PRESS COVERAGE OF VIRGINIA’S ADVOCACY FOR PPS STUDENTS
Virginia’s been delivering for PPS students since 2012. Her advocacy has been covered extensively by the Portland press. Take a look at some highlights of her work — always rooted in PPS schools and students.
ENDORSED by Willamette Week: Demand Better From Portland Public Schools
“La Forte has a history of getting things done when she throws her weight behind them. Her deep connections to the PPS community, including through two sons, means her advocacy is personal…La Forte’s years of accomplishments make her the clear choice.
ENDORSED by The Oregonian Editorial Board: Elect La Forte to PPS School Board
“As the mother of a current PPS high schooler and a 2024 PPS graduate, La Forte has shown up for years as a volunteer, advocate and, when needed, a challenger to the district…those efforts reflect one of La Forte’s strengths - her ability to identify, create and execute solutions to big problems.”
Stand for Children — Oregon Endorses Virginia La Forte
Stand staff, along with parents, students, volunteers, and other community members, came together to endorse bold, proven education champions who have shown their commitment to prioritizing the needs of our students. From approving school budgets and ensuring our students have the resources they need, to ensuring a welcoming and affirming environment for students and families—school boards have a major impact on the overall direction of our schools. Our endorsed candidates have demonstrated clear values of a student-first approach to their roles and we’re proud to stand by them.
Gary Hollands Drops Out of School Board Race: Hollands will Support Virginia La Forte
In a social media post on Monday, Portland Public Schools Board Member Gary Hollands announced he’s suspending his reelection campaign. In the race for School Board, Hollands faced two challengers, 18-year-old Jorge Sanchez Bautista, a McDaniel student, and Virginia La Forte, a parent activist…Hollands said in a post that he was throwing his support to La Forte, who filed to run last Thursday.
Lights Could Be Coming to Grant Bowl in Northeast Portland
Grant High school is currently the only 6-A school in the state that is not able to host games due to a lack of stadium lights, according to Portland Public Schools. “Right now, our students need more opportunities to connect in person and outside of school,” said parent Virginia La Forte, when asked about the impact of stadium lights.
Perfect Time for a Reset: Grant Bowl Neighbors Uncover Field History Between PPS & Parks & Rec
La Forte says…”With a lease agreement that allows PPS to go ahead and make investments they need to make…it opens up the opportunity for later practices, home games, and stops cutting into instructional time and homework time for students who are constantly traveling to do anything outdoors related to school.”
PBS Citizen Nation and Portland High School Victory in National Civic Competition
Members of the Grant High School Constitution Team celebrate their win at We the People national civic competition in Washington D.C. (Photo by Virginia La Forte)
Note: I had the privilege of attending the “We the People” Constitutional Competition in Washington D.C. with the 2024 national champions from PPS’s Grant High School and third place winners from Lincoln High School. They were all incredible. I may have only received this photo credit but I have to include it because watching them all win was the thrill of a lifetime! — Virginia
‘It’s a priority’: Portland School Board votes to replace Grant Bowl Turf ‘as soon as possible’
“(Grant is) the only PPS high school without lights and seating and now, thanks to Parks, we don’t have a field,” said Virginia La Forte, who has as senior at the school. “It’s really a slap in the face to Grant students.” She and other parents urged the board to pass the resolution, which would push the district toward a long-term lease of the field, giving the school more control on improvements and maintenance moving forward.
‘Very elevated lead levels’ found in two Hayhurst School Classrooms
“We feel very confident that the staff and the faculty here are doing everything necessary to make sure our kids are safe,” said Robbie Long. But Virginia La Forte, a lead safety advocate, said — not so fast. “Right now there needs to be a crash course in lead safety,” she said. “Whether parents want to believe it or not, they’re in the same situation every day in hundreds of classrooms across the district; they need to know that it’s okay to say something.”
Where the lead lurks: Dangerous Paint More Pervasive in Portland Schools
La Forte harnessed outrage over tainted drinking water to get the district to address the paint problem too. The district painted more during the summer of 2016 than it had in years. The school board also made room on its long-planned ballot measure to tackle lead in paint and water…that will allow the district to tackle all peeling and flaking paint in every school. “If you told me three years ago I would be standing in a room talking about a bond that has 100 percent lead paint stabilization in it, I would have told you you were crazy,” said La Forte, who is on the Bond Advisory Stakeholder Committee.
Dangerous lead paint on Alameda Elementary playground prompts partial closure
Former Alameda parent Virginia La Forte, who first raised the issue of lead hazards at the school in 2013, complained vehemently to the school board on June 28. She told the board that district employees failed to act on test results, including air quality tests, that repeatedly showed elevated lead paint hazards around the school. “Out of an abundance of caution, the district closed off access to all three areas identified as having lead paint dust…” Lead paint debris is by far the leading cause of lead poisoning in young children in Oregon, health authority data shows.
OPB Think Out Loud with Dave Miller: News Roundtable
Virginia La Forte joins us to share the story of finding lead paint at her son's school and Portland Public Schools's slow response to the contamination.
Portland Schools struggle with More Potent Toxic Scare: Lead Paint
Two years ago, a persistent mom forced Oregon’s largest school district to acknowledge an abundance of lead-tainted paint outside Northeast Portland’s Alameda Elementary. It was only after Virginia La Forte, a mom of a second-grader and preschooler, pressed for more repairs that the district paid a certified firm to cover nearly all of the schools wooden exterior with fresh lead-free paint. “They have the opportunity to make it right,” she said. “At the end of the day, all that matters is that these buildings are cleaned up and that kids are safe.”
District Fixing Lead Paint Problem at Portland School
Virginia La Forte saw a report from October, 2013 that documented lead paint chipping and flaking on the school building. "I know they saw those results. Somebody at the school district should've seen those results and done something immediately," La Forte said. "They've done nothing except maybe clean up some paint chips." KATU on Thursday met with the district's operations manager, Tony Magliano, to introduce him to La Forte and show him her concerns.