CHOOSING TO CLOSE
SCHOOLS FOR THE POOR
The 4J School Board gave little indication last
week, Feb. 13, that they would alter the recommenda-
tion of Superintendent George Russell to force the
poor, largely Latino children out of a neighborhood el-
ementary school in South Eugene to give the building
to whiter and wealthier alternative school children.
Russell recommended last week to close Harris, a
neighborhood elementary, and give its building to the
Eastside and Charlemagne alternative schools. Harris
is 67 percent free and reduced lunch while Eastside is 5
percent and the Charlemagne French Immersion
school is 10 percent. Harris is 25 percent Latino while
Wyatt Burns
Eastside and Charlemagne are both 1 percent Latino.
Kristen Larson, a parent of three Harris children, told the board that the deci-
sion to close Harris for the alternative schools was “basic discrimination against
the lower income families.” Larsen said, “If you support these recommendations,
shame on you.”
But not a single board member gave clear indication that they did not support
the recommendation.
School Board Member Charles Martinez did question how it was decided that
the alternative schools would have an “immunization from closure” during the dis-
trict’s “Schools of the Future” process, intended to consolidate schools due to de-
clining enrollment and supposedly to reduce inequities. “I don’t think that’s consis-
tent with board direction.”
Russell admitted that school board minutes clearly show that closing an alter-
native school should be “open for consideration.”
So why didn’t Russell recommend closing alternative schools to boost enroll-
ment at neighborhood schools?
Russell said if the board directed him to close the alternative schools, “I’m
happy to do that.” But he said it was his impression that the board had eliminated
that option. “I felt that was not really on the table in light of the decisions that had
been made previously.”
Russell said that he was also recommending that unlike every other school,
Charlemagne French Immersion students would be immune from his recommenda-
tion to limit transfers to Roosevelt Middle School and South Eugene High School.
The French immersion students would be given automatic places at the two popu-
lar schools even if they did not reside in the appropriate school boundary.
Charlemagne students would take French immersion slots at the school, bumping
out other students who may want to attend the schools for the other popular pro-
grams they offer.
An Eastside parent testified to the board reading a statement from her school’s
parent group thanking the superintendent for giving the Harris building to them.
“Our community appreciates and supports George Russell’s recommendation.”
James Riggs, a single father of three children at Harris, told the board his son
Wyatt has attention deficit disorder and depends on the helpful relationships he’s
established with staff at Harris. “If he gets moved to a new school, he will be lost.
There will be no future for him.” — Alan Pittman
FROM SCHOOL TO STRIP MALL
The former Santa Clara Elementary School site may be converted into about
85,000 sq. ft. of shops, banks and restaurants and 250 parking spaces under a pro-
posal before the Eugene City Council.
Santa Clara is the first of several sites School District 4J has proposed closing
and rezoning to maximize a selling price. Other sites include Fox Hollow
Elementary, Coburg Elementary, Willard Elementary and Civic Stadium.
The proposal by Oregon West Management includes a 15,000 sq. ft. pharmacy, a
bank, coffee shop and small plaza and small area for an open air market. The pro-
posal near Hunsaker and River Road also includes 43 adjacent residential units.
Neighborhood leaders expressed concern over the prospect of a large commer-
cial project in testimony before the Eugene Planning Commission last October.
Kate Perle said River Road should not be turned into another West 11th Avenue and
that the project failed to actually mix sufficient residential units in with the com-
mercial development.
Catherine Lesiak wrote to the commission that it should not allow “huge strip
mall” congestion at the important site of the school that served as the center of the
neighborhood. “The proposed development is business as usual corporate com-
mercial,” she wrote.
The Planning Commission voted 4-2 on Nov. 19 to approve the proposal. The City
Council is scheduled March 10 to make the final decision on the zoning and plan
amendments needed for the development. — Alan Pittman
8 FEBRUARY 21, 2008 EUGENE WEEKLY
news
briefs
OLCV RATES
COUNCILORS,
COMMISSIONERS
An analysis of selected environmental
votes released this week by the Oregon
League of Conservation Voters (OLCV)
points to a distinctly polarized Eugene City
Council. However, Mayor Kitty Piercy’s role
as a tie-breaker swung the council to an over-
all 61 percent approval rating for the past two
years, about the same as 2004-2005, and
much improved over 2002-2003 when Jim
Torrey was mayor.
Councilors Poling, Solomon and Clark all
got zero marks on the OLCV’s environmen-
tal scorecard and Pryor got a 27 percent rat-
ing. Earning 100 percent ratings were
Bettman, Taylor, Kelly (while in office),
Zelenka (while in office) and Ortiz. Piercy
got an 89 percent rating on the issues she
voted on.
“We’re lucky to have a mayor who under-
stands the importance of leaving a great envi-
ronmental legacy for our children,” said Jan
Wilson of the OLCV.
At the County Commission, the numbers
have improved, due in large part to the re-
placement of zero-rated Anna Morrison with
100
percent-rated
Bill
Fleenor.
Commissioner Bobby Green earned a 47 per-
cent rating, Faye Stewart 53 percent, Bill
Dwyer 93 percent and Pete Sorenson 100
percent.
To come up with the ratings, the OLCV
Lane County chapter looked at key votes on
disputed issues with environmental impacts.
At the city level, the issues dealt with
stormwater pre-treatment, wetlands protec-
tion, creating and funding the Sustainability
Commission, supporting the Endangered
Species Act, limiting sprawl, supporting re-
gional planning, increasing park funding,
protecting farmland, protecting the Amazon
Headwaters and approving pedestrian-ori-
ented development.
At the county level, multiple votes each
concerned protecting farmland, limiting
sprawl and improving air quality. Other is-
sues included pesticide exposure and protect-
ing Oregon’s coastline from development.
Visit www.olcv.org/lane for more detailed
information.
SLUMLORD
CODE TO
EXPAND
During the first two years of the city’s
rental housing code program, tenants called
the city 815 times. But 410 of those calls
were related to bad rental issues not covered
by the code.
So now city staff are recommending that
the City Council add mold, security and
smoke detector problems to the code. The
current code addresses only structural in-
tegrity, plumbing, heating and weatherproof-
ing.
The city has found 106 legitimate com-
plaints of violations of the housing code in
the past two years. On five occasions, the city
fined landlords for lack of response to orders
to fix problems.
The city funds enforcement by collecting
an annual $10 fee for each rental unit from
the 27,000 rentals in the city. Last year the
program had a $76,000 budget surplus, but
the city expects higher enforcement costs
from extending the program to the other
problem areas. — Alan Pittman
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