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An 11th-hour Portland Public Schools Board resolution to prioritize seismic safety in the district’s $1.83 billion bond may have helped it find success among Portland voters, as parents whose children attend school in dangerous brick buildings rallied behind the tax measure.
Now, in its first update to the School Board as required by that resolution, PPS officials presented a working draft of how they plan to determine which schools will be first in line for improvements. The algorithm would rate buildings both by an objective, data-driven “seismic risk score” and PPS criteria that inform an “importance score.”
The June 3 memo updates School Board members on the district’s progress on three key steps. Those comprise working with a structural engineering consultant to complete a high-level assessment report, a process the district has completed (producing a study of high-risk buildings); using that engineering firm to develop priority recommendations, which the district has been working on since late 2024; and ultimately evaluating those recommendations through PPS’s priority criteria, a step still to be completed.
In its current step, Stormy Shanks, PPS’s senior director of the Office of School Modernization, wrote the engineering firm is considering criteria that are “technical in nature and are calculated according to [Federal Emergency Management Agency] and American Society of Structural Engineers standards.” The building’s risk score is determined by the year it was built and type of construction, alongside individual building factors, Shanks said at a Friday afternoon meeting of the School Board’s School Facilities Improvement Oversight Committee.
Shanks adds that other criteria come from PPS at this step, including general occupancy enrollment, which spaces are affected, and whether the school is Title I. Shanks said this process is expected to produce a report by July.
It is not immediately clear how each category will be weighted.
“While the recommendations from phases one and two will provide a strong data-driven foundation, PPS will need to consider additional factors outside the engineers’ scope,” Shanks wrote. “These include anticipated impacts of potential school consolidation, the feasibility and consequences of multisummer construction schedules, and potential disruptions to ongoing programs such as summer school.”
She added: “This internal evaluation will ensure that project decisions align with both operational realities and districtwide educational goals.”
A chart attached to the district’s memo also notes the district will consider “value for money” as part of its building process, but not as part of its prioritization process. Variables it will consider in this category include low-cost and high-safety return, and whether there’s an opportunity to “coordinate” seismic and roof upgrades at any site.
A focus on seismic upgrades came about in part because of a WW story in March that revealed the high-level assessment report and described how 19 unreinforced masonry schools could collapse on students even during a moderate earthquake ("Shake Shacks," March 26). In the weeks leading up to the May election, parents rallied to ensure those repairs would be addressed by the bond, and ultimately endorsed it after School Board members approved the seismic resolution.
Bimonthly updates will be shared with the public and School Board through the improvement oversight committee. Until today, that group had not met in many months and was formerly chaired by School Board member Andrew Scott, who has since left the board. Its current members include Eddie Wang, School Board chair, and outgoing School Board members Julia Brim-Edwards and Herman Greene.
Shanks said her office is currently in the process of developing a bond execution plan for all the major capital projects. Members of this committee pledged to stay engaged as the district moves from determining prioritization to executing projects.