Page 2
Portland/Obaerver
Thursday, June 27th, 1974
R ustin wins LBJ aw
WE SEE THE
WORLD
II
THROUGH BLACK EYES
ALFRED L. HENDERSON
E difor/P ublisher
A lesson learned
The d e m o tio n o f Mrs. Ellen Law a fte - serving
th re e years as p rin cip a l o f Je ffe rso n H igh School
should d em onstrate to a ll Black teachers and
"a d m in is tra to rs " in the P ortland School D istrict how
tenuous th e ir positions re a lly are
The school district has re ce n tly estab lish ed a b o u t
35 Blacks as "a d m in is tra to rs ", w h e th e r in response
to a p e n d in g d iscrim in a tio n suit, fe d e ra l re q u ire
m ents, or tru ly honest m otives.
M a n y o f these
persons w h o are classed as a d m in istra to rs by the
school d istrict are serving w ith o u t te n u re and in
p osition s w h e re te nu re is im p o ssib le to a cqu ire
W ith o u t tenure, in d iv id u a ls serve at the district's
p le a s u re and re a lly have no recourse if th e district
d ecide s it d o e sn 't need th em a n y longer.
The m a jo rity o f the Black "a d m in is tra to rs " are
on
fe d e ra lly -fu n d e d
projects
w h ic h
req uire
m in o rity p a rtic ip a tio n .
Dr. B la nch ard states that
n o n e o f these p e o ple w ill be te rm in a te d due to
loss o f pro gram s and that m ig h t not be true. But
these "a d m in is tra to rs " are not in secure positions,
n ot k n o w in g w h e re th ey w ill be the fo llo w in g
ye ar, a n d th ey are not in the e d u c a tio n a l m a in
stream o f the school district w h e re they w ill m ake
n a tio n a l progressions u p w a rd , b ut are in d ea d-en d
paths.
W e d o not fin d Black "a d m in is tra to rs " in the
p osition s o f a u th o rity . Blacks have served as high
school p rin c ip a ls fo r a to ta l o f fo u r years in the
h istory o f th e district.
W h e re are the vice
p rin c ip a ls w h o should be m o v in g up to p rin c ip a l-
ships?
It is easy to becom e co m p la ce n t once one has a
title a nd a sm all increase in sa la ry, but it pays to
re m e m b e r th a t the history o f racism in the Portland
Public Schools continues to this d ay.
Equality o f
o p p o rtu n ity in the Portland Public Schools has not
a rrive d .
The school a d m in istra tio n m ay a lso have lea rn e d
a lesson th ro ug h Mrs. Law's d e m o tio n . They can
no lon ge r go to one or tw o so -ca lle d "B la c k
le a d e rs " and expect them to co n tro l the c o m
m u n ity's rea ction .
Those w h o
assured
Dr
B lanchard th a t th e re w o u ld be no protest not o n ly
co uld not co n ta in the c o m m u n ity's a n g e r, b ut could
not even co n tro l th e ir o w n o rg a n iza tio n s.
Citizens excluded
(Continued from pg. 1, col. 6,
is crippled when a community
group which receives federal
funds is also a member of the
advisory committee relating
to the same federal funds.
As citizens, students should
have the right to participate
in policymaking decisions.
Channels should be opened
so that students can have
important roles in decisions
that affect them. There are
many school decisions in
which students can make
meaningful contributions.
Students should participate
in disciplinary hearings with
positions of power instead of
advisory roles.
Student
government should have a
meaningful role in Scholar
ship Committees and com
m unity-related activities.
Because students spend so
much of their lives in school,
they have a right to con
tribute to everyday decisions
such as scheduling, menu-
planning, and allocation of
funds for extracurricular
activities.
I feel the greatest need for
improvement of citizen and
student input is in the area
of long-range planning. An
example of citizen exclusion
is the designation of school
boundaries.
Citizens will
learn of the changes through
the press or the Citizen's
Information Center. Parents
will be expected to impie
ment any changes but they
will not play any role in the
development or evaluation of
said changes. Citizens have
a more powerful role in
mainstream decisions.
If
citizens can be members of
Zoning Commissions and the
Portland Development com
mission, why can't citizens
con trib u te to boundary
change proceedings? Parents
and students should be full
members of Textbook Adop
tion Committees from the
beginning stages to the final
recommendations. Teachers
and administrators are not
the only ones qualified to
make these important de
cisions. Too often schools
depend upon a professional
study excluding relevant ex
perience parents or others
have to contribute.
The
schools do not benefit as
they should from these ex
periences.
