Portland Observer
Whats going on in Portland Schools
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DR. JEFFREY BRADY, DENTIST
SEM LER B U IL D IN G
S.W. 3rd & Morrison St. Portland, Oregon
Take Elevator to 2nd Floor 3rd St. Entrance
Phon«: 2 2 8 - 7 5 4 5
My perception of citizen
participation ia that of iuy
man input in the decision
making process by those
whom the decisions will af
feet. The expression "citizen
participation" in Portland has
climbed in stature over the
past eight years with the
advent of federal social pro
grams, like Model Cities,
that required the involve
ment of neighborhood c iti
zens. This has been healthy.
Citizen involvement in the
operation of the Portland
Public Schools has been a
component of the school sys
tem almost from the begin
ning of the district itself
more than KM) years ago.
More than 25.(MM) citizens
currently participate in the
school decision making pro
cess in a variety of roles.
They serve as members of
parent teacher associations,
dads* dubs, booster cluba,
alumni groups, finance com
mittees, advisory committees,
and boards and volunteers in
the schools. Both now and in
the past, the variety of eiti
zen participation opportuni
ties has been widespread.
Citizens have served in ad
visory capacities in such di
verse roles as: members of
central, area and local text
book selection committees;
career and vocational advi
sory committees on the cen
tral. area and l<x-ai school
levels: special blue ribbon
study or investigation com
mittees appointed to advise
the Board from lime to time.
PTA voluntary service in
meeting special school prob
lems; tutorial and other vol
unteer service activities; and.
independent citizens groups
participating in school sup
port and Board member
screening activities.
Many of lh»- advisory and
general assistance groups in
solving citizens are origi
nated and limited to partici
pation at the individual school
level. Literally dozens exist
for subject matter advice
from experts concerning vo
rational training. The major
examples of this arc Benson
High School, which has some
fifty vocational advisory
groups and Monroe High
School.
Another category of citizen
involvement in the schools is
in (he area of special ad
visory units appointed by the
Board «if Education to make
recommendations regarding
specific problems or issues.
When such groups have com
pic ted the a s s ig n m e n ts
handed to them, they have
ceased to exist.
Among recent examples of
such groups have been the:
Committee on Hare and Edu
cation, appointed in 1964 to
study race and eipial educa
tional opportunity in the
Portland Public Schools; anil,
the more recent. Citizens
( ummillee on School F inance,
appointed in 1972 to make
recommendations to the
Board of Education in the
area oi school finance, due to*
the desperate fiscal condition
of the district at that time.
These blue ribbon committees
have produced im portant
changes in the schools.
Another aspect of citizen
involvement recently «lemon
strated is in I hi- effort to
move facility changes and
program changes into the
public arena for discussion
and suggestion such as plans
Io convert Binnsmead to an
intermediate school.
The district has Is-en the
beneficiary of several inde
pendent citizens groups or
ganized to provide specific
services or support to the
schools.
I Ine such group,
Portland School Support
Committee, has provided a
screening cominitt«-e Io inter
view candidate* for the Board
of Education. One«- ri-com
mendations are made, this
committee provides funds and
campaign assistance to those
individuals it supports.
Most recently the Schools
lor the City committee or
ganized its«-lf to help in pre
senting the school story in
elections, assist in legislative
work, and promote school
community elections.
The
group is entirely independent
of the school hoard and
school administration.
Still another recent phe
nomena has been the advent
of an increased E'ederal in
terest in the schools. With it
has come a mandatory sys
tem of advisory committees
designed to get citizen input
in planning and operating
various school programs.
Up to the present time,
some 32 separate advisory
committees are in operation
in connection with federal
programs.
These o|*cratc
in connection » ilh such pro
grams as Headstart. Follow-
through, Title I, the Kmer
gency School Aid Act and
Career O pportunities Pro
gram. More than 46(1 |>er
sons are involved.
Still
further citizen involvement is
prov ided through the Resi
dential Manpower Center,
operated through the U.S.
