Lincoln High School

Where do I begin? Lincoln High School is what I would describe as, a f**king nightmare. The physical building is literally falling apart. There was mold growing the ceiling of the girl’s bathroom for five f**king moths. Even when the ceiling was falling apart and leaking all they did was put a garbage can underneath. To this day, there is still mold growing in that ceiling. That school has no air conditioning or heater, so summers and winters are unlivable. The school is so over crowed that kids literally have to go to classes at the local church five blocks from the school, plus there are small portables outside where kids also have classes. Not to mention kid have to have classrooms in the school’s basement The food is nothing short of prison food, and unhealthy I might add. The schedule makes no sense and changes every year, for the past two years students didn’t get to have Thanksgiving break due to the parent teacher conference getting moved to October. The teachers are a whole other story. ¹⁄₃ of the teachers honestly don’t give two sh*ts about the children, nor care about swearing in front of students or making idle threats based on race. Honestly don’t send a black kid to Lincoln, or they will be discriminated and be suicidal by the second semester. And finally the children. Speaking from experience, the kids at Lincoln are some of the most judgemental, discriminatory, insecure kids I’ve ever met. If your kid can’t make friends by sophomore your they’re screwed. So all I can say is if your kid said they want to go to Lincoln send them to Jesuit. Because sending your kid to Lincoln means planning a funeral for your soon to be suicidal son/​daughter. And I attended Lincoln for 3 years so I know.

My son, who attends LHS for the IB program, has been making his homework and generally likes all his teachers — a completely new situation for me. We moved to Portland from the Netherlands, where he did little or nothing, and I am so happy to see him enjoying school, making new friends (whom I all like when I meet them), attending the Iron Chef Wednesday lunches, and thinking about his future and what he really wants to do with his life. When we attended the parent/​teacher conferences together in October, he received one compliment after another from his teachers.
Already encouraged by Ms. Chapman, the Principal, who answered my emails personally, and the really nice staff at LHS, who helped with documents and requirements for the IB and regular high school attendance, I realized that in real terms LHS has meant so much more for us. It was the base from which we chose our home and has helped determine our location and views on Portland.
We like, no make that love, weird!!! Thank you Lincoln and thank you Stumptown.

Two of my children have gone through Lincoln and have both had very good experiences. But I am very bothered by their habit of letting any student attend regardless of their district or county. I pay the outrageous Multnomah County taxes and to see so many students from Beaverton is very frustrating.
I understand accepting kids from other schools within Multnomah County, but outside the County, where we do not receive the tax base to help support Lincoln is not right.
Yes, I know that they ask the parents to have a friend let them put a utility bill in their name, but that is not the same as living in the district and paying taxes.
Come on Lincoln… stop the influx.

So this is where I went to high school. I won’t say what year that was. I was a magnet student doing both international studies and International Baccalaureate (IB). I have to say that it treated me really well. The academics here were really great. I decided that I love science here. (Thank you Nancy Lapotin!) Then I decided that polymers and chemistry would be my field of choice while in chemistry class here. Well, now I have an M.S. in polymer science and engineering and work as a polymer chemist. Mr. Sky helped get me into good colleges and the scholarships that I needed to pay for them. When I did go off to a good New England college, the academics were easy compared to the IB program at Lincoln. I was more than prepared for college. It’s been a long time, so the place may have changed a lot. However, I will always be incredibly grateful for all of the help and education that the teachers and guidance counselors here gave to me.