2253 NW Pettygrove St #1-4
Portland, OR 97210

Our son just completed his Kindergarten year, and we have been so impressed with Chapman. He has an IEP, and contrary to the horror stories we have heard, our IEP process was smooth and congenial. Despite the large class sizes, the teachers are patient, good-humored, and creative and the school has been able to attract excellent classroom support teams. The principal is very accessible, and the building itself is well-maintained yet still very classic Portland.

West Sylvan sucks, and every student and staff member there knows it. No student would willingly want to attend this school and no teacher would ever want to be hired here. There are only a few really solid teachers here (Mr. Hashimoto, Dr. Graham, Ms. Kuhn, and a few more) and every other teacher either doesn't know how to teach at all, doesn't care about their students enough to even show to up to class, doesn't know how to control students' behavior, or all of the above and worse. The school lunch food is absolutely detestable as well. There are quite a few horror stories involving school food, including the numerous mold-encased Tillamook cheese packets, pastrami sandwich incident, announcement made on the loudspeaker about moldy chocolate milk, and more. There is also literally no safety put in place at this school; for example, the time a seventh grader got acid burned from a broken glow stick at a school dance. Furthermore, West Sylvan has no budget for anything remotely helpful; eg. the art room has no paper towels because of PPS spending fees, the school dances have no decorations or food and have to resort to a volunteer DJ with a Spotify account. The bullying report system does not work and no student during my time at this school has ever gotten reprimanded for any bullying. The buses, for one, have the worst bullying incidents of all; eg. the time a bus driver said the N-word and was hit over the head with a Chromebook, kids smashing and beating up Chromebooks in general, food fights on the buses with yogurt and meat sticks, etc. The teachers at this school are incredibly ignorant and refuse to give help to students or even acknowledge that they are struggling. Students at this school are depressed, bullies or the kind of kids who don't even show up to class or care about their own life, and it's the administration's fault. There have been multiple racist incidents at West Sylvan, not to mention the remarks heard in between and even during classes, and nothing has been done to prevent this on administration's part. Most kids get off with just a warning and are not reprimanded for their actions in any way. This makes every other kid feel incredibly unsafe and invalidated in their school environment, making West Sylvan a disgrace to all public school systems in America.

I can't say enough positive things about Lincoln. I have two children, one at Lincoln, one about to attend. I've observed academic excellence, amazing talented teachers and had the pleasure of watching my eldest independently grow and find their passions. One highlight was being part of Lincoln's Constitution Team - #1 in the Nation - a truly outstanding programme, one I am very grateful my kid had the opportunity to be part of. There is a deep connection to the next generation of students and with the community. Any time I'm at school, I experience thoughtful and kind students who are genuinely interested and helpful. Gives me hope for the future! That speaks volumes, it's a very special place.