Department of Labor. Voca
NAACP charges racism
The NAACP. W e s t e r n
Moreover, despite 5.7 per
Region, has filed an official cent of all graduate students
report with Governor Ronald at the university being Black
Reagan charging President only 1 per ren t of the
Charles Hitch and the Uni
research assistants h i r e d
versity of California with within the last two years is
discrimination in employment Black.
against Hlacks at the faculty
None of the 100 top man
and student employment le
agement persons reporting
vel and in all non academic to President Hitch (the per
positions.
sons who determine whether,
The report contends that in fact, the segregated insti
the university has a worse tut ion is to be changed I are
employment record than any Black.
institution except the Uni
The report requests that
verstiy of Mississippi, and the governor appoint a spec
that segregated facilities in ial committ«-e from outside
Alabama in the 1960’s pro
the university, within 30
vided greater opportunities days, to investigate.
to Blacks than does the
present University of Cali
fornia system.
For example, only 37 of
the more than 4200 tenured
faculty at the university are
Black, and only 4 per cent of
Assistant Attorney Gener
the craftsmen at the uni
al
J. Stanley P ö ttin ge r
versity are Black, and only 4
announced the creation of an
per rent of the craftsmen at
Office of Indian Rights with
the university are Black.
in the Civil Rights Division
tional Villag«- also operates
with the aid of iiolh general
and specific advisory com
mittees.
Prior to 1969, while a
great deal of citizen involve
inent existed lh«- district
was not organized on an area
level and citizen involvement
effort* lacked lh«- direction
and stress of Uxlay.
The character of involve
ment has changed through
provision for organized ave
nues of eitizen involvement
through area and local school
citizen advisory. Each of the
three geographic areas of the
school district has its own
citizen advisory committee.
One of the goals of these
committees is to provide a
link for greater citizen in
volvement an«l participation
in the schools
In addition, each of the 114
local schools in the com
munity has its own organized
advisory committee. These
units are organized to pro
vide assistance to local school
administrators, and teachers,
in solving lh«- problems con
fro n tin g the local school
ni-ighhorhoiMl. Contact local
principals to learn more about
the citizen advisory com
m ittee that serves your
n«-ighhorhoo«l school.
Citizen involvement in the
Portland Public Schools is
indeed varied and long stand
ing.
Still greater uppor
tumlies are provided through
a recently organized system
of public information volun
leers.
Clearly the framework lor
involvement and partieipa
lion is there. Il takes only
the simplest of acts by the
citizens to complete the cycle.
You are invited. Call 234
3392.
BY WALTER L SMART
Executive Directo»
National Federation of Settlements
and Ne>'jnt»'tx5od Centers
W’e arc faced with an
armed ramp in our cities . , .
nothing new. It has become
a very old concept. But still
there is nothing being done
about it. Why does it hap
pen? W'hat causes us to be
the targets as well as the
purveyors of mass killings?
W'e must realize that vio
lence does not happen in a
vacuum nor does it pop out
of the ground without it
being fertilized and nurtured.
A study a few years back
indicated that crimes of pas
sion account for roughly 60%
of homicides; husband vs.
wife, neighbor vs. neighbor,
relative vs. relative, friend
vs. friend, between people
who knew each other, cas
ually or intimately.
These crimes of passion
are not only the results of
the cauldron in which we art-
placed. but from the re
peaters and those detained
waiting for trial. Utter con
tempt developes for the judi
rial system when a man is in
fact preventively detained
for unreasonable months -
sometimes years before he is
tried. Bail was never meant
Indian office created
SH O P
lENOW 'S
FO R
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BRANDS
y o u Itn o v
V A R IE T IE S
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you
X E l.
A vV • » H
The People at Pacific Power
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M I M K » i
(.)!
U N lT ID
G R O lltfs
of the Department of Justice.
Carl Stoiber, senior trial
attorney in the Civil Rights
Division and head of the
special task force on Indian
rig h ts , has been named
Diretor of the new Office.
R. Dennis Irkes w ill serve as
Deputy Director.
