Ockley Green Middle School

Ockley Green is a public school in North Portland that educates 4^th-​8^th graders (roughly 9 to 13 year olds). The school is huge, full of lots of resources including arts, sciences, dance, an enormous gym and a fabulous greenspace with adjacent educational garden currently run by Growing Gardens. Some reviewers have likened this greenspace to an off leash dog park. Certainly all the dogs of the world would love to run free chasing sticks and frisbees to their heart’s content. Sadly, the life of a city dog is not unbridled and has limits. Please scoop your dog’s poop and keep your dog on a leash when at Ockley Green School.

We live in a very dog-​friendly community, thus resulting in a plethora of off leash parks, dog friendly restaurants, stores and the like.
However, school grounds are maintained by the parents of children who attend those schools. The school playground should be a safe, welcoming and well manicured place for children to play. Period. It’s not a dog park.
Whether dog owners agree or not, there is a large population of society that has a fear of dogs. Children and their parents should be able to play on a playground without fear of an off-​leash dog running in their direction.
There is a reason we still have leash laws in Oregon, which I find more and more people breaking every time I go to a neighborhood park or walk my own dog down the street on his leash.
Please do not use Ockley Green as your local dog-​park. It is a place where children should feel welcome and safe any time of day; whether school is in or not.