On June 12, standing in front of the aging and historic Grover Cleveland High School with current and past faculty and families watching and cheering, Portland Public Schools (PPS) leaders and affiliated parties dug shovels into a trough of bright-blue sand to symbolically kick off construction for a new, modernized campus. Student bands played to the occasion, Cleveland decorated cupcakes were handed out and people were excited about a project that has been in the works for about 16 years.
Cleveland is one of Portland’s oldest and most historic schools, dating back to 1929. Despite architectural charm and deep ties to old Portland, its aging infrastructure and small size relative to the number of students it serves have been the ire of faculty and families. It is also in danger of collapsing should an earthquake hit.
On Facebook, State Senator Kathleen Taylor said after attending the groundbreaking, “My kids both went to Cleveland and had to deal with falling ceiling tiles, sewage leaks and dangerously high and low temperatures in a crumbling, seismically unsound building.”…