Portland School Board OKs New Hip-Hop High School 12/17/09

By The Associated Press
Portland, OR

The Portland School Board has given its blessing to establishing a new charter high school in 2011 that highlights hip-hop music and culture.

Proponents of the High School for Recording Arts Portland will spend the next 18 months strengthening their academic curriculum.

The school board vote was 6-0 Monday night. While several board members said they had concerns about the school’s academic curriculum, they also said they appreciated the school’s potential to draw students who aren’t being served in the current system.

The new school’s director, Erica Jayasuriya, said its mission is to prepare students to be successful in society while engaging them through the recording arts that include hip-hop music, dance, spoken word and art.

The new school aims to serve about 200 students.

“When we started this process, I had mixed feelings about this application,” said Bobbie Regan, who chairs the board’s charter school committee. “As time has gone on, I’ve come around, in part because the applicant has been so willing to work with us.”

Charter schools are part of Oregon’s public school system, but they operate under different regulations that typically support more flexible ways of learning.

School district staff reviewers praised the charter school’s plans for proficiency-based and career-focused education. Students will be required to complete projects for credit and work under personalized learning plans. The reviewers also liked the school’s idea of creating 12 areas in which students must show proficiency to graduate.

However, board members wanted to see specifically how those areas of proficiency connect to Oregon state standards. All board members said they were concerned about the low achievement scores posted by the High School for Recording Arts Minnesota, a 12-year-old charter school in St. Paul, Minn., that is sharing some of its strategies with the Portland school.

The next step is for the district and the school’s developers to start meeting to create a formal contract outlining expectations for academics, funding, enrollment and progress reports.

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.