The campus of Leadership & Entrepreneurship Public
Charter High School (or LEP, as it’s better known) is barely
that—an unassuming building on East Burnside, this nondescript
facility overflows with students pouring in and out of classrooms,
gossiping in the halls, and being lectured to take their earbuds out
before addressing the faculty. It’s like high school, but without the
school. Nonetheless, the office-like facility feels deliberate. While
most high schools represent a vast rite of teenage passage—from
the structure of the classrooms to the lawlessness of whatever goes on
under the bleachers—LEP is a school with a firm focus on catching
those who fall between the cracks of a traditional high school and
placing them in colleges, internships, and the working world.
That focus is now jeopardized by a Portland Public School Board vote
that could strip the three-year-old school of funding and shutter its
bustling campus for good. With an enrollment of around 250 students,
LEP focuses primarily on entrepreneur opportunities and a hands-on
education for its students, but has struggled financially. Barring an
appeal to the board, the school could close next month.
“The end date is June 8,” says Principal Lorna Fast Buffalo Horse.
“We hope to have some indication before that, because there’s a lot of
planning that has to happen for next year. There’s also a lot of
planning if we don’t get our appeal that we’ll have to do to transition
the kids.” It’s a dire situation, especially considering the at-risk
nature and low-income status of many LEP students—over 60 percent
of their students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches.
Enter Steve Berlin. Known for a variety of musical endeavors—a
longtime member of Los Lobos, and a noted session player (he played on
Paul Simon’s Graceland and even produced Faith No More’s major
label debut)—Berlin also has a far more important role: father to
a LEP student. “Our experience has been nothing short of phenomenal,
which I am quite sure would be the response of every parent at the
school,” Berlin says. “This is a public school available to every high
schooler in Portland that is completely invested in turning out
self-motivated, creative-thinking leaders.”
Berlin’s involvement has stretched beyond singing the praises of the
initiation. He’s a driving force behind the upcoming LEP Rocks! benefit
concert. “We had to come up with a lot of fundraising ideas quickly
when the initial charter reauthorization vote at the Portland Public
School Board went against us,” Berlin explains. “I reached out to
virtually every Portland musician I knew, who in turn reached out to
the musicians they knew, and that’s how we got this stellar
lineup.”
While some benefits are anchored by a single well-meaning name, the
LEP fundraiser is teeming with a confounding number of big-name
artists: the Minus 5 (an acoustic set that will feature Peter Buck of
R.E.M.), Stephen Malkmus, Alec Ounsworth (of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah),
Rebecca Gates (of the Spinanes), Storm Large, and plenty more.
This parade of marquee names is far more than a quaint gesture to
raise cash for the desperate LEP. It’s also about generating
understanding at a time when all schools—not just struggling
charter institutions like LEP—are the victims of budget
shortfalls. Speaking more as a father than a musician, Berlin explains
it best: “None of the parents involved in the battle to keep LEP open
would be fighting this hard if we didn’t think the school was such an
extraordinary place.”