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The former Thompson Elementary School in the Parkrose School district offers preschool services for special needs and low-income children through MECP and Head Start programs. Head Start student Tyrah, 4, helps Multnomah Education Service District's Speech and Language Specialist Meredith Villines push her fellow students Torin, 4 and Hailey, 5.
During recess at the Head Start Program in the former Knott Elementary School, 4-year-old Makiau, left, and 5-year-old Nicholas shows the photographer they can make it all the way across the monkey bars without stopping.
Multnomah Education Service District serves special needs students through its Multnomah Early Childhood Program at the former Thompson Elementary School in outer east Portland. MECP teacher Chris Cvitanich works with 4-year-old Philip.
At the former Knott Elementary School in the Parkrose Heights Neighborhood, Mt. Hood Community College's Head Start Program serves 200 kids in one wing of the building. In another wing, Morrison Child and Family Services administers a variety of early childhood therapy programs. Developmental Assistant Steve Negele and his charges work together to get the balls to bounce.
Head Start teaching veteran Michelle Forrette has recess monitoring duties for 4-year-old Veronica and the rest of her class
Head Start teacher Anna Swalko dishes up lunch for her hungry students at the former Knott Elementary School.
MEMO PHOTOS TIM CURRAN
Barberis described Head Start's value as inestimable. “Without Head Start, these kids would start out so way behind, they would really never catch up in school. Here on the front end you just want this kid to be ready for kindergarten, but really it has long-term effects that follow all the way into adulthood.”
Head Start has shared the Knott School site with Morrison Child and Family Services since 1991. Morrison operates multiple programs from Knott, serving over 200 people per day in the 21,000 feet of space it leases within the school.

Morrison Child and Family Services primarily offers mental health and foster care services - for the most part, community- and outpatient-based - to children and their families. Though most programs take place outside the Knott School building, two utilize classrooms there.

Hand in Hand, which helps abused children ages 3 to 6, uses space within the school for its day treatment sessions. Integrated with therapeutic foster care services, Hand in Hand aims to help heal severely abused and neglected young children. It also provides ongoing treatment throughout children's school-age years through its outpatient counseling services, which extends therapy up to 13 years of age.

Morrison's Family Sexual Abuse Treatment is a group modality program that also takes place at Knott. It treats sexually abused children aged 4 to 18, as well as their non-offending parents and siblings.

Other home- and community-based programs with offices at Knott include: Listos Para Aprender, a city of Portland Children's Levy funded program that serves Spanish-speaking families with children newborn to age 5; Early Childhood Intensive Outpatient Services, which provides crisis stabilization, therapy, training and more to families with children from birth to age 6 at risk of losing their home, preschool or child care; and Connections Therapeutic Visitation Services, a service provided to parents and their children who have been separated by state foster care. It also provides visitation services to siblings placed in separate foster homes.

In all, 93 full- and part-time Morrison staff work from Knott, providing almost five million dollars' worth of services.

Interested parties can call Morrison's central intake line for information. Most, but not all of Morrison's services are for those enrolled in the Oregon Health Plan. For further information on any programs, organizations or services featured in this article, please refer to the sidebar.

Serving children in Parkrose and beyond as well as children with special needs, these two former school district buildings continue to contribute to the community educational experience. Next time you drive or walk by these buildings, you will not need to wonder what goes on in these former elementary schools. You'll know: education, enrichment, encouragement, healing and evolution.

Multnomah Early Childhood Program: 503-262-4100 www.mesd.k12.or.us
In the Parkrose School District, morning MECP classes are available at: Prescott, Shaver, Sacramento Elementary Schools and Russell Academy.
Multnomah Education Service District 503-255-1841.
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