Portland residents in support of our neighborhood schools and a new Hall School building.

We are Portland residents advocating for our neighborhood schools and voicing our opposition to the proposal to close Hall and Longfellow Schools and consolidate the two school districts into one large district school at an undetermined location. Neighborhood schools are an essential component of sustainable, healthy, walkable communities and help to make Portland a vibrant and livable city. Smaller, walkable schools also result in better health and educational outcomes for our students. We believe strongly that our children's educational needs will not be met in a suburban-style, auto-oriented school of 700-800 students. We agree with educators that a school building should ideally be a place where the staff can see each other and communicate on a daily basis, where administrators and support staff are able to know children and families well enough to meet their needs, and where children have the opportunity to gather in reasonable and safe numbers. That dynamic is currently present in our existing neighborhood schools; we advocate strongly to keep Longfellow and Hall at their current size and in their current locations. We support the School District moving forward immediately with the plans to rebuild Hall School at its current size and location and urge the School District to demonstrate patience as the State considers future funding for renovations at Longfellow School and our other elementary schools.