Tonight, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., the Parkrose School District presents representatives from Dull Olson Weekes–IBI Architects — the firm designing the new Parkrose Middle School — to meet with the public and give them an update on the progress of the bond.

Parkrose bond update tonight at the high school.

Representatives from DOWA will answer questions about construction updates at the elementary schools and the work schedule on the new middle school.

The meeting is at Parkrose High School Community Center, 12003 N.E. Shaver St.

Light refreshments will be served.

The May 2012 Mid-county Memo is posted online. A recap of its contents:

Last month, the top three mayoral candidates debated at David Douglas High School’s Howard Horner Performing Arts Center; the new Neighborhood Prosperity Initiative areas are approved; Parkrose School District averts a teacher’s strike; David Douglas special education teacher Annie Harrell is named Outstanding Teacher of the Year; Lee Perlman interviews City Commissioner Amanda Fritz and opponent, state Rep. Mary Nolan; the Planning and Sustainability Commission endorsed the Outer Powell Conceptual Design Plan; since 2006, east Portland neighborhood associations have been operating illegally; the Portland Housing Bureau is changing tax abatement area boundaries in east Portland … again; and, longtime Gateway hairstylist June Bauer’s obituary.

In a voice choking with emotion, Jerry Landreth, Parkrose Faculty Association vice-president, announced teachers voted to authorize the bargaining committee to call a strike.

Jerry Landreth announces the result of the srrike vote.

“After a process of sharing information and discussion, an overwhelming majority of members of the Parkrose Faculty Association have voted to authorize the bargaining team to call for a strike in the bargaining process with the district,” Landreth said.

By law, the teachers have to wait at least ten days before walking out. Landreth said they hope to continue bargaining with the district in the interim. Landreth said of the 189 certified employees, 95 percent attended the strike authorization meeting.

Parkrose School District Superintendent Karen Fischer Gray, one of four finalists for the Reynolds superintendent’s job, was not selected.

Parkrose School District Superintendent Dr. Karen Fischer Gray.

In an e-mail today, Fischer Gray said she was not selected, but was one of two finalists.

Andrea Watson, Reynolds media communications coordinator, said that at tonight’s regular school board business meeting, they will make their hiring recommendation, then take action on it.

Watson said if it all goes as planned, the name of the new superintendent will be released at the end of tonight’s meeting.

Parkrose School District Superintendent Dr. Karen Fischer Gray is one of four finalists for the vacant Superintendent’s post in the Reynolds School District.

Parkrose School District Superintendent Dr. Karen Fischer Gray, left, is one of the finalists for the vacant Reynolds School District post.

Parkrose, one of five school districts in Portland, has 3,465 students.

Asked if she thought her work in Parkrose was finished, Fischer Gray, who was Coos Bay School District Superintendent before moving to Parkrose in 2007 said, “You are never finished in a school district and I dearly love Parkrose. This is a possibility for extending my experience as a career educator.”

Editor’s note: The 2012 elections are a watershed moment in city politics. For the first time in decades, with the mayor declining to run for re-election, Randy Leonard retiring from his council seat and incumbent commissioner Amanda Fritz facing a serious challenge, there will be at least two, if not three new faces at City council. Veteran beat reporter Lee Perlman interviewed the major mayoral and city council candidates. The Smith interview concludes the mayoral portion of the series. Council candidate interviews follow in upcoming editions.

State Representative Jefferson Smith.

As the Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission continued their review of the draft document last month, Mid-Multnomah County had a prominent place in the draft Portland Plan.

Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission members, from left, Chris Smith, vice-chair Howard Shapiro and Mike Houck listen to testimony at the Portland Plan hearing held at Parkrose High School Community Center in November.

At their January 24 meeting, after praising Bureau of Planning and Sustainability and other bureaus’ staff work, they approved the Plan unanimously and forwarded it to City Council. Accoring to BPS staff, Council is expected to act on the Plan in April.

According to participants, nights at Outdoor School are magical: the glow of the campfire, songs and skits with friends old and new, the quiet walk back to the cabin, wrapped up in an individual goodnight from the student leaders.

Captain Conservation lectures Outdoor School students how to reduce waste.

The cost for a 6th grader to spend the night at Outdoor School is around $60. Donate $60 to provide one night for one student; get friends and family together to sponsor a night for a cabin of kids for $600; $1800 will pay for one night at Outdoor School for one class of 6th graders.

Two of three Mid-county school districts — Reynolds and Parkrose — are seeking state mediation help in reaching agreement on their teachers contracts; classified employees in Parkrose also.

The third district, David Douglas, has been negotiating since June, but is not headed to mediation — yet.

In a show of solidarity, area union members and volunteers joined Parkrose teachers and employees picketing the school district. From left, North Clackamas School District teacher Deborah Barnes, eight-year-old Tori Garrett, and Sena Norton, Boring Middle School teacher and Garrett’s stepmother.

More than 150 students from Prescott Elementary School joined politicians, school officials, bicycle activists and city bureaucrats last month in the International Walk (and Bike) to School in the USA Day. Begun in 1997, the event is now part of the nationally legislated effort to reverse the forty-year trend of fewer kids getting to school on their own.

In 1970, about half the students in America either walked or bicycled to school. Today, because of  different factors — the historic high number of two-income households; parents with less time on their hands to walk their kids to school; exaggeration of “stranger danger” — half of all American schoolchildren get to school in a private vehicle; another 25 percent arrive on a school bus; and fewer than 15 percent walk or bicycle to school.