Here’s How PPS Will Determine Which Schools Take Priority for Seismic Upgrades

An eleventh-hour Portland Public School Board resolution to prioritize seismic safety in the district’s $1.83 billion bond may have helped it find success among Portland voters, as parents whose children attend school in dangerous brick buildings rallied behind the tax measure .

Now, in its first update to the School Board as required by that resolution , PPS officials presented a working draft of how they plan to determine what schools will be first in line for improvements. The algorithm would rate buildings both by an objective, data-driven “seismic risk score,” and PPS criteria that inform an “importance score.”

The June 3 memo updates School Board members on the district’s progress on three key steps. Those include working with a structural engineer consultant to complete a high