Schools should
seek citizen and student
input to the same degree
that they seek professional
input.
Efforts should be
made to incorporate citizen
and student insights with
professional contributions.
For example, at its last
meeting the Portland School
Board allocated $7,500 for a
professional study of goals
which included goals for
minority cultures.
The
School Board should make a
comparable effort to gel
public input in this area.
The avenues for involve
ment in decision making pro
cesses are complaint oriented.
There are few established
outlets for parental and stu
dent input in policy making.
The blueprint for education
in the 1980's should include
the schools,' citizens and
students -- each playing a
meaningful role.
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am to 9:00 p.m. daily.
Sundays: Noon to 4:00 p.m.
i
Letter to the Editor 1
People First seeks action
Pear A I:
On behalf of our Associa
tion in concern for the
mentally retarded develop
mentally disabled - handi
capped and disadvantaged
children and adults. I want
to express to you with sin
cere appreciation and warm
thanks for your efforts in
publicizing the matters re
garding cutbacks, cut outs
and elimination of services as
proposed by the Multnomah
County's budget. And. your
editorial in today's (June
20th) issue is timely. Your
reporting on the issues is
factual, fair and honest.
You probably have heard
of "People First". Mr. Verne
Davis, executive director of
Oregon Mental Health As
sociation, and I. together
with other persons organized
this community energy in
concern to save the pro
grams and level of services
provided in 1973. We en
gaged the services of Senator
John Burns as legal counsel.
We arranged lor a hearing
by the Multnomah county
legislative delegation.
We
presently seek, with aid of
Counsel, to convince the
Budget's priorities to lie
wrong and not in tune with
personnel cuts at the service
level in light of large over
head of adm inistrative,
supervisory and planning
personnel with prejudice to
nurses, social workers and
aides, counselors serving the
elderly, children and handi
rapped persons.
And, also my personal
thanks for all you are doing
in bringing information into
the community.
Sincerely.
Walter Führer
Executive Director,
Multnomah Clackamas
Association for
Retarded Citizens
Community needed support
Ms. Gladys McCoy
Portland Public Schools
Dear Ms. McCoy:
Most of us who attended
the school board meeting
June 24. 1974 now know
exactly where you stand
with the community.
As
many said afterwards, they
would have never believed it
if they had not heard it with
their own ears. You made a
political move and abstained
in the vote to demote Mrs.
Ellen Law from the principal
ship of Jefferson High
School.
You should have
stopped at that.
Instead, you became a
"whitey" to Blacks and sat
there and defended the
school district's procedures,
as well as apologizing to
Superintendent Blanchard
that your abstention was in
no way a reflection on him.
The Portland Public School
system does not need de
fending. The community it
serves. Black and white,
represented at the meeting
were crying out for your
support and you sold us out.
Black persons working within
white institutions, if truly
Black, should be working for
the best interests of the
Black community to whom
you are ultimately account
able.
We're not going to let you
forget this night!
No struggle, no progress,
Florice Walker
A backward step
Ms. Phyllis Wiener, Chairman
Portland Public Schools
Dear Ms. Wiener and Board:
For many years the Port
land Urban League and the
Portland Chapter of the
NAACP have generally sup
ported the Portland Public
Schools' efforts in providing
quality education as well as
its desegregation efforts.
Where we have obviously
disagreed, we have at
tempted to provide con
structive criticism. Perhaps
a few times in the past the
nudgings have been slightly
less than gentle, but amiable
nevertheless.
In this instance, namely
the removal of Mrs. Ellen
Law from the principalship
at Jefferson High School, it
is at least polemic from what
we have been attempting to
achieve for a number of
years.
While we are not
privy to the personnel data,
we do feel from the stand
point of community morale,
the role images we are
trying to establish for our
children and the establish
ment of precedence, we are
losing ground.
There have been two Black
school principals at Jefferson
and both have left, perhaps
for different reasons, but we
are still batting .000%.
We hope in your delibera
tions, these viewpoints have
been thoughtfully considered.
Sincerely,
James O. Brooks
Executive Director,
Portland Urban League
Oregon
Newspaper
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The Portland Observer's official position is expressed only
in its Publisher's column (We See The World Through
Black Eyes). Any other material throughout the paper is the
opinion of the individual writer or submitter and does not
necessarily reflect the opinion of the Portland Observer.
University and former chair
man of the Civil Rights
Commission.
