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Chief of Schools Isaac Cardona outlines how Portland plans to keep instruction during extended student trips
Summary
At a March 12 committee meeting, Chief of Schools Dr. Isaac Cardona said Portland Public Schools requires preapproved plans and staffing arrangements so students who stay on campus continue aligned instruction while peers travel for multi‑day experiences. Directors asked whether substitutes and parent fundraising cover costs.
Dr. Isaac Cardona, the district’s chief of schools, told the Teaching, Learning and Enrollment committee that schools must plan in advance to maintain classroom instruction when groups of students are off campus for multi‑day experiences such as dual‑language capstones or outdoor school.
“Site leaders or principals work with grade‑level teams to plan instructional coverage that maintains alignment to grade‑level learning goals and classroom routines,” Cardona said, explaining that teams complete two forms: one documenting expectations for students on the trip and one describing teaching expectations for students who remain on campus.
Cardona said the standards are the same for both groups so students receive comparable learning experiences whether they are off campus or on site. He described options schools use to staff on‑campus instruction: substitutes, an assistant principal, counselors, or rotating teachers, depending on local needs and staffing availability.
Directors asked whether substitutes are routinely hired and who pays. Staff said the typical practice is for schools to log substitute needs at the school level. Committee discussion noted that, in some recent cases, parent groups have fundraised to cover substitute costs, which reduced net district costs for those trips.
Board members also raised questions about the district’s foundation fundraising policy and whether its restrictions on funding “student‑facing” positions could limit parents’ ability to pay for substitutes going forward. Staff said there is a narrow exception in the foundation policy that has been used to cover limited staffing costs in the past; they committed to follow up with precise policy language and examples.
Next steps: staff will return with clarifying language about the foundation policy exception and provide examples of current practice so the board can assess whether policy adjustments or additional guidance are needed for future field experiences.
