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900 Portland Public Schools students still haven't returned to in-person classrooms following storm damage

On Tuesday, Jan. 30, Markham Elementary School students will temporarily be assigned to one of four elementary schools, as the building undergoes storm repairs.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Due to extensive winter storm damage, students at Robert Gray Middle School will be temporarily relocated to Jackson Middle School, Portland Public Schools (PPS) announced in a statement Thursday. The new change is expected to take effect on Tuesday, Jan. 30.

The school district also announced plans for Markham Elementary School, Kelly Center, and Forest Park Elementary students which are all undergoing repairs following storm damage. 

The school district said all school buildings will not be usable until the middle of February.

"Our focus has been two-fold: to relocate students to one of our existing school buildings, or if necessary, relocate to a third-party site," said PPS Chief of Staff Jonathan Garcia.

The school district said they are trying to keep students in buildings close to their schools, though they added that school bodies may be split up to accommodate all students. Some non-classrooms may also temporarily be converted into classrooms.

"We agree with our parents and educators' concern that online learning cannot replace in-person learning," Garcia said.

Meanwhile, Robert Gray students have been learning asynchronously all week, which means students have a certain amount of online assignments to complete each day, depending on the class. Elementary schoolers at Markham began asynchronous learning Wednesday, parents said.

"This school year's been a disaster," said Jennifer Crow, a parent of a Markham first grader. 

On Thursday, PPS announced in a statement to parents when Markham students will return to in-person learning. The district stated that student will begin in-person learning on Jan. 30.

Each student will be assigned to one of the following schools: Capitol Hill, Hayhurst, Maplewood, or Reike elementary. PPS also says, Jackson Middle School will serve as a transportation hub. This will offer families the option of dropping off and picking up their students at Jackson each day.

The district says, each grade level is split into three classes, during this temporary relocation period for students, three classes will be combined into two. This means that there will be two teachers assigned to each grade and one floating teacher whose class will be split into the two main classes. Splitting teachers will communicate with families directly about which teacher their children will report to on Jan. 30. 

"Continuing interruption is really challenging," said Rachel Dvorsky, the parent of a Robert Gray middle schooler, on Wednesday.

Dvorsky said it's also taking the district too long to find a new building for students.

"Things happen to buildings, and it would be nice to just see PPS have some framework," Dvorsky said.

Parents also said a lack of communication from PPS has been frustrating.

"I wonder about it because it's not at all clear," said Robert Crow, Jennifer's husband.

While some parents continue to wait, they are also becoming increasingly worried about the time of missed school. 

"She wants to be at Markham, and we want her to be at Markham," Jennifer Crow said. "But we need her to be educated."

Other PPS learning centers will also be temporarily relocated during storm repairs. Head start students at the Kelly Center will be assigned to either Kelly, Whitman or Woodmere elementary. The district also confirmed that head start students will start this transition on Jan. 30. 

As for Forest Park students starting Jan. 30, PPS says those students will be using eight portable classrooms for in-person learning. Students will alternate between two days of in-person learning and two days of remote learning, according to the district in a statement

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