News The Portland School Board voted 5-1 last night to approve a new, two-year agreement with the district's teachers union, the Portland Association of Teachers. Board member Martín González was the lone "no" vote. But board colleague Trudy Sargent, who missed the last-minute meeting due to prior travel plans, sent a 3 1/2-page written statement explaining why she would have voted "no," too.   Following ...   More

News Another week, another round of substantial donations to the campaign for Portland Public Schools' $548 million construction bond on the May 17 ballot. On Jan. 7, Stacy and Witbeck, the construction firm specializing in public-transit projects, gave $25,000 to the Portlanders for Schools political action committee. The Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters gave $10,000 to the PAC. ...   More

News Several hundred Portland Public Schools teachers gathered outside Monday night's school board meeting to protest contract talks that have dragged on since before June 2008, when the teachers' contract expired. Their chanting outside delayed the meeting's start time — then threatened to overpower the opening minutes. As school board chairwoman Trudy Sargent pounded the gavel to start the ...   More

News Portland Public Schools board member Trudy Sargent just sent out this email to report that the school district has told a state mediator that its negotiations with the teachers union have reached an impasse. The 3,200-member Portland Association of Teachers has been working without a new contract for more than 19 months, and obviously has been unhappy over that state of affairs. Negotiations ...   More

News Trudy Sargent, co-chairwoman of the Portland School Board, said at a board meeting this afternoon that she didn't support Superintendent Carole Smith's proposal for reforming Portland's high schools and instead favors a huge change for Jefferson High School. The superintendent's plan calls for shrinking Benson Polytechnic High's student population from 1,000 to 400 and reinventing the three ...   More