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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 25, 1977)
The Portland Public Schools were recently notified by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare Office of Civil Rights, Region X , its July 6. 1977 request for a waiver of ineligibility for participation in the Emergency School Aid Act (ESAA) was not acceptable. Amendments to the request for a waiver were submitted to H E W on August 8rd. The original request for a waiver of ineligibility was in response to a letter received from H E W f ading the district ineligible for ESAA funds due to non- compliance with non-discrimination regu lations regarding discipline. As the result of an investigation by the Region X office, H E W determined that the district's policy on suspensions discri minate* against minority students. In its July 6th response, the district proposed to make a reasonable effort to notify parents of suspensions within one day; mail suspension letters to parents within one day after suspension, request ing a conference; in case of parents failing to respond, to make an effort to contact the parents. I t also agreed to provide transportation for parents or confer with them at locations near their homes if necessary, and to u k e into consideration the distance travelled school when determining whether tardiness is causes for suspension. A record will be made of all suspen sions. Following receipt of the request for waiver, the Region X office requested further clarification. The addendum to the waiver request, dated August 3rd, follows: Petet Ne. 1 The following material should be added under Item A: Concern was expressed that the maxi mum length of suspensions was not dear in the original request for waiver and, further, that parents and students were not clear in theii understanding that suspensions are for no more than five days. R E8PO N 8E Suspensions are for no more than five school days. I t should be noted that Oregon Administrative Rule No. 581-21- 070 forbids suspensions for more than seven calendar days, and it is assured that this rule will be followed by the District. The following steps will be taken: 1. Students will be notified in writing of theii right to attend school, in the absence of other administrative action, at the conclusion of the maximum suspen sion period. 2. Letters to parents informing them of suspensions will specify the maximum length of such suspensions and will note that, in the absence of other administra tive action, reinstatement automi.tically occurs at the conclusion of the suspension period. 3. Appropriate changes will be made in the next printing of the Student Rights and Responsibilities handbook to note the maximum length of suspensions. If at the conclusion of the maximum five school day suspension period no parent conference has been effected, and in the absence of other administrative action, the student will be reinstated. In instances where the student does not attend school at the conclusion of the five day period, school personnel will make a reasonable effort, through telephone con tacts or other means, to reach the student or his parent to effect school attendance (Please turn to page 2, col. 4) Desegregation coalition organizes Member* of a new Northeast Portland community group, a group that is as yet unnamed and unstructured, has claimed Housing Authority of Portland property adjacent to Dekum Court for the people. The property, the use of which has been in dispute for several years, was recently listed for sale. Neighbors, who fear this will mean use for apartment buildings, have asked the City of Port land to use the land for a park. Failing that, they would like it to be used for single-family houses and have asked the City Planning Commission to recommend rezoning for single-family development. “Private Property" signs that were bolted to large trees on the property were removed by the community group. “Not only do they say 'Private Property - No Tresspassing' but they injure the trees,” one member of the group said. "All this time the property has been posted and not open to the public - no children playing on it, no elderly people sitting in the shade. We have opened the land to public use.” Another explained that the property obviously is not “private" - it belongs to the people of Portland who purchased it for one dollar. “Now H A P wants to take it from the people and sell it for a profit.” The group has mailed one dollar to Fred Rosenbaum, chairman of the H A P board, to purchase the property in the name of the Concordia Neighborhood Association. "H A P has not been a very good steward of the property,” a spokes man explained. Although the people of the city already own the property, we are paying H A P and the city government back the dollar they spent to purchase the land for us so there will be no misunderstanding of our intentions. Now we would like the Concordia Neighbor hood Association to take over title and care of the land. When the group removed the signs and the large bolts fastening them to the trees, they doctored the damaged trees. Dowels were placed in the holes and “tree heal” spread over the wounds. The group is asking that A1 Batiste, president of the Concordia Neighborhood Association, symbolically accept guard ianship of the property by removing the bolt left in one tree on Dekum and treating the wounds in the tree. PMSC plot thickens, coup foils Six members of the Portland M etro politan