Pottinger said the new
Indian Rights Section is an
outgrowth of a special Divi
sion task force that has been
engaged in studying the legal
problems of native American
Indians since last January.
The Office of Indian Rights
will have both a litigative
and a roordinative function.
It w ill have the responsi
bility of enforcing federal
statutes regarding the civil
rights of American Indians,
primarily Title II of the 1966
Civil Rights Act. Pottinger
said he eventually hopes the
office will have six attorneys
and appropriate support per
sonnet.
1
CARLOS
by Jetie EC Wilds. Jr.
Getting
Smart
Body a n d Fender R e p a ir
cern le g. foot! stamp supple
ments) to find others with
that concern and to provide
or accept leadership in the
issue.
The day for some to light
for all is passe. If we are to
do more than survive at
best, we must have all fight
ing for all. Each individual
need not fight for every is
sue that strikes someone's
fancy, hut we must fight for
some issue or another all the
time.
You have to b<- in
fighting shape to fight the
big one.
Fighting rather
than sitting develops (he re
solve to fight. So, fight for
w hat YOU think is right, but
please fight.
31, N.E. Shaver
2 8 7 -8 5 2 9
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to be a means to keep a man
off the street but merely a
bond to make sure he ap
pears for trial.
Rlacks are less likely to be
counted as victim s in a
racist society. For years the
police have looked upon the
ghetto as an armed camp of
savages.
They have exer
cised a complete disregard
toward crimes of Rlacks
against Blacks. These police
men are not any different
from the broad base of their
support in middle America.
They want and do periodic
roundups of the innocent
along with the guilty. How
often have we witnessed the
fat cat wrongdoers, never
being punished in relation to
the gravity of their crimes
against humanity and Blacks
caught in the same net
punished severely.
The latest rash of Black
movies. Shaft. Sweetback,
Return of Shaft, Jim Brown's
escapades, packed with vio
lence. are hungrily viewed
by the young regardless of
ratings.
This over saturation of vio
lence, its implication that
violence yields autom atic
solutions to prevent ills of
society, with the flash of a
blade, a round of ammuni
tion, a quick karate chop,
lend more fuel to the con
doning of violence on a mas
sive scale.
Gun control has been and
continues to be urged as a
means to disarm potential
killers. Much more support
is needed to accomplish gun
control.
Yet gun control
must also mean the control
of the use of guns by the
police and vigilantes.
When you place mice in a
small and crowded area and
let them grow, they become
violent
ill with frustra
tion of four walls. They soon
kill each other off. W’e are
doing the same thing only we
receive help from the powers
that be.
It may be their
hope we kill each other off
very, very soon.
So what is there for us to
do? Should we stand idly by
and allow this to happen?
Will we allow simplistic solu
tions for the complex prob
lems we face?
What role will you play to
end the continued rash of
violence in our community?
l ’âge J
Most reasonable shop in town
Chairman, Oregon Black Caucus
There is no question about
the need to bring about
changes that will help more
Black folks.
There does
seem to be some (question as
to who should he struggling
to help bring about this
change. The answer is that
everyone who wants change
should be working for that
change.
This does not mean that
individuals are to be left to
fight battles alone if there
are others to help. What it
d«x-s mean is that other re
sources are to be used when
available hut individuals must
he willing to fight alone if
necessary. This means that
all Black folks must come
together regardless of wheth
er they are so cal led middle
class or not middle-class.
Each person has something
to offer. Those persons who
have developed the skills to
deal with the formal system
must take the lead but
cannot expect success unless
all the people are doing their
share.
Those persons concerned
about food stamp supple
ments, for example, must
find others who have the
same concern and band to
g e th e r. E v e ry b o d y w ith
some concern must make
their input, whatever it may
be. Those who sit and wail
for others to fight the battle
are contributing to the dil
ficulty of overcoming the ills
of the system. The function
oi the Caucus is to have its
members with the same con
Thur-.il.iv, Auguri 23. 1973
Hurry-Offer end August 31
s368
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F I R S T N A T IO N A L B A N K
OF OREGON
Mcnibvr hDK
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