Madison High math team improving scores
A student works on a math assignment in this file photo. Teachers who took a union survey reported that their classrooms are unsafe. ( Stephanie Yao Long/The Oregonian)
(Stephanie Yao Long)
About 34 percent of Portland teachers who took a recent survey feel their school environment is unsafe, according to the Portland Association of Teachers union.
The union presented key survey results to the school board at its Tuesday night meeting. About 1,000 of the union's members responded to the survey, which was distributed online this spring.
Suzanne Cohen, union vice-president, said the survey was in light of an increase in reports of teacher injuries and organized by a union committee.
The survey's main conclusions were that the district was not effectively implementing new discipline practices and failing to provide adequate special education services, Cohen said.
Superintendent Carole Smith has named reducing exclusionary discipline, or the number of suspensions and expulsions, as one of the district's key priorities. The goal is reduce overall exclusionary discipline by 50 percent and disproportionate discipline by 50 percent by June 2016.
A presentation to the board Aug. 25 showed that the percentage of students who were excluded from school has dropped from 7.2 percent in 2008 to 2009 to 2.4 percent last year. Disproportionately has also decreased. Racially historically underserved students were about 2.9 times more likely to be excluded than white students in 2012-2013 and 2.6 times more likely last year.
The district is implementing positive behavior supports, culturally responsive teaching and restorative justice programs to reduce rates. The district focused on 12 schools last year, which saw the percentage of students excluded at least once drop from 9 percent to 4 percent over a two year span.
However about half of teachers said they didn't feel the district clearly communicated policies and procedures for student conduct, according to the survey. About 42 percent of teachers who took the survey said they did not know if their school had a written building discipline plan and 20 percent said their school did not have one.
Another 47 percent of respondents said they didn't think think consequences for student behavior fit policies and said they do not get timely feedback or follow up to disciplinary referrals.
The survey also asked teachers about special education services. About 70 percent of respondents said they feel special education supports are not adequately addressing unsafe classroom behaviors.
Specifically the district did not provide extra support to implement a plan to integrate special education students into general education classes, Cohen said.
Multiple teachers spoke at the board meeting about how the changes have caused safety concerns. While at George Middle School, teacher Diana Collins said better documentation and additional resources could have helped an aggressive student change behavior.
Teachers and the union are on board with the district's goals but want the process to be collaborative, Cohen said.
"We share the vision," she said. "We think it should be done at the ground level with teacher input. We just really want to do it right."
Cohen said further results from the survey would be released at a later time.
--Laura Frazier
lfrazier@oregonian.com
503-294-4035
@frazier_laura