Steering Committee Board met secretly prior to the PMSC Board Meet ing Wednesday night in an effort to overthrow newly-elected Board Chair man Bob Rogers. The meeting, which was held in the conference room in the basement of the school district administration building, was attended by David Aiken, Portland Public Schools administrator, appointed to the PMSC board by Multnomah Coun ty Board Chairman Don Clark; Liz W elt, appointed by Clark; Peggy Eckton, ap pointed by Clark; Richard Ellmyer, rep resenting the North Portland community action agency; and Don Fordyce, ap pointed by the U.S. National Bank. Also invited but arriving late was D r. Ernest Hartaog, school distict administrator and Clark appointee. The meeting waa called to plan a takeover of the board chairman ship, deposing Rogers and electing Ford yce, according to inside sources. Fordyce is a new member of the board, attending his first meeting as a member. The group brought to the board meet ing a substitute agenda, with considera tion of “Office of the Chairman of the Board of Directors” and "Office of the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors” to immediately follow the seating of new members. Vice Chairman is AJ Lucas. Aiken moved the substitute agenda, with the motion seconded by Ms. Eckton. A fter heated discussion, the Board voted to table the motion, Hartzog joining those who voted not to table. W ith that effort defeated, the board moved on to other business, with Ms. W elt repeatedly interupting the meeting to demand a “full disclosure” of the PMSC fiscal position. The board members had each received a telegram from John Finley, director of Region X , Community Services Agency, dated August 22, 1977, questioning the payment to Cleveland Gilcrease, the former executive director of PMSC, his accumulated vacation pay. The telegram also questioned the use of Gilcease and former board chairman John Rice's sig natures after their resignations. The telegram asked clarification and stated: "This information must be received by the regional office no later than 4:80 p.m. on Friday, August 26, 1977. Your failure to respond completely and I writing this request will result in the summary suspension of PMSC.” Finley also cancel led his appointment to meet with the board Wednesday night to discuss fiscal matters. Don Fuller, acting executive director, explained that the payment to Gilcrease had been made on July 15th, his last date of employment and that information had not been available when the board met on July 20th and voted to pay Gilcrease, with Region X consent. Beverly Holder- by, administrative assistant, said she had authorized the writing of the check by the fiscal department. Fuller pointed out that issuance of the check was within PMSC and CSA personnel policy. Regarding the use of the Gilcrease and Rice signatures. Fuller stated that the plate with their names was used until a new plate for the check w riter could be made and that Region X had been informed at the time. Fuller said the reply to Finley's ques tions was in preparation. Rogers explain ed that he has repeatedly attempted to arrange a meeting with Finley, to no avail, and had been unable to obtain (Please turn to page 2 col. 4) Organizations represented included: Members of approximately thirty com munity groups met Tuesday night and National Council of Jewish Women, Boise voted to form a coalition - one that will Neighborhood Association, Schools for offer the school district proposals leading the City, Committee for Coordination of Positive Integration (Jeffersons parent to school integration. The meeting was convened by the groups). Committee for Quality Educa Metropolitan Human Relations Commis tion for all Children, Portland Council sion, the Urban League of Portland and • F*TA, National Association for Commun ity Development, National Conference of the NAACP, Portland Branch, the three organizations that were invited by the Christians and Jews, League of Women Voters, National Association of Colored School Board to offer advise on the Women's Clubs, Justice for Black Stu controversial Newman Plan regarding dents, Sabin Community Association, “racial isolation" at Jefferson High Piedmont Community Association, City School. H arry Ward, M HRC Commissioner Planning Commission, Portland Develop ment Commission, City Club, Mayor’s who acted as interim chairman, explained that the organizations had made no Office, King Neighborhood Association, decision as to whether a committe should Center for Urban Education. A fter much disussion, the consensus be formed or its scope or responibilities, was reached that a group would form and and had made no commitment to the that it would deal with the entire issue of School Board. Those decisions were left desegregation/integration in the Port- to the representatives of the community. land Public Schools and not lim itltselt to the Jefferson problem. The decision was also reached that the School Board’s deadline of December 15th would be disregarded and the coalition would draw according to its own mandates, not the school distict’s. The Committee for Coordination of Positive Integration plans to request funds from the School Board to do a comprehensive study of the Jefferson population problem. Attending the meeting as an observer was Howard Stewart, former director of PACT and now with Community Dynam- icsNorthwest, his business and commun ity relations consulting firm, who has presented a preliminary proposal for