At Faubion PK-8, Parent Outcry Brought a Classroom Back

Nine-year-old Marlowe’s fourth grade year at Faubion PK-8 School in Northeast Portland is shaping up to be her best yet.

That’s thanks, in large part, to the advocacy of Faubion parents, who campaigned to save her fourth grade class from the budget ax. Amid lower than expected enrollment numbers in Faubion’s fourth grade class, Portland Public Schools announced Sept. 4 it would dismantle one of the school’s fourth grade classes and move its teacher to kindergarten.

Two weeks into the new school year, the news was devastating for Marlowe, who’d spent every morning of third grade struggling in a 33-student classroom.

“She’d start to panic thinking about school,” says Sarah Dillon, Marlowe’s mother. “She’d be like, ‘What day is it?’ constantly because she wanted to know, ‘How many more day