Cleveland High School’s nearly 100-year-old campus is scheduled for demolition and rebuilding starting this summer. Portland Public Schools said that, while it will preserve some historic elements, the overall plan involves reconstruction.
“I harangued and begged and set the record straight in front of that [PPS] Board so there would be no doubt that Cleveland was getting done,” Jan Watt, a 56-year employee of the school, said – referring to the Portland School Board meetings regarding the demolition. “Cleveland should have been done a hell of a long time ago.”
Watt taught at Cleveland High School for 32 years. But, officially, she worked at the school for a total of 56 years. She graduated from Portland State University in 1968, and shortly after headed for a teaching gig at this historic Inner Southeast high school…