Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 3, 2007)
BY NANCY WILLARD No Reasonable Options School district has created a quandary O n Nov. 29, the Eugene 4J superintendent told the Eastside alternative school that there was no longer room for it at Parker and the school would have to move. What happens next will pro- vide a clear demonstration of whether the dis- trict really intends to abide by its mission of “equal access and opportunities for all stu- dents” or not. Let’s clearly lay out the situation about Eastside. Segregation. Eastside is a highly segregated alternative school. The district’s neighborhood ele- mentary schools have an average of 43 percent of stu- dents on free and reduced lunch (FRL — a measure of income), and the remaining al- ternative schools at 21 percent FRL (2007-08 data). Only 4 percent of Eastside stu- dents are on free and reduced lunch. When it reviewed Eastside, the Alternative School Review Committee noted: “[W]e found a relatively homogeneous student body consisting of classrooms of mostly bright, motivated children with little evidence of diversity… [W]e did observe some instances of minority children and children who appeared to have special needs who were disengaged for the duration of the lessons we observed, with no in- dication from the teacher of any instructional techniques aimed at engaging those children in the lesson. … While the school culture at Eastside is welcoming to the stu- dents it has, we are not confident that Eastside realizes the intricacies and chal- lenges inherent in providing a truly supportive school culture for diverse popula- tions.” Co-location tensions. After the alternative school review, the board concluded that it was unwise to continue the co-location of alternative schools with neighbor- hood schools because of the identified tensions between the “have” school and the “have not” schools in one building. Every co-located neighborhood school noted routine denigration of its community by the alternative school community. Rather than fix the inequities, the district apparently intends to make the daily evidence of the inequities less apparent. It its report to the district, Eastside blamed the building tensions on Parker. “[T]he recommendation that co-location should be ended because of tensions be- tween schools — has given the strong impression that divisive behavior by those op- posed to co-location will be rewarded with policy change.” School size. In the “Shaping Eugene’s Future” newsletter, the district noted the most effective size for an elementary schools is 300–400 students. Eastside cur- rently has 144 students. So what are the options for Eastside? Move into Harris so it can denigrate that school community. Move into Adams to take the place of Hillside in denigrating that school community. Require one of the charter schools to move from Willard. (Eventually the district will need to move Charlemagne because it will never become integrated in the south hills and the Willard building seems to be the most logical.) Revive Hillside from the dead and kick out a neighborhood school to make a place for these two elitist, segregated schools. Try to find room at Dunn, where it would be half the size of the district’s stated en- rollment standard. Essentially, there are no reasonable options for Eastside that would not signifi- cantly disrupt others, violate the district’s expressed guidelines or interfere with fu- ture options. In the near future, the district will announce plans for other changes that will disrupt other school communities. Will the district bend over backwards to save this too-small, highly segregated, elitist school, which its own review commit- tee thought was unlikely to be able to change? Listen to the district’s words extolling its dedication to equality and diversity. Or watch its actions. The district’s actions will express its true values. Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D., is known in Eugene as the 1985 Eugene Celebration S.L.U.G. Queen and self- described “chief complainer” about Eugene 4J segregation and inequities. She is also director of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use and a mother of three children who attend 4J schools. WHO YOU GONNA BLAME? EDITORIAL Editor Ted Taylor Classified Marketing Consultant/Reception Jayme Fuller News Editor Alan Pittman Reporter Camilla Mortensen Arts & Music Editor Molly Templeton Performing & Visual Arts/Copy Editor Suzi Steffen Calendar Editor Chuck Adams Contributing Editor Anita Johnson Contributing Writers Sara Brickner, Jason Blair, Joshua Blanchard, Amanda Burhop, Jes Burns, Brett Campbell, Rachael Carnes, Michael Cockram, Rachel Foster, Phillip Getty, Anna Grace, James Johnston, Zach Klassen, Sarah Mazze, Sharleen Nelson, Mary O’Brien, Jeremy Ohmes, Aaron Ragan-Fore, Vanessa Salvia, Steven Sawada, Sally Sheklow, Lance Sparks, Eva Sylwester, Deanna Uutela, Adrienne van der Valk Interns Katie Cornell, Anne Pick BUSINESS Director of Sales and Marketing Bill Shreve ART DEPARTMENT Art Director/Production Manager Kevin Dougherty Graphic Artist/Webmaster James Bateman Graphic Artists Shannon Browning, Barbara Cooper, Todd Cooper Baby Samara Cooper Contributing Photographers Kurt Jensen, Paul Neevel ADVERTISING National Sales Manager Mark Frisbee Display Marketing Consultant John Allen, Jennifer Donohue, Mary Hendricks, Rob Weiss Classified Manager Geneva “the Goddess” Miller 6 JANUARY 3, 2008, 2007 Circulation Manager Jen-Lin Hodgden Controller Paula Hoemann Distributors Bob Becker, Kolia Guinsbourg, Ben Kraker, Susan and David Lawson, Robin Miller, Pedalers Express, Quickdraw Tim Risch, Jacob Zapata Printing Signature Graphics HOW TO REACH US BY E-MAIL: (letters): editor@eugeneweekly.com (advertising): ads@eugeneweekly.com (classifieds): classy@eugeneweekly.com (personals): personals@eugeneweekly.com (calendar): cal@eugeneweekly.com (music/clubs/special shows): music@eugeneweekly.com (art/openings/galleries): visualarts@eugeneweekly.com (performance/theater): performance@eugeneweekly.com (literary arts/readings): books@eugeneweekly.com (movies/film screenings): movies@eugeneweekly.com (circulation): distribution@eugeneweekly.com TO THE EDITOR tive forest logging to protect the climate, both globally (due to forests’ carbon storage and se- questration capabilities) and regionally (as log- ging causes desertification and drought) To further explore the connection between forests and climate and to help bring together the climate and forest protection movements, on Saturday, Jan. 26, from 10 am to 5 pm at the UO’s 177 Lawrence Hall, Cascadia’s Ecosystem Advocates, Native Forest Council and GreenwashEugene.com (with 16 regional cosponsors) will present “Clearcutting the Climate,” a conference of science and action. The conference features OSU scientists dis- cussing the role of forest carbon, panels expos- ing timber industry climate change propa- ganda and the link between deforestation and desertification, and a workshop to find com- mon ground between forest and climate advo- cacy. It will be videorecorded and uploaded to our website Forestclimate.org, where it will be available along with other information on the link between forests and climate change. Attendance is free, though donations are accepted (and appreciated!). Please RSVP at conference@forestclimate.org. Call 688-2600 for more info. Josh Schlossberg Eugene KEEP TO THE RIGHT Regarding Christelle Munnelly’s letter to the editor titled “Give Us Our Lane” (11/21), she only had it part right. What she had right was that it’s certainly not acceptable for a driver to say, “Get the fuck out of the road” to a bicyclist, and that where necessary, under cer- tain conditions, the bicyclist has the right to use the full lane. What she had wrong was that actually, the Oregon rules of the road actually DO require bicyclists — generally — to use “a teeny por- tion [of the road] all the way to the right.” What the relevant Oregon statute (ORS 814.430) ac- tually says is: “A person commits the offense of improper use of lanes by a bicycle if the per-
