OPB’s First Look: The small school downtown

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Good morning, Northwest.

The Metropolitan Learning Center is the only K-12 school in Oregon’s largest school district. Earlier this year, its high school nearly closed.

Staff and students rallied to keep it open, and Portland Public Schools committed to boosting enrollment there. OPB’s Elizabeth Miller reports on how the small school downtown is betting on its brand of alternative education to secure its future.

In other news, Oregon plans to dedicate more staff to fighting corporate mergers and monopolies.

Here’s your First Look at Thursday’s news.

— Bradley W. Parks

Top story

Portland’s Metropolitan Learning Center makes its case for K-12 alternative education

At the beginning of February, Portland’s K-12 alternative Metropolitan Learning Center was set to close its high school.

The school community felt blindsided.

“The way they rolled it out was really, I will say, harmful to families, and so the reaction was very strong,” said Liz Buelow, who teaches English to students in grades seven through 12. “Students were very upset, but we tried to turn it into something good.”

Buelow, another staff member and a group of students campaigned to keep the school open.

Less than a month after announcing the plan to shut down the small high school program, Portland Public Schools reversed course and committed to supporting efforts to increase enrollment. (Elizabeth Miller)

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3 things to know

• The Trump administration is about to propose tripling the amount of logging in the forests of the Blue Mountains in northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington.(April Ehrlich)
• Oregon lawmakers have approved funding for additional staff in the state Department of Justice to fight corporate monopolies and mergers. (Lauren Dake)
• The Trump administration’s decision to remove buoys that help track ocean conditions puts the safety and economic stability of Oregon’s coastal communities at risk, a bipartisan group of state lawmakers said yesterday. (Bryce Dole)

Northwest headlines

• How the Oregon National Guard is changing under the Trump administration (Shaanth Nanguneri, Oregon Capital Chronicle)
• Oregon education officials recommend repealing, replacing compulsory school attendance rules (Alex Baumhardt, Oregon Capital Chronicle)
• Advocates argue Oregon literacy initiative is not targeting high needs schools as law requires (Alex Baumhardt, Oregon Capital Chronicle)
• Carleton scores 24 points on career-high 3-pointers as Fire beat Storm 94-89 (AP)

Listen in on OPB’s daily conversation

“Think Out Loud” airs at noon and 8 p.m. weekdays on OPB Radio, opb.org and the OPB News app. Today’s planned topics (subject to change):

• Portland-based playwright’s new work invites audience into the experience of dyslexia
• Portlander Erica Berry wins James Beard Media Award for essay on foraging and trust

One more look

‘Rosie the Riveter the Musical’ opens in Bend with real-life inspiration in tow

During World War II, over 6 million American women took over factory work at home while many men served in the military.

It was a monumental shift of women into the U.S. workforce.

People called them “Rosies,” after a government campaign popularized the character “Rosie the Riveter” flexing a bicep in her blue jumpsuit and red kerchief with white polka dots.

The Rosies drastically increased production in wartime facilities. They built aircraft, ships and munitions. A musical show opening in Bend this week celebrates this chapter of American history.

Playwright Marilyn Magness called the production a “love letter” to the millions of women who took on hard labor in factories, including her own mother. (Jen Baires)

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