Roux Institute Campus Development | Portland

IMG_2004.jpeg
IMG_2005.jpeg

View down Ocean Ave!
 
The intersection of Ocean and Washington Ave. I was there yesterday and saw this perspective--it's hugely impressive. It reminds me of driving in Boston, when you turn a corner to see a prominent building in your face. If this main structure had been built to the original height proposal (16 stories?), some of the old timers would have had heart attacks. The site is now sprawling and busy with construction activity. Roux will change Portland, dramatically.
 
And when Roux gets humming along with its one day projection of 8,000 students, and half of them are from out of the country (as is the current demographic), this new resident/student dynamic and the fact that close to 70% of Portland's public school (grammar) kids speak a language other than English as their primary one, will create change, change, and change to Portland's culture. Like I said, Fitch Bronson, fiddleheads, ice cream, pizza, and craft beer consumption will be dramatically reduced and replaced with perhaps some far out and bizarre offerings. Facts and trends are fun to play around with because they represent truths, and so not knee-jerk feelings.
 
Last edited:
TC_zoid said:
the fact that close to 70% of Portland's public school (grammar) kids speak a language other than English as their primary one,
Click to expand...
I’m curious about this stat. I found an article from 10/24 that puts the number of “multilingual learners” in Portland at 2000. It doesn’t specify whether that’s k-8 or k-12 or even k through college but let’s pretend it’s k-8.

According to PPS, 4384 students are enrolled in elementary and middle school.
https://www.portlandschools.org/about/fast-facts

So, even if all 2000 multilingual learners were clustered in elementary and middle school, that would only be 45.6% of students.

Where did you see, or how did you arrive at 70% of grammar school kids in the PPS system speaking a language other than English as their primary language?
 
Tom Nevers said:
I’m curious about this stat. I found an article from 10/24 that puts the number of “multilingual learners” in Portland at 2000. It doesn’t specify whether that’s k-8 or k-12 or even k through college but let’s pretend it’s k-8.

According to PPS, 4384 students are enrolled in elementary and middle school.
https://www.portlandschools.org/about/fast-facts

So, even if all 2000 multilingual learners were clustered in elementary and middle school, that would only be 45.6% of students.

Where did you see, or how did you arrive at 70% of grammar school kids in the PPS system speaking a language other than English as their primary language?
Click to expand...
2-3 years ago the PPH had a story quoting a teacher at I believe King Middle School indicating it was about 60% of school students enrolled with a language other than English as their native one. So, I guess it was middle, not grammar, though the representation is probably close. The story was discussing the challenges for teachers with language assimilation. The better idea is to give students a year of intense learning to primarily focus on reading and writing English, then immerse them with the other students after. A class of 12 and 13 year old students speaking multiple languages in the same setting does not work. I'm merely assuming the number has gone up to maybe 70 percent? Seems plausible. This is all only observation and curiosity from me, not judgment. Personally, I believe that Portland is now a better city with its new resident makeup. And as I've said, the types of people in a city determine its architectural needs and styles. Office buildings are kind of out now (though schools are in demand) and mid-rise residential is in, along with a variety of designed hotels for visitors.
 
Last edited:
TC_zoid said:
Facts and trends are fun to play around with because they represent truths, and so not knee-jerk feelings.
Click to expand...

Please take this in the spirit of some good-natured ribbing, but it seems to me that someone is just making up numbers based on some knee-jerk feelings?

Google "portland public schools language demographics", ignore the AI slop at the top of the results, and you'll find this in about 5 seconds:
https://www.portlandschools.org/department/mlc

"Currently, the district has over 2,300 students who come from homes where over 60 different languages are spoken. These students represent about 34% of Portland Public Schools’ total enrollment. Over 1,400 (20%) of these students are identified as English Language Learners."

In other words, 14% of the student body speaks a different language at home but speaks English proficiently at school, and another 20% are learning English.

Also bear in mind that kids are fast learners, so even with immigration, there's a constant flow of kids from the ELL program who then become proficient at English in a year or two.
 
cneal said:
Please take this in the spirit of some good-natured ribbing, but it seems to me that someone is just making up numbers based on some knee-jerk feelings?

Google "portland public schools language demographics", ignore the AI slop at the top of the results, and you'll find this in about 5 seconds:
https://www.portlandschools.org/department/mlc

"Currently, the district has over 2,300 students who come from homes where over 60 different languages are spoken. These students represent about 34% of Portland Public Schools’ total enrollment. Over 1,400 (20%) of these students are identified as English Language Learners."

In other words, 14% of the student body speaks a different language at home but speaks English proficiently at school, and another 20% are learning English.

Also bear in mind that kids are fast learners, so even with immigration, there's a constant flow of kids from the ELL program who then become proficient at English in a year or two.
Click to expand...
You did not read my last post--only enough for a knee-jerk reaction. I indicated King Middle School. I had read a story in the PPH a while back (few on this blog subscribe) profiling a teacher who had to take the lead on this for King. She quoted the 60% figure for the school--at that time. Obviously, it will vary from school year to school year depending on how many non-English speakers are enrolled. Yes? And King does not represent all of the public schools in Portland for that wider derived figure you referenced. Public school student enrollments are comprised of students in nearby neighborhoods (in theory), so Reiche in the West End has that neighborhood to draw from (fewer immigrants). Here's some fun: a few years back, my alma mater, Thornton Academy with its 300 plus foreign students, had over half that were Chinese. People in town complained, and so it's been changed to I think around one-fourth now, with the remaining from an even greater nation representation (their rich). They too are nearly all speaking a native language other than English. The tuition, room and board at TA for this program is now $88,000 per year. I inquired for a Swiss friend's 15-year-old daughter. He and I nixed that.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top