On Jan. 13, the Portland Public Schools (PPS) school board voted unanimously to end a policy allowing students who live in Jefferson High School’s catchment area to attend McDaniel, Grant or Roosevelt instead of Jefferson. The board then adopted Superintendent Kimberlee Armstrong’s proposal for new zones to increase Jefferson enrollment to 1,100 students or more by the 2030-2031 school year. The zones will change in fall 2027, first affecting students who are currently in seventh grade.
Jefferson was considered a focus-option high school because it allowed students to dual enroll at Portland Community College for college credit. Jefferson principal Drake Shelton explained that as an option school, some students in defined “dual assignment zones” were able to choose to attend a high school other than Jefferson.
Shelton said that “instead of increasing the enrollment, [the dual assignment zone] decreased it.”
Jefferson currently has approximately 400 students, while the district’s other high schools each have more than 1,000. Low enrollment leads to less funding and fewer educational programs being offered at Jefferson.
The school board weighed two other scenarios for the new zoning plans. Scenario A would have sent Beach Elementary School’s Spanish dual immersion program to Roosevelt, while all other feeder schools would go to Jefferson. Scenario B would have sent both Beach and Peninsula Elementary School students to Roosevelt and the remaining feeders to Jefferson. The adopted Scenario C zones Beach and Peninsula to Roosevelt, Irvington Elementary School to Grant and all other feeders to Jefferson.
PPS board student representative Ian Ritorto said that in the hundreds of emails he received from community members, an overwhelming majority of students supported Scenario B because it maximized Jefferson enrollment without significantly reducing another school’s student count.
“Many in the community viewed Scenario B as a sort of reparations for Jefferson, which had been critically under-enrolled for years and years,” Ritorto said. “I was disappointed that the board did not end up taking the student representatives’ recommendation into account.”
Principal Shelton believes Jefferson will be able to offer more programs, such as Advanced Placement (AP) and Career and Technical Education (CTE) classes, as enrollment rises.
“We also will be continuing our partnership with Portland Community College with the growth of enrollment,” Shelton said.
Increased enrollment at Jefferson would change the racial makeup of the school. Jefferson is currently 47% Black or Native American students, but the adopted proposal predicts that this number will drop to 26%.
Jefferson seniors and district student council representatives Brian Nguyen and Taliyah Pratt hope that Jefferson can maintain its unique culture.
“We’re trying to preserve old murals and bring those over to our new school, especially since they have a lot of Black and multicultural themes inside of them,” Pratt said.
They also aim to keep the Jefferson community feeling intimate and close-knit.
“A lot of incoming students are going to feel displaced,” Nguyen said. “We’re trying to figure out ways on how to make incoming students feel comfortable in our school environment.”