2012-13 school year.
• Provide enough academic classroom space to prevent an increase in class size
• Provide suitable space for key programs including music, PE, library, computers, and art.
• Provide office space that is quiet and private for support services including counseling, school nurse, speech therapy, psychologist, ESL, and special education.
• Constructively engage with the Llewellyn community to evaluate the strategies produced by the Llewellyn Overcrowding Workgroup.
The workgroup has investigated several proposals to relieve overcrowding and maintain current class sizes; these will be finalized and presented to PPS in early April after gathering additional community input. We request that the District not only evaluate each alternative solution, but also provide an opportunity for our community to work in partnership to overcome any financial or administrative barriers to these or similar solutions.
We love our school and our community; we urge you to work with us to create solutions that will allow our school and children to thrive.
Updates
April 3, 2012
I have spent the last few days meeting with other parents who are just as worried as I am about our kids losing their learning spaces. Walking through these halls and seeing the portable classrooms pushed to their absolute limits proves that we cannot wait for the district to act on their own.
April 3, 2012
Seeing this kind of momentum confirms that I am not the only parent worried about whether our kids will have enough room to learn. It is clear that the district cannot keep ignoring the reality inside these hallways.
Reached 100 supporters
April 3, 2012
6 Comments
The hallways are a disaster. You can barely walk through them during passing time. Fix this now.
My kids have been in portables for two years. Its not fair to lose the computer lab just because the district cant plan ahead.
547 kids in a building built for 475? That is just unsafe. PPS needs to wake up and start building.
STOP THE PORTABLES. They are cold and disconnected from the rest of the school. My daughter is freezing every winter.
We need a real solution not just shuffling rooms around. This is our neighborhood school!
So many families moving into Sellwood and nowhere for the kids to go. Total lack of foresight from the district.
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The hallways are a disaster. You can barely walk through them during passing time. Fix this now.