Kurt and I had the joy this morning of attending Kindergarten Round Up at the elementary school behind our house, Chief Joseph. We are part of Portland Public Schools which, put mildly, has been a mess for a good number of years. Well, it's been a mess for North Portland schools...not necessarily for schools elsewhere in the city. We bought our house over 6 years ago with the assumption that it would be a 2-3 year starter home and we would move before our kids would reach school age. The housing market crashed one year after we bought our home, however, and we quickly realized that we were not going to be able to sell our house for a long, long time. All of a sudden, we have a 5 year old who is ready for Kindergarten, and we're "stuck" in a neighborhood where the schools have been grossly underfunded and have frightening reputations. Suffice to say, we've been quite anxious about this situation for the last year.
Sometimes, the greatest gift God can give you is to nail you firmly to the ground and keep you from being able to run away. In just the last several weeks, we have watched with awe as several key decisions have been made within the Portland Public School district that radically improve the situation at our local school. Furthermore, in actually setting foot inside the school this morning and meeting the dynamic, engaging principal as well as other staff members and PTA parents, we were humbled and so impressed with the community they have created and how committed everyone is to the safety, growth, and development of our children.
Although God more or less dragged us into this school with a heap of fear and skepticism, we are now eagerly choosing to become a part of the Chief Joseph community and to take an active roll in continuing to improve the stability and learning environment of all of the North Portland schools. We can't wait for next year to begin, and we walked out of the building this morning feeling like even when we someday can, we just might never leave North Portland.
