Julia Silverman

1 week ago | oregonlive.com | Julia Silverman

The members of the Lincoln High School Constitution team didn’t know exactly why they were all gathered in their coach’s classroom on Wednesday morning, just a few days after placing third in the national We the People civics competition. Their parents were there too, on hand to hear Donna Phillips, the president of the Center for Civics Education, speaking to them via video link to offer her congratulations to the 36 assembled team members — alongside a big mea culpa.

1 week ago | oregonlive.com | Julia Silverman

The McMinnville School District, heralded many times as a statewide model for its promising academic outcomes for Latino and low-income students, fired its superintendent of nearly four years this week. Debbie Brockett, who is on medical leave through Paid Leave Oregon as of late last week, was hired in 2021 after serving in Clark County, Nevada.

1 week ago | oregonlive.com | Julia Silverman

Regular readers of the Oregonian and OregonLive will be familiar with the parade of stories in recent weeks that draw on a recent poll of Portland-area residents conducted by DHM research on behalf of the newsroom. The news organization does similar polls twice a year, but the 2025 version had a particular emphasis on quality of life issues.

1 week ago | oregonlive.com | Julia Silverman

Well before the share of students missing more than three weeks of the school year skyrocketed to near-highest-in-the-nation levels during the pandemic, Oregon was battling a high rate of chronic absenteeism. But under the radar, a parallel absenteeism issue draws virtually no attention, except in whispers among district administrators, school financial officials and human resource leaders: A huge share of teachers are also chronically absent from class.

1 week ago | oregonlive.com | Julia Silverman |Jonathan Bach

Portland Public Schools has terminated its contract with the prominent local construction firm that it had tapped to lead the modernization of Jefferson High School, the historic anchor of a neighborhood that was once the center of Portland’s thriving Black community. The district decided to end its contract with Portland-based Andersen Construction because the scope of the project has shifted dramatically as the project has evolved, said Valerie Feder, spokesperson for Portland Public Schools.