The dilemma of underfunding schools

Carla Axtman

I don't know what the answer is, but this is situation at the Arts & Communication Magnet Academy in Beaverton is seriously unacceptable:

Wendy Owen, The Oregonian:

“We’re a 60-year-old building that was made for 500 elementary students,” said Jon Gottshall, art teacher.

ACMA, with 715 students, lacks a cafeteria and kids take their food into the halls and sit on the floors to eat. The noise is so great at times that the teachers said it disrupts their instruction and they have to step into the hall and ask the students to be quiet. The grade 6-12 school has no lockers and the kids bring their backpacks and coats into the already cramped classrooms, creating tripping hazards.

“Backpacks litter the floor,” said language arts teacher Brooke Warren. “The issue of space is outrageous.”

Warren said a student in her class tripped on a backpack and had to get stitches to close a gash on his head.

Because the school has eight portable classrooms, the exterior doors remain unlocked and Warren said she worries about strangers entering the school.

Warren said her classroom is near the playground and basketballs and soccer balls hit her windows while she’s trying to teach, distracting students. A soccer ball recently broke through a window and glass shattered halfway across the classroom. The students were at lunch at the time.

Science teacher Stephen Hammond described his chemistry room as having a single exhaust hood, no room to seat his 40 students at three fixed tables without placing some at the ends where the sinks are located. Another science room lacks ventilation, which makes it especially difficult when the students dissect rats. The teacher uses fans to help move the air. A third science classroom has a single sink and it’s at kindergarten height.

Gottshall said he has no storage in his room for artwork and students preparing ceramic projects for an upcoming competition can create only small pieces of art as a result. In addition, he said, the boys have no locker room and must change their clothes for dance class in the general bathroom.

Schools have been underfunded in Oregon for so long, now we're finding ourselves with some schools in a complete state of disrepair or with unacceptable conditions. It's crazy to be shoehorning over 700 students into a campus meant to hold 500. School budgets are not my main area of expertise, so perhaps others know what's best here. That said, I don't know how any school can be expected to have reasonable academic performance under these conditions. This is absurd.

By Carla Axtman Nov. 14, 2013