Measure 5 ax may cut award-winning teacher’s job
TIGARD (AP) —
Barbara Bannister
was Oregon’s win
ner of the IQbl Pres
idential Award for
Math and Science
Teaching and has won several other hon
ors during 15 years in the classroom, but
she may be out of work soon.
She spent most of her career at Port
land Public Schools, but the Tignrd
Tualatin School District’s strong commit
ment to elementary science drew her to
that district.
However, as a first-year teacher, Ban
nister’s job at lames Templeton Elemen
tary School may wind up on the chop
ping block under budget cuts forced by
1990's Ballot Measure 5.
To school officials, Bannister is a prime
example of how they’ve I wen able to pro
vide the best for students in this fast
growing suburb in Washington County
Until now. that is. The consequence* of
Measure 5 and the Oregon Legislature's
proposed school budget cuts are coming
home to the district in the state's most
affluent county.
"It's real scary." said Bannister "I'm
not assured of a job just because I have a
presidential acvard I don't know. It's
hard to teach these days "
Until this year, the district's biggest
problem had learn hiring enough teachers
and building enough classrooms to keep
pace with its student growth from rapid
housing development.
However, next year the district is look
ing at cutting lHfi staff positions, includ
ing 105 teachers, to help fill a $12.7 mil
lion shortfall. Layoff notices will go out to
teachers next week.
Iron it ally, in the Tigard-Tualatin area,
voters have appro veil every propertv tax
levy and bond measure tn the last decade
And the Tigard S< hool Hoard kept pa< e
with other well-to-do districts last year,
agreeing to give teachers annual pay
increases of fi percent over each of the
next three years.
Hannister’s i lassroom symbolizes the
district's commitment to education It is
filled with a row of computers, an assort
ment of caged hugs and animats, and a
rich variety of books and science sup
plies. So does the new high school that
opened this year, along with a new mid
die school
"Wo ve always heen able to do the
things we thought were best for kids
said Rich Carlson. an attorney who heads
the school hoard "We always had the
financial capability to do that Now . we
don’t
Tint Tigard schools arc in the same
position as thu 81 si hoot districts m the
state that have not received increases in
state aid situ e Measure T> passed ill 1(190
These distru ts — which include most
of the urban and suburban schools that
educate the hulk of Oregon's youths
had been spending above the state aver
age on si bools and were primarily
responsible for the state's generally good
reputation for education
Lately. Tigard's rapid growth it has
added Z.400 children in the last three
years alone has left the distru I with
Imam ml problems that threaten to
reverse its progress Tigard has not gotten
any more state aid for its extra students as
the state instead diverted money to poor
er districts
Native American activist aims for pride
NATIONAL
DENVER (AP) — Twenty years
ago he led a 71-day occupation at
Wounded Knee. S.D., and federal
agents hauled hint away. He defac ed
a statue of Christopher Columbus,
and the court said it was free speech
He was cnargoci wnn muraer ana Hxoneraiou. n«
joined the Moonies ont:e, and he tried running for presi
dent twice.
During the past quarter-century, the American Indian's
most visible activist and crusader has been Russell
Means.
The takeover of Wounded Knee by 300 members of the
American Indian Movement on Feb. 27, 1973. was the
Indians' "finest hour," Means says.
The armed Indian activists occupied Wounded Knee,
sight of an Indian massacre by federal troops in 1890. to
demand a Senate investigation of the plight of American
Indians. The occupation ended with two AIM members
killed and two federal agents wounded.
Before the Wounded Knee occupation. Means said in
an interview, ' There was no advocate for Indian people
anywhere in the United States of America. Now. virtual
ly every Indian community are advocates for them
selves."
With his dark, chiseled features worn by his 53 years
and his many experiences, Means seldom smiles. But his
recollections are peppered with laughter as he describes
the odd turns his life has taken.
"I've always been in defense of being an Indian." ho
says.
One of his earliest memories is going to the first-grade
in Huron. S.D.. in 1945 ond being taunted by a younger
boy — blond-haired and fair-skinned.
"He called me a nigger." Means says. "I didn't know
what ‘nigger’ meant — so 1 liked the term."
But then he told his grandmother about the incident,
and she set him straight He was being disparaged, not
praised.
That first exposure to racism helped shape hi* view of
the world.
"My ultimate aim is the reinstitution of pride and self
‘My ultimate aim is the
reinstitution of pride and self
dignity of the Indian in America
Russell Means,
Oglaia Lakola activist
dignity of the Indian in America." Means sa\s
His first aspiration was to be a high school history
teacher, but he changed his mind and l»s .line an an mili
tant, wanting "to be rich " He took a joti in I'll)? with a
government-funded Indian relocation experiment in
Cleveland.
Two years later, he discovered AIM Its members were
"very well-prepared and came with expertise, he
recalled.
Meuns soon became an activist in his own right He
and several other Indian activists disrupted Cleveland s
175th anniversary celebration, and he partu ipaled in a
week-long takeover of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in
Washington, D C . the very entity that had given him the
job in Cleveland.
Since then. Means has lived the life ol an Oglalu Lako
ta militant activist, and ho looks the part, dressed in den
im. wearing Indian jewelry and his long black braids
wrapped in leather-studded braid covers
lust ask Hollywood.
Means played a key supporting role in the movie The
List of the Mohicans, depicting the stoic Mohican elder
Chingagchook. He is pleased that he has been accepted
by a medium that he thought would be forever closed to
him.
"It's a tremendous voice, a tremendous tool," he says
Means wants to produce a movie to educate the Amer
ican people about Indians and is discussing the project
with several production studios.
*T‘ve become more optimistic," he says. "The doors are
opening I'm going to create ... it's u movement of our
ancestors "
Woman denied salary
will sue Northwestern
CHICAGO (Al*) /.eng l.i Yang liiotiglil she
had Ilui promise of Si2.000 ,i year to go with a jolt
at Northwestern Ihiiversitv and tier new life in
America
She received no money for two years And
w hen her huslumd sought pay on her behalf, she
was beaten up by the man who recruited and
eventually fired her
The story of Yang, a graduate of a Beijing uni
versity, has prod in ed protests and petitions on
campus
Yang turned down $32,000 offered by North
western, choosing to file a lawsuit It was the set
ond recent lawsuit involving alleged mistreatment
of women at Northwestern
Yang's history with the university began in
10*10, when she w as on mill'd from Heipng College
of Traditional (Chinese Medicine by l-ang Xia, one
of her former teat hers
A 10*10 letter to Y ang from Professor | Peter
Kosenfeld said she would work at Northwestern
from Sept 1, 1*100, to May 31, 1903. for an annual
salary of $12,000. a* < orcling to a copy of the let
ter provided by Yang's lawyer. Jonathan bustig
She eared for and observed rats at a psychology
laboratory in a study of the effor ts of opiate deriv
atives, l.ustig said
To survive without pay. Yang * hopped vegeta
bles in a student cafeteria and her husband
worked as a busboy. l.ustig said They lived in n
one-room apartment with furniture donated by a
church, he said
Northwestern said in a statement last week that
Yang signed on agreement with Xia that she
wouldn't get paid, though Yang denies it and
Northwestern wouldn’t produce a copy of the
agreement
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