Portland Public Schools board declines immediate emergency remote activation, sets 20% absence trigger

The Portland Public Schools Board of Public Education voted unanimously Jan. 29 not to activate an emergency remote‑learning option now, instead directing staff to continue preparing remote plans, monitor daily attendance beginning Feb. 2 and redirect resources toward supports such as tutoring for students who experienced learning loss.

“I'm making the motion to just continue to monitor attendance, not moving forward with the emergency plan right now,” Chair Lentz said when she introduced the motion. The board accepted a friendly amendment broadening “tutoring” to “interventions including tutoring” before taking a roll call vote.

Superintendent Scanlon presented district data that showed pre‑surge absences of 7.71% and a peak this week of 21.3%, which fell to 16.36% on Wednesday and to 12.52% for the day he pulled up in the meeting. He noted that demographic breakdowns lag the district’s daily feed and that some groups — including Hispanic and multilingual students — were showing higher absence rates in recent charts.

Board members debated two paths: activate a limited remote option immediately or use short‑term, targeted interventions to support students while monitoring attendance. Vice chair Bondo and other members warned that device and connectivity gaps, privacy questions around in‑class cameras and post‑COVID learning loss make an immediate roll‑out risky for many families and students. Dr. Proctor and Dr. Ahmed, representing academic and implementation staff, described a temporary model relying primarily on Google Classroom for asynchronous work plus limited office hours and occasional synchronous check‑ins to minimize teacher workload.

Several board members supported continuing to plan so the district can move quickly if conditions change. The board settled on a district‑wide 20% absence trigger (a single day at that level district‑wide would prompt an emergency meeting) while retaining discretion to act on a high single‑school threshold. The motion instructed staff to continue preparations and to “proceed to redistribute resources to support students who have experienced learning loss.”

Dr. Warren called the roll; members recorded as voting yes included Member Ali Ali, Member Yousra Ali, Vice chair Bondo, Member Bridal, Member Lena, Member Opperman, Member Sautel and Chair Lentz. The motion passed unanimously.

The board did not adopt an immediate remote option. Instead, it will monitor attendance daily, continue to refine planning for a temporary remote pathway if needed and invest in short‑term supports such as targeted tutoring while watching the data and community needs. The board said it will reconvene in an emergency meeting if the threshold is met.

The board scheduled monitoring to begin Feb. 2; staff will provide daily attendance updates to the board in the interim.