As a former middle school/high school teacher and a parent of a child who goes to Pilot Butte Middle School, I feel that I have a unique viewpoint on this issue. I am very impressed by the teaching staff at PBMS. They are the most caring and competent group of teachers that I have ever encountered at a middle school.

It is true that PBMS does have a population of lower-income students. Does this make the school a “bad school?” Hardly. I have substitute-taught in the building and have found the students there to be friendly and respectful. I also enjoy the fact that there are students from diverse ethnic groups and backgrounds at PBMS.

For two years, I taught at a high school in Southeast Portland where we had metal detectors at the entrance of the school, and police officers and their dogs roaming the hallways. While I was teaching one day, one of my students, who happened to be in an auto-theft gang, got his buddies to bash in my windshield and steal the CD player out of my truck! Now that was a dangerous school!

My teaching colleagues and I conclude that PBMS has one of the best staffs in the district. Pilot Butte Middle School is a good school, and people shouldn’t be afraid to send their children there. Thank you to the PBMS staff for teaching my kids and for keeping your heads up high throughout all of this!

Go Giants!

Nicole Murphy

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