Policy committee advances revised field-trip policy to full board after DLI community testimony

Portland Public Schools'policy committee on Oct. 20 heard sustained public testimony from students, teachers and parent groups urging the district to preserve long-standing international research-residency trips and to reduce administrative hurdles that have raised costs and uncertainty.

"This will be my fourth year, but I have been carrying the burden of the increased burden of having to go through hoops," said Yuki Sakai, who described the trips as curriculum-linked capstone experiences that "have taken a lot of energy from staff and students and families." Teacher Kojo Hakam, who leads residencies at Harrison Park Middle School, said the program began before COVID and serves a Title I school; "every student goes regardless of their economic background," he said, adding that six of 23 students received full scholarships last year.

Committee members spent most of the meeting comparing three drafts: a pared-down board member draft, a staff-prepared "fully revised" field-trip policy dated 10/19/2025 and a set of administrative directives that staff added to the packet. Supporters of the streamlined approach said the 2019 policy is overly prescriptive and has disproportionately affected Asian dual-language immersion (DLI) programs by forcing repeated approvals that can drive up airfare and planning costs. A committee presenter summarized the rationale: board-level approval of individualized trips has not been shown to improve safety but does create administrative burden and scheduling delays.

Those concerns were balanced by members who said they needed more time to read the latest materials, including a staff memo dated Aug. 27, 2024 that earlier raised cautions about academic impacts if students miss too many days of instruction. One committee member said she would abstain from recommending the proposal because she had not had sufficient time to review the newly posted attachments.

The committee's action was procedural: two of the three voting committee members supported moving the package to the full board for consideration; the committee does not itself adopt policy. Committee staff said the timeline would put a first reading at the earliest available board meeting (possible dates discussed ranged from Oct. 24 to Nov. 4) followed by a required 21-day public comment period before a second reading and final vote.

What happens next: the full seven-member Portland Public Schools Board will receive the revised policy, the administrative directives and comparative materials (including the 2019 policy and staff memos) for public comment and deliberation. The committee asked legal staff to add the newest staff draft to the policy-comparison chart for clearer side-by-side review.