Saving the High School, 2026

FEBRUARY 27, 2026, marks a hugely significant moment in MLC's history. That's the day Portland Public Schools sent an announcement saying they'd reconsidered a decision made and revealed seventeen days before, on Feb. 10—to discontinue MLC's high-school grades, 9-12, due to a severe district-wide budget shortfall.

The reconsideration memo was gracious, the plan it proposed concrete and materially supportive—giving more positive recognition than many at MLC felt they had been afforded in a decade or more.

MLC's response to the proposed closure had been ferocious, based on multiple facts and arguments:

—that the high school program and students were far too integrated into MLC's K-12 whole to be severable;

—that the high school provided the only place in the PPS system, even including other alternative schools, where students who simply could not fit in or find peace, particularly due to neurodivergence or diverse gender expression, could find a home;

—that closing MLC's high school would put such current students' educations and selves at terrible risk;

—that MLC had just sent out acceptances to parents desperate to send their children here;

—that MLC's brand new principal had already recognized the direness of low enrollments, initiated an unprecedented recruitment effort, and filled the incoming freshman class;

Thumbnail: graphic accompanying students' petition at friendsofmlc.org.

—that the decision had been made without any community engagement and seemed to violate the District's own school closure policies;

—that singling MLC out for closure not just outside of but in advance of whatever process would inevitably be initiated for budget cutting seemed inappropriate; and

—that the closure did not seem to make fiscal sense, either because high school teachers would just have to be reassigned elsewhere, or—tellingly—because MLC's expertise in working with such special-needs students, developed over many years, meant we were able to teach them effectively, efficiently, and probably, ultimately, at lower cost than elsewhere!

It is not certain which arguments carried the day, but collectively, and due to the vehemence of the outcry, they did. And so it is that we—whose perception has very often been that we've fought the same battle to stay alive, continuously for 55 years ("every four years," as Lew Frederick put it to two visiting superintendents; "you are right on schedule"), and that we, perhaps due to not fitting the PPS mold, have never received full support for recruitment, advertising, reaching out, expanding, shoring up enrollment, touting our brand, making our case—now we have had our bluff called !!

The ongoing effort by our principal, together with a stalwart, hard-working recruitment committee of PTSA members, parents, and volunteers, will now determine our fate, having been given the chance, due to our activism, to prove our worth.

Here is a reverse timeline of key events, which will be updated as needed:

March 10 to present—PPS officially initiates its school closure process, proposing four furlough days which the Portland Association of Teachers approves as reported by Willamette Week's Joanna Hou; but then on April 17 Governor Kotek issues a statewide order disallowing schedule cuts as a budget-cutting mechanism.

March 3 to present—with the reprieve, the vote of confidence, and the promise of District support, MLC's recruitment effort moves into a higher gear. The PTSA rallies the community to contribute and not be complacent; a 2017 promotional video is brought to light; and the Recruitment Committee continues to meet and act, with meetings on March 18 and April 9.

February 28—MLC's PTSA sends an official response to the District and the School Board.

February 27—PPS, in a message from Superintendent Armstrong, announces reversal of the Feb 10 decision to discontinue MLC's high school grades; PTSA Vice President Sierra Stringfield-Perryman informs the MLC community, and Willamette Week's Joanna Hou reports it to the public.

February 24—in advance of the Special Board Meeting, Willamette Week publishes a second article by education reporter Joanna Hou; the Board meeting, from 6:00-9:00 pm, is attended by a raucous cadre of MLC supporters who are repeatedly asked to be less disruptive but who tiptoe along the edge of anarchy and succeed in making their points. Chosen speakers speak on MLC's behalf, and the Board deliberates; MLC alumna Michelle DePass and former teacher Patte Sullivan, both on the Board, caught between loyalty and fiscal horror, are critical of MLC's plea for unusual dispensation, but other board members are vocal in agreement with MLC's positions.

February 20—Sierra posts to say PPS has announced a Special Board Meeting Feb. 24 to address the concerns MLC has raised in the listening session.

February 19—The Oregonian (OregonLive ) reports on the listening session and prints parent Alisa Welch's sharp letter to the editor.

February 18—In the morning, KGW TV announces the listening session; at 6:00 pm, PPS Superintendent Dr. Kimberlee Armstrong and Chief of Schools Dr. Isaac Cardona, together with PPS facilitators and fiscal staff, meet in the MLC auditorium with 120 or so parents, students, teachers, alumni, and community members. Aside from the School Board committee meeting six days before, it is the first time the MLC community has had the chance to publicly vent its upset. The session is very contentious. PPS administrators present the high school closure as a done deal, as they had in their communique. Numerous students speak, some with extreme emotion. The adults finish laying out MLC's case; teacher Ned Hascall, counselor Sharon Forrest, and one-time teacher Lew Frederick (a long-time advocate, also founding principal Amasa Gilman's son-in-law, State Senator, and chair of the embattled Education Committee responsible for school funding) speak with particular force and resonance. PPS administrators seem alternately dazed, dug-in, defensive, tin-eared, off-puttingly quantitative, apologetic—and compassionate. Substantively, the listening session seems to open a tiny crack of possibility that the decision can be reversed. Later in the evening, Sierra's post engenders another round of conversation.

February 16—a KGW TV news report covers the announcement and community displeasure.

February 12—PPS holds a School Board committee meeting at which, PTSA Vice President Sierra Stringfield-Perryman reports, "[o]ur students and staff had a strong showing ..."; superintendent Armstrong announces a listening session to be held at MLC on Feb. 18; the PTSA sends a richly detailed responding communication to the District and School Board.

February 11—the announcement is reported byThe Oregonian and Willamete Week .... Ashlee responds and MLC students launch a petition ... a post by MLC teacher Ned Hascall prompts more online discussion including a rejoinder from alumna and PPS School Board Member Michelle DePass making clear the depth of the fiscal crisis.

February 10—PPS announces that MLC's high school grades are to be discontinued, with immediate effects, a first step in District budget cutting; a post by Arwyn Daemyir prompts the first of several online discussions, featuring strong rallying cries from alumna Mary Slac, daughter of founding teacher Betty Mayther.

February 6, 2026—high school parents receive notice of an "important school community meeting" concerning their children's status.

December 9, 2025—aware that low enrollment threatens MLC, Ashlee, PTSA members and parent volunteers convene a Recruitment Committee.

October 23, 2025—History Night musters a crowd of MLC partisans from every generation, to meet the new principal, who seeks recruitment help.

July 22, 2025—Ashlee Hudson is appointed MLC's new principal, having specifically sought the position.

June 4, 2025—parent Alisa Welch reiterates this sentiment at a PPS meeting that will inform the principal recruitment process.

May 16, 2025—PPS's announcement that principal Suezann Kitchens is leaving after two years prompts disquiet over the revolving door.

Superintendent Armstrong addresses the listening session Feb. 18; recruitment graphic; listening session announcement; Sen. Lew Frederick addresses the listening session.