citizen participation to the School Board at Chairman Robert Ridgley’s request. Stewart’s proposal, which has not gone (Please turn to page 2 col. 4) Drake concurs UMW charges RPS fails aiiaority responsibility Don King. EEO officer for Drake, said Nathan Proby, director of the United his company’s work force has been nine Minority Workers, charged the Portland percent minority in man hours. He does School District with failure to properly not have man-hour statistics for subcon monitor minority participation on its tractors because the contract did not multi-million dollar educational center require that. He monitors subcontrac project. The Donald M . Drake Construc tors by observation while on the job but tion Company is the prime contractor. does not make a headcount or require The contract between Drake and the formal reports. He believes the subcon district requires that the contractor tractors are in compliance, saying that he and sub-contractors meet the Portland thinks Eudaly was “just barely” in Home Town Plan goal of “a percentage of compliance. minority individuals not less than the Stating that the school district does not percentage of such minority individuals f have to be concerned with the laws in the total labor force within the governing affirmative action, but were Portland metropolitan area in the parti bound to see that the contract with Drq)re cular trade involved." is adherred to. School Board Chairman Drake has reported its employment Robert Ridgley asked that Drake submit statistics to D r. Harold Kleiner of the statistics showing man hours for all school district. In a memo to Superin subcontractors to D r. Kleiner and that tendent Robert Blanchard, D r. Kleiner D r. Kleiner share them with the Board. said, "I personally have checked the Drake Company weekly reports and Ridgley said Proby’s additional con found them meeting the goals of the cerns - the absence of minority contrac Affirmative Action provision of the con tors and employees in the district’s reno tract insofar as the total number of vation and remodeling projects and the minority employees on the job although absence of minority contractors on the not in each craft each week." Educational Center project. Drake had reported daily employment The Board will consider its affirmative by trade, but D r. Kleiner told the Board action in contracting policy September of Education that he did not like the form 13th. This proposed policy is in response used by Drake so he had devised a form to the request of the Northwest Minority for Drake to use that shows only the Contractors Association that the school number of non-minority and minority district adopt a minority set-aside/minor employees employed by each contractor ity business enterprise program. School for each week. This form did not allow district attorney M ark McClanahan has monitoring individual trades, as required declared such practices to be illegal and by the contract, or man-hours, which was of doubtful constitutionality. called more equitable by Proby and the A M E R IC A N IS M representative from Drake. The Board will submit to the public for Proby pointed out the fallacy of the reporting system - that a man appearing comment a statement of goals prepared by D r. Robert Blanchard. on the job for only a few hours would The preamble states in part: show up In the statistics equally with a “The American public schools, as deve- man who worked forty hours. loped throughout our history, represent a road - open to all children - to intellec tual growth, personal development, and economic opportunity. The public schools serve America by transmitting its unique cultural heritage from one generation to the next and by opening to each sneces sive generation the vast accumulation of man's knowledge and experience." School Board member Wally Priestly took exception to the statement, saying that it is untrue - that schools have not promoted equality. He also said the schools should not emphasize the “uni que” American culture but should pre pare children for a multi-ethnic, multi vocal world. He added that goals should not be written but should be within the Board and staff and should reflect chang ing needs. D IS C IP L IN E Another agenda item that was tabled was a change of policy to appoint school principals as “hearings officers” in expul sion cases. According to D r. Blanchard, the State Board of Education recently changed its policy to allow School Boards to appoint hearings officers rather than act as hearings officers themselves. Blan chard's recommendation was for princi pals to serve as hearings officers for their schools. He said that this has been the current practice, that cases are determined by the principal and the student can appeal the decision. The new policy would require that prior to the expulsion the student will appear before the principal (hearings officer) and can bring witnesses or have legal counsel present. Currently, the right to counsel does not come until after expulsion and then only if the expulsion is appealed. Election to test Maynard Jackson’s Black-white coalition by Marc Levinson A T L A N T A , GA., (P N 8) - Four years ago, before most people had ever heard of Jimmy Carter, Maynard Jackson became the shining symbol of the “new South” by winning the mayor’s office in Atlanta - the first Black mayor of a major southern city. Today, the symbol is tarnished a bit - the same Black sanitation workers who helped elect him are now wearing green