SES PTSA

1 month ago

‼️ 𝐔𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐎 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍: 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐏𝐏𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐭𝐨 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 ‼️

As you likely have already heard, PPS recently informed Sunnyside Environmental School (“SES”) that 5th grade teacher Mary Lloyd and middle school teachers Emily Lillywhite and Moé Yonamine will be losing their jobs due to their low seniority and will be replaced with undetermined other teachers from within PPS with greater seniority. While the the Portland Association of Teachers contract does require that layoffs be conducted by seniority, teachers have informed us that PPS has been manipulating how seniority is calculated in order to avoid other contractual obligations, as well as refusing to share the seniority list with our principal and vice principal so nobody can check if their seniority is calculated properly. More information on that here.

It gets worse. In the spring of 2025, PPS told SES’s middle school teachers that they would be immediately fired if they did not get additional teaching credentials at their own expense. Our teachers did this, and Emily and Moé have now been told that they will be replaced with middle school teachers who hold only a single credential, who it seems will not have to meet this requirement. More details about this here.

As you all know, SES has a program that is unique from any other school in PPS. Its curriculum is different, and its workload for teachers is higher, than at other PPS schools. Teachers from other schools who are not interested in teaching our program are not going to be successful here, which will be miserable for them and will negatively impact our entire community.

We need you to contact the School Board and the PPS HR Director immediately to insist that Mary, Emily, and Moé be reinstated. Contact information and suggested talking points below. Please distribute this message widely. Contact your friends and community directly and let’s make sure PPS can’t ignore us! Shareable link here

* There is also a School Board meeting this Tuesday, 6/9. If you would like to submit a comment in writing or in person, that info is here (scroll down). The deadline to sign up to testify is Monday, 6/8 at noon. Please do this. We need your voices now .*
www.pps.net/board/board-of-education/board-main-page

The PPS HR Director is Dr. Angela Freeman. Her title is Chief Human Resources Officer. She can be reached at 503-916-3428 or anfreeman@pps.net. Don’t be afraid to call, this is the time.

The email for the full School Board is schoolboard@pps.net

𝐒𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬:

-There needs to be transparency about teacher seniority status, and seniority needs to be calculated with integrity and good faith.

-Our unique program is a draw to the district during a time of decreasing enrollment, which is a contributing factor in the budget crisis. There are many families who come to, and stay in, PPS because of SES. There are also many families who would no longer have their children enrolled at PPS if SES were to go away.

-Our program is demanding to teach and teachers are selected based on their experience and interest in participating in such a specific program. Teachers build their own curriculum that must both meet the current standards and be consistent with our environmental focus. In middle school teachers are taking students on field trips as much as once a week. It's not for everyone and these aren't one size fits all positions.

-Placing teachers at SES who did not ask to be there is both detrimental to our school's pedagogical model AND unfair to the teachers who are put in these roles because they may not want to take on the demands that teaching at SES entails.

-Our teachers acquire familiarity with our program over time and replacing existing SES teachers with teachers from other schools who did not ask to be here disregards this acquired knowledge and familiarity with our specific place-based teaching model.

-Replacing SES teachers who are experienced with our program with teachers from other schools with greater seniority but no desire to be at SES sets our program up to fail by weakening the coherence of our teaching model.

-Moé Yonamine is currently working on a doctoral degree with a dissertation focus on climate justice education, which makes her uniquely well suited for SES's environmental focus. Her layoff would be a big step backwards for our school.

-Moé Yonamine also co-runs the Students of Color group who will be particularly negatively impacted if she is no longer allowed to teach at SES.

-Parents have enrolled their children at SES because they believe the SES program is the best fit for them. [Elaborate on why the SES program is the best fit for your child and why you chose SES over other schools].

We are the only environmental studies focus option in the district. We are committed to climate justice education, which the district claims is a priority of theirs. We are the school that is making this priority a reality.

In Community,
Your SES PTSA Co-Presidents,
Maia Caspi & Valerie Kahn ... See MoreSee Less