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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 1978)
Ura Frances Dr O B SER /ER Volume 8 No. 36 Thursday, August 31,1878 10c por copy ; « 'T pageant is sponsored by the Jim m y Bang-Bang Walks« Youth Foundation. (Please see Rage 8 Column 3 for story.) Bussing isolates Black children A Portland School District press release extolls the “ Administrative Transfer’ * program which scatters Black children from Northeast Port land throughout the district in a desegregation attempt. The press release states: “ Ernest Hartzog, assistant superintendent for community relations and staff development, said the program , operational since 1964, w ill have more than 3,000 students par ticipating during the coming year. "The program provides minority students o p p ortun ities to attend schools outside their own neigh borhoods on a voluntary basis. Hart zog said 2,973 students participated in the program last year. “ Under the program, students and parents volunteer to participate and the students must be attending schools with high concentrations of minority pupils.” The truth is that the term “ volun tary” includes only those children who are transferred voluntarily by cl City EEO programs found deficient PORTLAND K G W -TV news reporter and weekend anchorman John Davis, will host th e Miss Tan Portland Scholarship Pageant on Septem ber 3rd at th e Hilton H otel. The o lty their parents and should not be used to refer to students whose grades do not exist in their neighborhood schools. “ You can’ t call it ’ v o lu n ta ry ’ when our children have no school to attend, so they have to attend schools across town,” explained one parent. “ You really can’ t call it voluntary even when we w illingly send our children to white schools because the schools in our neigh borhood are inferior. That really is no choice either.” Parents have been disturbed because the desegregation program includes the forced busing o f Black children o n ly. They consider it inequitable to place the burden o f desegregation entirely on the Black children and their families. But information gathered by the Community Coalition for School In tegration — most o f it gleaned from the District itself — presents an even darker picture. The students are not only transferred to schools all over the District, but they are transferred in such small groups as to find them selves isolated in their new schools. Transfer students from King, for example, numbered 451 last school year. O f these 123 were true volun tary transfer students, first through fifth graders. The other 313 were bused from King because it has no sixth, seventh, and eighth grade classes. These students were trans ferred to 39 different schools in the three administrative areas. District projections are that 412 students will go to 42 schools this year. O f even more significance is the way these children are distributed. For example, one second grader from King went to Sylvan. Sylvan has two other transfer students, a second grader and a th ird grader from Humboldt. W ilson Park got five students from King, one each in the second, fifth , sixth grades and tw o third graders. Wilson Park also got a fifth grader from Boise, thirteen students from H um boldt in grades second through sixth, and one kindergarten student from Woodlawn. Lents School received one seventh grader from King; one fourth grader from Eliot; a first grader, a fifth grader and a seventh grader from W oodlaw n; and eleven students from Vernon, no more than two to a grade. When these transfer students arrived across town at their schools, they may be one o f half-dozen Black students in a big white school. Those other Black children most likely will be in different classes and from d if ferent neighborhoods. (Please turn to Page 7 Column 1) Although the City o f Portland has statutorilly committed itself to Equal O pportunity Programs, the C ity ’ s current Equal O p p o rtu n ity P ro grams, with the exception o f the A f firmative Action Office, are either disfunctional or non-existent accord ing to an evaluation completed by the Metropolitan Human Relations Commission (M H R C ). Also cited was a lack o f commitment by in dividuals at various management levels. The report, presented before in formal Council session August 29th, resulted from M H R C ’ s mandate to evaluate the four components o f the C ity ’ s Equal O p p o rtu n ity commitment incorporated under Or dinance 144724, and passed by the C ouncil in Novem ber, 1977. “ Although in Ordinance 144724 the City has made a firm statement o f its intent to end unequal treatment o f m inorities and women in the job market,” read the cover letter to the report from Commission Chairper son Jim Sitzman and Employment Com m ittee C hairperson Anna Street, “ The record makes evident the need for strengthened effort and diligence.” The Ordinance details the functions o f the Affirm ative Action O ffice , C ontract C om pliance Programs, and calls for City com mitment to a M inority Purchasing Program — to solicit more minority firms to contract out with the City — and a Grants Equal O pportunity Program — to provide a uniform and consistent review o f all Equal Opportunity requirements fo r City bureaus seeking federal grants. Despite its critical nature, Mayor G oldschm idt commended M H R C for compiling “ a very good report.” A ccording to the MHRC evaulation, the City M inority Pur chasing Program (o r M in o rity Business Enterprise Program) and Grants Compliance Programs do not exist. Although, according to the report, the City has received some $10 m illio n in housing and com munity Development Funds and only .6 percent went to m in o rity businesses. The contract compliance