Only one of

' nine neighborhood high schools --

-- would close and four other small neighborhoods would be rezoned to new high schools under the redesign that Superintendent Carole Smith proposed tonight.

Vocationally oriented

would convert from a four-year school to a career-tech center that students from across the district could attend part time as juniors and seniors. And beginning with this year's seventh-graders, students would have extremely limited opportunities to attend a neighborhood high school other than their own.

The point of the changes, which would take effect in fall 2011, is to create fewer and more equitable high schools in a district plagued by a high dropout rate and huge disparities in the curricula offered to most white and middle-income teens versus to minority and low-income students.

"For the first time, we will guarantee access to a strong and broad core curriculum that is held in common for all our students," Smith said, choking up with emotion.

"This plan also counts on the community. Parents are saying they want access to this robust program in their neighborhoods, so that means we're all going to be wrapping our hands around this and making it happen."

An overflow crowd of students, parents and community members gathered in the board auditorium to hear the details of Smith's plan. They listened attentively without cheering or booing.

During her speech, one teacher from Benson waved a sign high in the air, advocating for an integrated Benson High school saying that Benson has a high graduation rate among its largely low-income and minority student body.

"We feel like we have a fight on our hands," said John Slaughter, who leads the school's mentoring program. "The district says Benson is the optimal focus school. There are other schools out there struggling. Benson works. Why change that?"

The depth and scope of the changes are less than some advocates had hoped and many parents had feared.

Planners had said that at least two high schools, or maybe three, would need to close to make the remaining high schools large enough to offer the breadth of curriculum that students enjoy in suburban schools and to give every student the mix of support, challenge and excitement to keep them in school.

But Smith said that after weighing that option in detail, she preferred to rezone fewer neighborhoods to new high schools. She also rejected a proposal to convert

to a small college-oriented magnet school partnered with

and instead recommended rebuilding Jefferson into a comprehensive neighborhood school.

Operating schools under the new scenario would cost the same as operating them as currently configured, said Zeke Smith, the superintendent's chief of staff. But making the change is expected to cost $14 million, in part to begin offering the full curriculum at schools such as Jefferson and

before the schools grow to full size.

While the district would become more stringent about allowing transfers, kids could move between neighborhood schools to take advantage of immersion programs, the Jefferson Dancers program and a Jefferson program that would enable students to earn credits toward an associate's degree.

Read more

Read the Portland school district's

for reorganizing high schools, and read

on the plan.

The vast majority of Marshall students would be rezoned to neighboring Franklin High, whose attendance zone now has just 1,000 students, leaving room for plenty more.

would become the Portland district's biggest high school with more than 1,900 students in its zone.

Marshall, meanwhile, would be converted to a magnet school for 400 to 500 students, Zeke Smith said, enabling the district to take advantage of a potential partnership with the

and honoring a desire by many Marshall faculty members and students to continue a small-school model.

Currently, 13 neighborhood high schools operate on nine campuses -- seven comprehensive schools, plus six small academies at Marshall and Roosevelt. The acadamies would vanish as Marshall converts to a magnet and Roosevelt to a comprehensive high school.

Benson, with its storied history as the city's career technical high school, has struggled in recent years to offer a comprehensive program and in-depth career programs with dwindling resources, Zeke Smith said.

"This is one way to address the fact that Benson has had a hard time being all things to everybody," he said.

Benson would lose its athletic programs and its freshmen and sophomores.

District officials say the Northeast Portland campus would operate much like the

in Gresham and the

in North Clackamas. Students at both schools spend half their time at a traditional high school and the other half at the centers getting hands-on training and instruction in health care, construction and technology.

Attendance, school sizes

Attendance zones:

Most Marshall students would go to Franklin. Those who attend Harrison Park would go to Madison. Boise-Eliot students would shift from Grant to Jefferson. Sunnyside students would shift from

to

. Buckman students would shift from Grant to

. Creston students would move from Franklin to Cleveland.

Projected high school sizes in 2014 under the plan:

Franklin, 1,320; Grant, 1,310; Lincoln, 1,310; Cleveland, 1,290; Wilson, 1,270; Madison, 1,140; Jefferson, 940; Roosevelt, 940

Next, the

plans to accept public feedback for about a month, including at two community meetings -- one May 11 at Madison and one May 18 at Roosevelt; times haven't been set yet. The board is likely to vote on the proposal June 21.

As part of the redesign, the district also said it would strengthen its lowest-achieving elementary and middle schools. They would get a longer school day and school year, stronger principals if needed, and would no longer have to hire teachers unloaded by other schools.

Portland officials hired a Florida company to analyze district demographics and propose the best options for consolidating nine neighborhood high schools into fewer, larger, more equitable schools. Among the factors: Find geographically compact attendance zones, push every campus toward an enrollment of 1,350, and shift the fewest students to different high schools.

Based on computer models that did not take into account Portland history and politics, the company proposed four options. Carole Smith weighed and discarded three of them: closing Marshall and Jefferson; closing Lincoln and Franklin; or closing Marshall, Madison and Roosevelt.

"I would have loved to see us get to a seven-school scenario," she said. "But I also feel like we have the huge asset of community ownership and the desire to build community comprehensives, something different than what we've built before. And people want that in their neighborhood. I think that is the right place to start."