Volunteers had coffee, T-shirts and a PTA sign-up sheet ready bright and early Tuesday morning at Woodlawn Elementary School in Northeast Portland.
Student Amara Cameron looks at a classroom list to determine where she needs to go on the first day of classes at Woodlawn Elementary, northeast Portland, Ore., Aug. 27, 2024. Elementary students across Portland, as well as sixth and ninth graders, began classes on Tuesday.
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A student holds their adult's hand on the first day of school at Woodlawn Elementary.
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Jett Joseph, right, runs ahead of his mother Grace Dawn towards Woodlawn Elementary. This is Joseph's first day of third grade.
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From left, siblings Ilena Snyder, age 8, and Obadiah Snyder, age 6, hold plants they brought as gifts for their new teachers at Woodlawn Elementary. The siblings are beginning third and first grade, respectively.
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New Portland Public Schools Superintendent Kimberlee Armstrong hands out pens to students at Woodlawn Elementary. Armstrong began her day by riding the school bus to Woodlawn.
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Guy Marshall II, center, waves goodbye to his mother Adriel Person, not pictured, as paraeducator Amira El-Cherbini greets students at the doors of Woodlawn Elementary. Person says that Marshall, who is entering fourth grade, has been at Woodlawn since first grade, and that it is a "great environment."
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A first-grade student in teacher Lionel Clegg's class raises their hand on the first day of school at Woodlawn Elementary.
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Portland Public Schools superintendent Kimberlee Armstrong shakes hands with educator Irynne Padua in Benson Polytechnic High School, Portland, Ore., Aug. 27, 2024. Benson is a technical public high school that offers courses in subjects as wide-ranging as healthcare, automotive/aviation technology, and radio broadcasting. The school was recently remodeled to provide even better access to industry-standard technologies.
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Students walk through the remodeled cafeteria at Benson Polytechnic High School. Freshmen and seniors were on-campus Tuesday, with sophomores and juniors joining the following day.
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Portland Public Schools Director of Construction Armand Milazzo, left, leads Kimberlee Armstrong through the remodeled cafeteria of Benson Polytechnic High School. In the foreground, repurposed lumber from the building's old gymnasium has been repurposed into seating. Care was taken throughout the renovation process to preserve as much of the century-old building's original character as possible.
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The new auditorium at Benson Polytechnic High School. Seats from the old auditorium are preserved on the upper level, while the lower level is all new, including new audio-visual technology.
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Benson Polytechnic High School Principal Curtis Wilson Jr. speaks with students on the first day of classes. Wilson has been principal at Benson since 2013.
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A person hangs a "Welcome Class of 2025" sign in the cafeteria of Benson Polytechnic High School.
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As students began arriving for the new school year, they hugged staff members and shared stories from the summer. Parents snapped photos and soothed first-day nerves — many came bearing baked goods or other donations for their classrooms.
More than 40,000 students are starting a new year in Portland Public Schools this week.
Elementary schoolers started Tuesday, along with sixth and ninth graders, who each got a one-day head start ahead of their older peers at their new middle and high schools.
New Superintendent Kimberlee Armstrong joined in on the fun, arriving at Woodlawn via school bus shortly before Portland’s new elementary school start time of 8 a.m.
While there, Armstrong stopped by Lionel Clegg’s first-grade class, where students were learning classroom rules, like how to clean up and how to sit properly in their chairs.
Teacher Lionel Clegg, center, explains classroom rules to his new first-graders while new Portland Public Schools Superintendent Kimberlee Armstrong, right, watches, at Woodlawn Elementary, Portland, Ore., Aug. 27, 2024. Clegg, who was a Woodlawn student himself, has taught at the school for over twenty years.
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Afterward, Armstrong stopped by another campus in Northeast — Benson Polytechnic High School — to get a sneak peek at some of the school’s newly renovated spaces before a grand opening next month.
Benson Principal Curtis Wilson Jr. said it was “breathtaking” to finally have the remodeled school open and students in the building after an eight-year building process. “It hasn’t quite hit me yet,” he said.
Wilson also noted that several hundred students left the school when it moved to a temporary location three years ago. He said he hopes to increase enrollment to full capacity.
“We’re back and excited to have you,” he said of his students.
Students on the entry walkway of Benson Polytechnic High School, Portland, Ore., Aug. 27, 2024. Benson is a technical public high school that offers courses in subjects as wide-ranging as healthcare, automotive/aviation technology, and radio broadcasting. The school was recently remodeled to provide even better access to industry-standard technologies.
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Across Oregon, roughly half a million students are starting classes this week and next. Most will start after Labor Day.
Schools face several challenges this year, including budget crises, high absenteeism rates and a renewed push to control student cellphone use during school days.
However, state education leaders have also stressed the many good things happening in schools this year, such as more districts offering universal school meals and Oregon’s historic investments in summer learning and literacy efforts.