Lisa Pitts, center, listens to speakers with her daughter, Rosalie Pitts, 7, a first grader at Maplewood Elementary, at a rally at the Dr. Matthew Prophet Education Center, on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, in Portland, Ore. The rally was held before a PPS school board meeting where the board will hear from the public on the district’s plans, including closing up to 14 schools and changing school boundaries.
Eli Imadali / OPB
From the proposed closures of Stephenson Elementary School in Portland’s Southwest corner to James John Elementary in North Portland’s St. Johns neighborhood, Portland Public Schools Superintendent Kimberlee Armstrong’s plan to close up to 14 schools would reshape Oregon’s largest school district in an effort to manage the effects of declining enrollment.
Tuesday night marks the first opportunity for school board members and affected school communities to weigh in on the complicated and sweeping scenarios for change.
The slightly more ambitious Scenario A would close 14 schools — 13 elementary campuses and one middle school. The schools slated for closure are Beach, Buckman, Creston, Irvington, James John, Lewis, Maplewood, Marysville, Peninsula, Rose City Park, Sabin, Stephenson and Woodmere elementary schools and Sellwood Middle School.
A closure plan of that scale would affect far more schools than those directly closed. As a result of the proposed Scenario A closures, 22 schools would receive additional students from the buildings being closed. To balance projected enrollments, PPS proposes 38 boundary changes affecting elementary, middle and high school attendance areas.
Scenario B is largely the same, proposing the closure of the same elementary schools from Scenario A, with the exception of Lewis, Rose City Park and Stephenson elementaries, which would remain open. Sellwood Middle School would still close.
After hearing their school was on both lists of proposed closures from Portland Public Schools on October 5, 2026, a group of Creston parents came together overnight to create chalk art with encouraging messages to greet students and staff in the morning. PTA members collaborated on this rendition of Creston's eagle mascot designed by Jordan Bagnall.
Julie Sabatier / OPB
In a set of PowerPoint slides released Tuesday ahead of the school board meeting, district administrators gave more details, such as what percentages of students from certain schools slated for closure might move to different receiving schools.
The new information doesn’t offer more specifics on the rationale behind closing certain schools and keeping others open, beyond the overall effort to establish “sustainable” schools, with large enough enrollments in buildings of the right size and condition that instructional programs can be run efficiently and equitably across PPS.
The district makes the argument that running schools with small enrollments is costly, inefficient and compromises the student experience. The district’s goal is to reduce costs and expand academic offerings by consolidating greater numbers of students into a smaller portfolio of buildings.
School administrators and board members are likely to get an earful Tuesday night, as parents have already started voicing opposition to the closure plans.
Parents, school staff and students have organized a rally outside of the PPS headquarters building in opposition to the closure plans. A group calling itself “Save PDX Schools” helped organize and promote the demonstration.
This story will be updated.
