Murdock-Portal Elementary School

Louis Portal Elementary School
Address
1188 Wunderlich Drive San Jose, California, 95129  United States
Coordinates	37°18′14″N 121°59′55″W / 37.3039°N 121.9987°W / 37.3039; -121.9987Coordinates: 37°18′14″N 121°59′55″W / 37.3039°N 121.9987°W / 37.3039; -121.9987
Information
Type	Public
Established	1996
Grades	K–5 (formerly K to 6)
Color(s)	black, white, and teal
Song	There's A Place
Mascot	Penguins
Website	www.cupertino.k12.ca.us/Portal.www

Murdock-Portal Elementary School (formerly known as Louis Portal Elementary School, commonly known as Portal Elementary School) is a public elementary school and magnet school in San Jose, California serving students from Kindergarten through Fifth grade (formerly Kindergarten through Sixth grade). It is a member of the Cupertino Union School District, and is consistently one of the top five elementary schools in California, often second-best. Graduates usually go to Miller, Hyde, Kennedy, Lawson, or Cupertino Middle Schools, and the FUHSD high schools.

History

Louis Portal Elementary School existed for some time during the 1960s and '70s (in the front of the school—there is a plaque commemorating the original founding—but the school in its current form began in the school year of 1994–1995. For that year, the school was K–5, as the school administration thought it foolish to keep students for just one year (it still keeps that policy). The next year, the school expanded to K–6, and stayed that way for seven years afterward, until it decided to contract back to K–5, due to declining Sixth grade enrollment figures.

Originally, the magnet school was to focus on both science and technology. However, when it became clear that the science curriculum was not different enough from other district schools to warrant the special distinction, Portal became known exclusively as the district's "technology" alternative school.

The Move

In 2003, with the planned conversion of Collins Elementary School into a needed new middle school because it was located on one of the district’s largest sites, the Board of Education chose to move Collins – a neighborhood school – to the nearby Portal site. Portal, an alternative school that served children from throughout the 26-square-mile (67 km²) district, was moved not only to another site, but to another city – San Jose (CUSD has schools in six neighboring cities). The site chosen was that of a closed neighborhood school, Murdock Elementary, which had been named for a respected CUSD teacher and administrator, Carol Murdock. Murdock Elementary School was closed in 1980 due to low enrollment. Since its closure, the site housed different educational programs such as a Chinese language school and Gymboree Play & Music. The school site was located beside one of San Jose’s neighborhood parks, Murdock Park.

A multimillion dollar renovation of the school site was accomplished before the move in December 2003.

Uniqueness

Technology

Portal is famous for integrating technology into its curriculum, which is probably due to its relationship with Apple, which is based in the same city as the Cupertino Union School District. Portal is also unique in its village system. In it, each class is multi-age, so that older students can help the younger students. In most subjects, such as Social Studies and Science, the curriculum simply alternates: i.e. 5th grade one year, 4th grade the next year, then 5th Grade again, etc. However, in Math, where grade levels are not interchangeable, students split up into grades and are taught separately.

There are seven villages in 2005–2006 (which have three classes unless otherwise noted).

Village Name	Grade Level	Classes
Adelie	2–3	3
Galapagos	K–1	3
Gentoo	K–1	3
Humboldt (new)	2–3	3
Little Blue	K–1	3
Macaroni	2–3	3
Rockhopper	4–5	6

Note: Macaroni had two classes in 2003–2004.

Village Name (1995–2003)	Grade Level	Classes
Adelie	3–4	3
Galapagos	K–2	4
Gentoo	1–2	2
Little Blue	K–2	4
Macaroni	3–4	3
Rockhopper	5–6	4

In the school's first year, there were just two, apparently unnamed, villages: one K–2 and one 3–5. Each of them had 3 classrooms and 93 students, for a total of 31 students per class, the district maximum.

Lunch Clubs

Like many schools, Portal runs 'lunch clubs' for students. These clubs are entirely organized and staffed by volunteers, and include activities such as chess, running, cooking, and playing computer games.

PEN

Portal Educational Network. A group of fifth graders that split up into 3-4 groups, each group producing 2 "films" over the year, including a variety of things including interviews with assembly performers and authors, safety issues, and covering a wide variety of clubs and performances, giving a brief intro to plays and such. With the help of some technologically gifted teachers, they put together the film and add special effects using I-Movies. They then broadcast their film to the school, giving an update on campus life to the entire demographics.

Yearbook

The Yearbook Club produces the school yearbook each year, also at lunch. The selection process is much the same as that of PEN, with Fifth grade students signing up for the job. The yearbook is mainly a photo scrapbook of the school year, showing pictures of things such as school plays.

Demographics

The school is 83% Asian, 15% White, 1% Hispanic, and 1% Other. An amazing 87% of parents went to graduate school, compared to 11%, the state average.

After School Child Care

Murdock-Portal CDC (Child Development Center) runs the after school-age program and child care facility, co-located next to the school.

See also

• Cupertino Union School District

External links

• Website
• STAR (Standardized Test Scores)
• Information
• Local news about naming dispute
• Murdock Neighborhood Association
• Map of school and Murdock Park
• Former school