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To end 2025, we assigned each reporter in the WW newsroom to pick two stories by a colleague that stood out in 2025. We then had the recipient of the compliment pass it on—but not before penning an update to the tales. Here’s the first of these stories.
“Choosy Moms Choose Jeff”
Dec. 10
Why Anthony Effinger loved it: I live in Alameda, and my kids are in college, so Portland Public Schools’ boundary changes won’t affect us. But I see my neighbor, who has a daughter at Sabin Elementary, struggling over what to do. Is she a racist if she doesn’t send her daughter to Jefferson? Should she send her daughter to Jeff, even though it has a less robust curriculum, just to demonstrate a commitment to liberal ideals?
There is perhaps no topic we cover that affects parents so directly as education. Stir in some questions about race and privilege, and you have a combustible brew, as recent School Board meetings have shown.
What makes this story great is that Joanna didn’t shrink from any aspect of the debate, no matter how sensitive and triggering it might be. It would be much easier to write about Jefferson’s fate without mentioning race, but Joanna met the matter head on.
Killer detail: The quotes in this story are probably the best any of us have gotten all year. That’s a testament to the massive number of interviews Joanna did. Here is my favorite:
“There are lots of ways to battle racism,” says Denise Bilbao, a single mom and full-time physician. “Is my kid’s education the way I want to do that? It isn’t. It’s the thing I value most in life that I want to leave the least to chance. Is it my job to throw my kids in there and let them flounder? I just don’t feel that obligation.”
Joanna Hou on what’s happened since: The Portland School Board is set to vote in January whether to move forward with ending dual assignment, the practice that allows students living in Jefferson’s boundary to choose another high school. Portland Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kimberlee Armstrong has spent the past couple of weeks lobbying board members to adopt her preferred scenario, which doesn’t appear to mollify any of the most zealous parent groups. At a Dec. 17 meeting, School Board members gave no indication they’d deviate from Armstrong’s recommendation. Instead, board member Christy Splitt is at work on an amendment that would hold the district to its promises of scaling up academic, athletic and extracurricular offerings at Jefferson to match the district’s other high schools. That comes in response to concerns from parents on both sides of the divide. The amendment would “make sure that we not just plan for, but actually implement [equitable offerings],” Splitt said at the meeting.
