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With 53% students of color, Portland Public Schools focuses on equity strategies

Robbie Feinberg
/
Maine Public file
Students Bilan Mohamed (from left), Mulki Hagi and Deqa Mohamed construct three-dimensional models of molecules inside an AP chemistry class at Portland's Deering High School in 2017.

Portland Public Schools plans to focus on meeting the needs of their increasingly diverse students in their five-year strategic plan, as students of color make up more than 53% of the district's student body.

Sarah Lentz, chair of the Portland Board of Public Education, presented the plan to the city council last night and said multilingual books and staff are one of the main steps the district is taking to strengthen programing for multilingual learners.

"The Portland Public Schools was awarded $25,000 from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, which is not an easy grant to get, to purchase a diverse selection of books for the libraries of each of the district’s three middle schools," says Lentz.

Lentz says the grant will help each middle school buy 400 books in the almost 60 languages that are spoken across the district.

In Lentz's presentation to the Portland city council, equity was the first of the five strategies presented.

"While equity is its own strategy, it is also woven throughout all areas of the Strategic Plan and serves as the foundation to our work" says Lentz.

Lentz says that equity means devoting more resources to the multilingual learners in the district like investing in diverse staff and books.

The district has been more than half students of color since 2022. Along with the increased share of students of color, the population of English-language learners has increased year over year since 2017.

Other initiatives across the district include developing a Wabanaki Studies Curriculum, developing a more diverse school menu, and better supporting English language learners.

Journalist Madi Smith is Maine Public's Emerging Voices Journalism Fellow this year and is sponsored by support from the Abbagadassett Foundation.