It was announced last week, that for the first time since Benson opened its doors nearly 100-years ago, a drafting major will NOT be part of the curriculum come September 2010. In 2007, the Engineering Drafting major was removed from the course offerings and the Architectural Drafting is scheduled to be closed in June of this year. At this time, it is unclear if all drafting classes will be discontinued, but if any survive this cut, it will only be a 9-week introductory class to AutoCAD making it the only drafting class in Portland Public Schools.
The primary reason for the closure is the low enrollment numbers not only in the drafting program, but school wide. Benson has lost over 300 students in the past 5-years bringing the total enrollment to barely 1000 and the number keep declining every year.
Drafting is only one of many programs that have been cut or condensed in the past 20-years and Benson has not reinstated or introduced a new career/technical program in over 30 years. If you do not wish to see another one lost, please take a moment to write the school principal, the district superintendent, and school board.
I also ask that you take a few moments during Tech Show to visit with Mr. Wong. He has spent nearly 30-years devoting his life to teaching students how to draw isometric and multi-view drawings whether they wanted to learn them or not. Just don’t tell him I sent you.