Portland Public Schools Superintendent Quits

Portland Public Schools Superintendent Carole Smith has resigned — effective immediately.

She had planned to step down after the next school year.

That changed Monday after a damning report over how the district has handled lead in the water in school facilities.

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Smith, who has headed the district for nine years, is supposed to give the board 90 days notice.

In her letter, she says that since she has accumulated 90 days of unused leave and vacation time, she's quitting effective immediately.

Her announcement that she was quitting came out just moments after the district released a damning third-party investigation into how the district had handled the discovery of lead in water of many school buildings.

The report — by the law firm of Stoll Berne — found that Smith had expected that she would be updated on the situation, particularly if there were any problems.

And when she — and other top officials — were not updated, those officials, including Smith, took little action.

The report uncovered what they called "an absence of diligent inquiry by PPS individuals in upper levels of administration hierarchy regarding PPS's procedures and protocols for lead in water testing."

In an email announcing that she was quitting, Smith said now that the report is out, "I have reached the decision that I need to move up the date of my departure."

While Smith points out that the report showed "no indication that anyone intended harm or to neglect his or her job duties," the fact is, that's almost the most positive thing in the report.

Investigators also found that:

For the past 15 years, PPS has had no established procedures or protocols for testing for elevated levels of lead in drinking water;

PPS communicates some water quality information through its website. However, the website information is misleading and inaccurate;

There were a series of operational gaps between 2001 and May 2017 that reflect systemic breakdowns;

Failure to maintain an updated or accurate database regarding fixtures and faucets that have tested positive for excessive levels of lead in drinking water;

Inaccurate or inconsistent measures to restrict access to drinking water sources between the time that testing revealed excessive lead levels and the time that repairs are completed;

Inaccurate or inadequate communication of test results taken at Creston and Rose City Park schools to parents, administration and staff

YOU CAN READ THE WHOLE REPORT HERE

School Board Chairman Tom Koehler thanked Smith for her service but said it's time to move forward.

"We must use this report as a tool to move forward and address the lapse in policies and protocols around water and other environmental health and safety issues, make sure we have the right management expertise to establish, implement and oversee those policies, and develop a plan for remediation and infrastructure improvements necessary to ensure our schools are safe for our students, staff and employees across the district," he said.