Board approves minimum criteria to begin search for new Portland Public Schools headquarters; unions and maintenance staff press for more engagement

The Portland Public Schools Board of Education voted May 6 to approve minimum criteria that allow staff to begin a formal property search to relocate the district’s administrative and operations offices now housed at the Dr. Matthew Prophet Education Center (PEC). The board approved Resolution 7103 by a vote of 6–0 with one abstention.

Why it matters: Albina Vision Trust (AVT) is pursuing redevelopment of the PEC site in Northeast Portland; that proposal depends on PPS relocating its headquarters. The board’s approval authorizes staff to solicit property proposals that meet a set of nine minimum criteria — ownership (not leased), central access, on‑site parking, safety and the ability to meet PPS functional needs — and to advance test‑fit analysis for candidate properties.

District staff framed the approval as the start of a multi‑phase process. Dan Young, chief operating officer, said the minimum criteria are deliberately specific enough to rule out properties that obviously won’t work while remaining broad enough to allow “promising, unconventional, and unforeseen options” to surface. Young said the next step is a market solicitation and then test‑fits and staff and stakeholder review of candidate sites. "Approval of the minimum criteria enables staff to move forward in a focused strategic way," he told the board.

Albina Vision Trust leaders said approval would unlock the next stage for a redevelopment plan they say includes housing, an education hub and community space. Winta Yohannes, AVT executive director, described the relocation as a step toward what she called a “nationally precedent‑setting, child‑centered redevelopment” and noted public, private and nonprofit partners who have pledged support.

Union leaders, maintenance staff and shop technicians asked the board to delay or expand the scope of engagement before moving on. Kelly Bond, president of the District Council of Unions (DCU), and Elizabeth Held, interim president of the Portland Federation of School Professionals, urged the board to require an explicit staff engagement plan so that trades and operations employees are not excluded from planning, and warned against large reductions to shop and storage space shown in a consultant appendix. Adam Maurer, an electrical maintenance technician, said the study’s recommendation to shrink the electrical shop from 12,526 square feet to 2,975 would be a 76 percent reduction and would impair the district’s ability to store hard‑to‑find parts and respond quickly to building needs.

Board response and next steps: Several directors said they shared concerns about adequate engagement. Director Greene asked that the superintendent present a comprehensive PEC staff engagement plan to the board at the June 24 meeting that lays out schedules, meeting formats, test‑fit involvement and how staff feedback will be incorporated; the superintendent agreed. Staff also said the square‑footage figures in the consultants’ technical appendix were preliminary minimums and that functional test‑fits and staff review would determine final space needs — including vertical storage and ceiling heights that can reduce footprint by increasing usable volume.

Clarifying details included in meeting materials: the PEC currently has 318 on‑site owned parking stalls (488 including leased and off‑site agreements), and the district’s high‑level program assumptions anticipated roughly 300,000 square feet total across administration and operations (about 100,000 sf office and 200,000 sf operations as a planning reference), though staff said those numbers are mutable pending test fits. The consultants presented three general schemes — collocated administration and operations, two separate buildings (administration + operations), and two buildings with selected administrative departments colocated with operations.

What was decided: the board approved the minimum criteria so staff can issue a property solicitation and begin test‑fits and site evaluations. Board members also secured a commitment that staff will return with a public PEC staff engagement plan by the June 24 board meeting and will use department‑level review and test‑fit walkthroughs to refine program sizes before any property purchase or binding commitments.

Ending: The vote starts a market search and technical evaluation process; final decisions about any site, building sizes and transitions will come back to the board after test fits, staff engagement and cost analysis. Union leaders said they will continue to press for full trade participation in that work.