: Sandler's Series of Readers and Spellers, Goodrich's Geography, Thompson's Arithmetics and Bullion's Grammar.

An editorial in The Oregonian on July 3, 1852 stated that the Common School Council was "self-called, self-elected, that voted a thousand dollars in addition to be paid by our citizens for pedagoguing some dozen or two of children.

"[5]: 16 Abigail Clarke was hired at the beginning of the third term in 1852, due to increased attendance and a $1600 tax to pay for the schools.

Clarke was known to "thrash" boys who made a sport of rapping on the windows of the school, which faced out to the street.

[5]: 18 In December 1854, Thomas Frazer wrote a notice in The Oregonian to try to create a school board for Portland.

Many responded, and the first school board consisted of Frazer himself, William S. Ladd, and Shubrick Norris as directors.

[6] The Central School location was later occupied by the Portland Hotel and is now Pioneer Courthouse Square.

[7] William S. Ladd, known for being thrifty, raised objections to the school paying for supplies such as ink, requiring students to instead make their own by boiling oak bark and carrying it in animal horns.

Other school districts in East Portland and Albina were combined in 1891 (with 83% of residents voting in favor of consolidation).

[6] In 1930, the Great Depression caused a decrease in the number of elementary students enrolled, but an increase in both men and women in the high schools.

Realizing that idleness is perhaps the greatest contributing factor toward delinquency, we hope to double our efforts this fall in the attempt to keep every child in school who should be there.

He strongly believed "the schools of Portland were training people for jobs that did not exist," and began making aggressive curriculum and organizational changes.

Twelve committees (with 169 faculty) over elementary education were created, and monthly report cards were canceled (in 1950, this was described as a "nationwide trend of discarding the antiquated method of sending monthly reports on student grades to parents.").

There was an increased number of freshmen and sophomores in the high schools, but an overall loss of 832 students due to war industries and enlistment.

[6] In 1945, Dr. Willard B. Spalding, superintendent since 1943, issued a 120-page report titled "Modernizing the School Plant", calling for a $25 million building program and projecting major changes in store.

Fighting with Governor Earl Snell for a special legislative session, high school students struck for a day.

Other large cost-cutting measures were taken, including discussion of closing high school sports programs.

[6] In October 1949 a "secret society problem" developed where three high school fraternities were involved in the "manhandling of a girl student."

The closures were done due to low enrollment and to balance the budget, but the community and a board member threatened lawsuits.

Controversy surrounding poorly and infrequently tested water for lead led to Superintendent Carole Smith stepping down in July 2016, a year before her ten-year term ended.

Due to the amount of days lost, Winter Break was only a week long that year, as opposed to the regular two.

[18] Nonetheless, total school enrollment was declining, accompanying a change in Portland's demographics.