T-shirts proclaiming “Maynard’s word is garbage." But despite the opposition from former supporters, Jackson has accomplished what few believed possible a short four years ago: he has consolidated a powerful coalition of the Black and white power structures that provides him with one of the most solid political bases of any metropolitan mayor in the country. Observers here predict that Jackson, 39, will be a shoo-in for a second term in Atlanta's October election. H i* major opponent* are former city official Emma Darnell, an outspoken Black woman, and Fulton County Com missioner Milton Farris, who is white. Among his chief accomplishments, Jackson proudly points to the solid support of the downtown business com munity, the appointment of a Black police commissioner under whose tenure the crime rate has dropped, and n series of innovative programs designed to revita lize the neighborhoods. Says Comer Hawkins, a conservative white stockbroker who considered a race against Jackson, “I ’ve had a hard time raising money. Everybody seems to think Jackson’s got it all locked up, and I think they may be right." Jackson's support in the downtown business community, which has always played a decisive role in local politics, has grown stronger even as his base in the Black commuhity has wavered. Richard Kattel, president of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and of the state's largest bank, Citizens and Southern National Bank, has taken a prominent public role in fund-raising and campaign activities. “He has brought Black and white citizens of Atlanta together," Kattel says. "Maynard told me one time. ‘Dick, I don't need the business community to get elected, but I need the business commu nity to govern.' W e have the opportunity to continue for another four years that feeling shared between the mayor and the business community.” Two years ago, Jackson angered much of the business community by insisting that Blacks get a share of city contracts. White firms bidding on city projects were pushed to demonstrate equal employ ment practices. The requirements met stiff business resistance, in part because Darnell, the commissioner responsible for enforcing them, used little tact. Jackson attempted to fire her last fall and eventually accepted her resignation. Despite the controversy, Black firms still have less than three percent of the city contracts, an increase from 0.5 percent four years ago. Dr. Charles King, a Black theologian and race relations expert who often has been at odd* with the mayor, argues that Jackson's reelection is necessary to pre serve good race relations in the city. “W hatever Jackson's shortcomings, he has done well, and so has the city,” King says. “It is alive and kicking, vibrantly so. To now hurl the charge of ‘white sellout' is to deny the necessity for Black-white coalitions.” B LACK O FFIC E R S Jackson counts the reorganization of the Bureau of Police Services under a Black public safety commissioner, A. Reginald Eaves, among his major achievements. Eaves removed many white police officials appointed in the last days of the administration of Jackson’s predecessor, Sam Massed, and replaced them with new appointees. Two of the four deputy commissioners are now Black. Eaves also expanded hiring and promo tion of Black officers, despite opposition from organizations representing white officers. About 30 percent of the force is now Black, though many positions ire vacant because a suit by white officers forced a suspension of hiring. Eaves has brought mounted police back to the city and instituted neighbor hood crime patrols in many areas. In addition. Eaves, who has advocated de criminalization of prostitution and other “victimless crimes," has shifted officers from the vice squad to units dealing with burglary and violent crime. The crime rate, a major issue in the 1973 mayoralty campaign, has dropped in the inner city despite an increase in the rest of the metropolitan area. Violent crimes decreased at an annual rate of 4.5 percent during Jackson's first three years in office, while property crimes fell by 1.3 percent per year. And reports of police brutality, also a major campaign issue four years ago, have become much less common. Jackson has also claimed credit for keeping Atlanta on a sound fiscal course. “During the worst recession in this country in 40 years, the City of Atlanta did not lay off one single employee," he says. “While other cities were laying off employees to balance their budgets, Atlanta did not have to.” During Jackson’s administration, A t lanta’s inner-city neighborhoods have experienced a strong revival, helped by the mayor's strong opposition to state plans for an urban expressway network. JOBSHORTAGES But despite Atlanta’s continuing growth as a business and convention cen ter, Jackson has been unable to arrest the decline of most residential areas and the central business district. The city’s population, 492,000 in 1970, is estimated between 460,000 and 477,000 today. Almost no new housing is being built within the city; only 25 new housing units were issued permits during the first four months of 1977. Despite the construction of new office buildings and hotels in downtown A t lanta, business has continued to move to the suburbs; one recent study found that 70 percent of all new jobs in the region since 1960 have been outside the city limits. While city officials now speak of the need for labor-intensive industry to em- (Pleaae turn to page 2 col. 4)
