12 Public Schools in Oregon Placed on Safety ‘Watch List’

By CHARLES E. BEGGS, Associated Press writer

SALEM, Ore. State education officials have put 12 public schools on an annual safety “watch list” because of their rate of students expelled for violence, having weapons or illegal drug involvement.

Six of the schools are in the Salem area.

State Schools Superintendent Susan Castillo said Wednesday that districts with schools on the list are required to file a plan of correction with the state Education Department, under requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Nine schools are on the list for the first time, and three for a second consecutive year.

Meanwhile, the department released a second report required under the federal law, showing that most school districts have not met targets for teaching English to non-English speaking students.

A school that makes the safety “watch list” for three years in a row is designated as “persistently dangerous,” which means the district must allow students to go to different schools and provide transportation for students choosing to transfer.

Only one Oregon school, the now-closed Vocational Village in Portland, has received the persistently dangerous designation.

Different approaches

Schools on the list for the second consecutive year are Parrish Middle School in Salem, Fleming Middle School and Lincoln Savage Middle School in the Three Rivers School District in Josephine County.

The Salem-Keizer School District, the state’s second-largest with about 39,000 students, has six schools on the list.

“We are very committed to student safety,” said district spokesman Jay Remy.

“We are very rigorous in enforcing safety and conduct standards in our schools. If we are on the watch list, so be it,” Remy said.

Remy noted that school districts deal with student misbehavior differently.

The process itself has come under some criticism nationally because states themselves set the standards that determine how many schools end up on the list.

In Oregon, a school with fewer than 500 students is placed on the watch list for five expulsions in a school year. For bigger schools, one expulsion for each 100 students or fraction thereof puts the school on the list.

Remy said most expulsions are for violent behavior, followed by possession of knives. Students also can be expelled if they are arrested for certain crimes such as assault, robbery or delivery of illegal drugs at school or at school events off campus.

The department said it will review the two districts’ corrective plans for dealing with safety problems.

Five of the schools put on the list for the first time this year are in the Salem-Keizer School District: Claggett Creek Middle School, McKay High School, South Salem High School, Stephens Middle School and the Structured Learning Center.

The other schools on the list for the first time are in Portland Ockley Green Middle School, Pursuit of Wellness Education Roosevelt Campus, School of Pride Jefferson Campus and Spanish-English International School Roosevelt Campus.

The report on English instruction for non-English speaking students is the first one required by the federal law.

“We have more work to do in teaching English,” Castillo said.