The Neighborhood Schools Alliance is a diverse group of parents, teachers, students, and community members from all areas of Portland, Oregon working together to support and strengthen our neighborhood schools. Our goals include:
- Serve as a watchdog to PPS/School Board, demanding transparency in decision making
- Raise community awareness and involvement in PPS decisions regarding the Jeff cluster
- Increase public awareness about future school closures and the sale/development of closed schools
- Connect with other community organizations and individuals concerned about the fate of Portland’s crown jewels, our neighborhood schools
- Gather community input on ways to support and strengthen neighborhood schools and quality education in ALL parts of Portland. (Mission and Goals).
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Contact: by e-mail, by our yahoo group.
About: NSA was founded at a community meeting at King Elementary in NE Portland School on March 9, 2005.
By the end of the month, we had turned out in force at Portland School Board meetings and helped build a new, diverse coalition of community members in opposition to the Superintendent’s top-down proposals. While we were not successful in preventing the short-sighted school closures, we did help slow down the District’s « runaway train » forcing changes on the Jefferson Cluster.
Since then, we have continued to « watchdog » the District by attending meetings, testifying to the School Board, issuing press releases and getting our views heard as best we can.
Through meetings, phone calls, emails, testimony, rallies, and sign making parties; at each others’ homes, in the schools, and on the streets; the moms, dads, teachers, students, and elders in NSA have gotten to know each other across barriers of race, income, class, and neighborhood. We have forged bonds of friendship and solidarity and resolve, all across Portland, to work together to fight injustice and inequity in our schools.
See in the right column of any page:
- What’s happening in your neighborhood school? What PPS issues are you concerned about? Please join the discussion! We welcome your blog posts and comments, but due to recent spamming by « spambots, » new users must be approved before posting content, so that we know you are a real person. Go here to register. E-mail us with your ideas, questions, and feedback. Note: All blog entries and comments reflect the opinions of the person posting and do not necessarily reflect the views of Neighborhood Schools Alliance.