The Associated Press

EUGENE — Teachers and staff members at a Eugene high school have voted to continue with plans to break the large school into three separate learning academies.

The school was one of eight in Oregon selected to receive a grant from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Meyer Memorial Trust to divide into smaller schools, in an effort to boost student achievement.

But some staffers at North Eugene High School had doubts about the plan, leading to the anonymous vote over whether the school should proceed with the split.

A committee of both critics and supporters of the small-schools plan had agreed in advance that they needed a two-thirds majority to move forward. The vote was 72 percent in favor.

"I was relieved it's over,'' said Principal Peter Tromba, who has tried in recent months to calm concern over the proposed change among his staff, students and community. "I'm really excited — I just think it's the best thing for kids. It's been so stressful. I haven't slept the last couple of days. But now we don't have to keep asking ‘if' — now it's ‘how.' "

Casandra Kamens, a French teacher in her eighth year at North, was among those who voted against making the change.

"I voted no because I don't feel as a school right now we have a clear vision of why we're going forward,'' she said.

But other teachers, even some who confessed to having lingering concerns and questions, said they believe that the small-schools model holds great potential.

"I was nervous, but I know it's best for the kids,'' said fourth-year teacher Jesse Sherman, the yearbook adviser. "It's not going to be best for the teachers — it's going to be hard work.''

North Eugene's $900,000 grant is being used primarily for travel to visit other schools, training and staff time for planning. Staff members have come up with proposals for seven schools, each with a distinct focus; by the end of the year, with input from staff, parents and students, three to five will be selected.

At least one will open in the fall of 2006, the rest in 2007.

Had the vote gone the other way, North Eugene might have been the first of scores of schools around the nation to turn down the remainder of a Gates Foundation small-schools grant.

Karen Phillips, director of the Gates-affiliated Oregon Small Schools Initiative, said she hadn't heard of any others who rejected the grant.

As it was, Phillips said, North Eugene was the only grantee in Oregon to take a second vote on whether to move ahead.

"But I would guess that in all schools there are moments when they say this work is very, very, very hard, are we sure this is the direction we want to go,'' she said.

Tromba said he'll now focus on planning as well as bringing the staff back together after an anxious and sometimes divisive chapter.

"It's been bad. Yesterday was the worst day,'' said Tromba. "There were rumors, there was all this lobbying going on. ... Now it's a time of healing. People are going to come together — our staff is very strong.''