Rustin has had a long
career as a civil rights
activist and organizer. He is
probably best known na
tionally as the organizer and
administrator of the 1963
March on Washington, which
brought over 250,000 persons
to the nation's capital and
paved the way for passage of
the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
In 1955, Rustin went to
Montgomery, Alabama, at the
invitation of Dr. Martin
Luther King, to assist in the
organization of the bus boy
colt. At Dr King's request,
he then drew up the first
plans for the founding of the
Southern Christian Leader
ship Conference. He served
as special assistant to Dr.
King for seven years.
Rustin also figured promi
nantly in the achievement of
independence for India and
for several African nations.
Throughout his career
Rustin has been closely as
sociated with A. Philip
Randolph, a leading figure in
both the civil rights and
labor movements.
It was
Mr Randolph, director of the
"March on Washington for
Jobs and Freedom", who
called Rustin, his deputy,
"Mr. March on Washington".
Both men are now associated
with the A. Philip Randolph
Institute, which, since 1964,
las conducted voter regis
¿ration programs! worked to
Bayard Rustin, executive
director of the A. Philip
Randolph Institute and chair
man of the executive com
untie of the Leadership Con
lerence on Civ il Rights, is
the recipient ol this year's
L indon Baines Johnson
Award, National Urban Co
alition President M. Carl
Holman announced.
In making the announce
ment. Holman said "I can
think of no person in
America who could be more
appropriately named the
winner of this award. For
more than 30 years Bayard
Rustin has been in the fore
front of the struggle to
insure the equal rights of all
of our people.
He is a
towering figure in the civil
rights movement and in the
effort to secure justice and
opportunity lor the poor and
oppressed.
An eloquent
advocate and a superb
strategist, he has given his
ineisive intellect and total
commitment to the principles
of equality, economic equity
and peace. We are proud to
name him the winner of this
award, and we are honored
that he has accepted."
Rustin becomes the second
winner of the Ly ndon Baines
Johnson Award, presented to
an individual »ho has demon
strated a long term commit
ment to the ideals of justice,
equality and opportunity.
Last year'« award went to
Father Theodore Hesburgh.
(»resident oi Notre Dame
SH O P
lENOW'S
solidify relations between
Blacks, liberals and unions,
and worked for laws and
policies which promote eco
nonuc equality.
Nominations for the Lyn
don Baines Johnson Award
were made by dozens of in
dividuals representing social,
religious, labor, education,
government, social welfare,
business and civil and human
rights organizations.
The
final selection was made by a
panel of judges which in
eluded President Johnsons
daughter. Mrs Charles Robb,
and several close associates
of the former President.
FOR
B R A N D S you k n o w
V A R IE T IE S you lik e
~ SIZES v o u ^ w a n t •
•
M t M h l. O» U N H ID ( . » O ils - ,
Not Everyone
Subscribes
To The
Portland Observer
b a t th en , not e v e r y o n e
co n ies In o at o f th e r a in , c it h e r .
Forestry Department
'Continued from pg. 1. col. 61
is. the record said "well
qualified" while the "word of
mouth" said her performance
and attendance were not that
good;
Denial for promotional
opportunity under the defini
tion and intent of the upward
mobility program, specifi
cally. by bringing in a can
didate from W ashington,
D.C. when Mrs. Brown was a
viable candidate.
Upward
mobility means more than to
train and qualify -- it also
means promote when that
training and development
has led to well qualified
candidates; otherwise the
training has no meaning and
is a waste of time and effort.
In this case, no special effort
was made to give Mrs.
Brown full consideration
under the upward mobility
program:
- Delay and inaction in
carrying out the terms of the
previous resolvem ent in
cluding inaction on promotion
certificate « I 92 dated March
15. 1974.
The Forest Department
order states:
"It can only be assumed
that the reason she was
denied this training and
assignment of work (and
consideration for vacancies)
is a situation of presumptive
dicrimination: i.e.. no other
fact or reasons are evident
as to why she was denied
this training and oppor
tunity. Therefore, the dis
crimination is a result of
certain institutional practices
which acted against Mrs.
Brown, including lack of
training, assignment of work
to others, inaction and lack
of follow up on prior com
mitments. inoperation of up
ward mobility program, not
being honestly confronted in
performance and attendance,
being branded as a trouble
maker, and promotion plan
violation.”
No evidence of overt dis
crim ination against Mrs.
Brown by any individual was
found.
Black employees of the
F orest D epartm ent have
long claimed that the depart
ment discriminates against
them in promotional oppor
tunities and that they have
to file complaints in order to
obtain the pay increases and
promotions that come auto
matically to white workers.
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