office, according to the re p o rt, lacks "knowledge and understanding o f the purpose, goals and requirements o f contract compliance, and how it relates to Executive Order 11246 (Federal Equal Opportunity Law), and how they relate to various City bureaus.” C ontract com pliance regulations require that private con tractors providing goods and services to the City, as well as City bureaus as prime contractors o f federal money, have Affirm ative Action programs. The C ity ’ s C ontract Compliance responsibility is fragmented rather than centrally handled, the report said. The C ity’s Affirm ative Action O f ficer, the report read, needs to be buttressed with additional staff and “ strong support and commitment from all administrative levels,” to carry out more fully its Equal Em ploym ent O p p o rtu n ity fu n c tio n . “ One major problem is lack o f A f firmative Action productivity on the part of administrative personnel who have authority for hiring, promotion and termination.” Although the City is hiring more women and m inorities than ever before, “ due to the high turnover rates among these historically new employees, there are fewer minorities in City employment than there were in the previous years,” the report noted, indicating that the C ity is “ continuing to lose ground.” The M H R C report made the following recommendations: M IN O R IT Y PURCHASING/ M IN O R IT Y BUSINESS ENTER PRISE PROGRAM (MBE) I) That the City develop and im plement such a program with specific goals and objectives. The report did footnote that such a plan was in the works. According to Purchasing O f ficer Harold Vaughn, the program plan is being reviewed by the City A t torney’s Office and w ill be presented to the Council in the next few weeks. Vaughn also said that the wording in such a plan is critical because, ac cording to the City Attorney’ s O f fice. M inority set-aside programs are illegal, but that should not preclude the C ity’s commitment and respon sibility to subcontracting with more minority-owned firms. 2) C ity C om m issioner Charles Jordan favored an M H R C recom m endation calling fo r C ity- sponsored workshops to acquaint minority-owned firms with the C ity’s bid process. M ayor N eil G o ld schmidt concurred, noting that all small businesses and potential con tractors could benefit. “ This would probably encompass most o f the minority firms as well,” he said. 3) The Purchasing Office should advertise in both the C ity’s m inority newspapers as a show o f “ good faith” in soliciting m inority firms. 3) M inority business associations should be contacted regularly to assess m inority capability, and the Purchasing D ivision should hold regular meetings w ith association representatives to fa c ilita te suc cessful im plem entation o f the program. (Please turn to Page 7 Column 1) Schools’ MBE proposal hits snag Monday night the Portland School Board postponed action on a ‘.’ Program fo r Affirm ative Action in Bidding and Contracting Practices.” The District has dealt unsuccessfully with the request o f minority contrac tors to adopt a m inority set-aside program for over two years. The current proposal was present ed to the Board by Ms. Gladys Mc Coy, the Board’s only Black member. Ms. McCoy has talked with contrac tors regarding the proposal since last March but has been unable to come up w ith a program that would adequately meet the need fo r a M in o rity Business Enterprise program and still pass the scrutiny of the Board’ s legal counsel, Mark Mc Clanahan. The proposal o fferred to the Board by Ms. M cCoy defines m in o rity business enterprise as a business e n tity “ fifty percent or more o f whose executive or management employees are minority individuals or whose employment o f minority individuals as craftspersons is at the same time o f bid filing and remains in reasonable balance.” (emphasis ours). “ Reasonable balance” is defined as having minority employees in each craft in nearly the same percentages as minorities in those trades are found are other fa u lts w ith the plan, in the labor market. causing his organization to reject it A meeting was held August 4th, in its entirety. with Ms. McCoy and D r. Harold Eugene Jackson, executive direc Kleiner o f the School District; Ron tor o f the Northwest M inority Con Anderson and Bob Rogers o f Asso tractors Association agreed w ith ciated General Contractors; Eugene Rogers. “ We w ill do what we can to Jackson Northwest M in o rity Con stop this plan,” he said. “ Ms. Mc tractors; Tom Boothe o f Contractors Coy asked me to write a proposal for Management Association; Nathon her and I wrote several but none were Proby o f United M inority Workers. acceptable to the School District. She “ We said then that the only accept indicated that she was really in able definition o f M inority Business terested in getting a good plan adopt Enterprise is the one used by the U.S. ed before she leaves the Board and government and other agencies — that she and Dr. Blanchard would fifty percent or fifty-one percent o f see that McClanahan cooperated. the ownership must be m inority,” “ This plan is ridiculous,” Jackson Bob Rogers o f AGC explained. “ We said. can’ t accept the School D is tric t Another major problem with the proposal’ s d e fin itio n o f M in o rity plan is the definition o f ‘ reasonable Business E nterprise because it balance.’ The School District plan doesn’t deal with ownership. addresses the percentage o f “ We advised Ms. McCoy to use minorities in a given craft or trade in the Multnomah County plan, which the labor market. So, for example, if is the best in the area. We worked there arc two percent minorities in with the Northwest M inority Con the electrical trades, the contractor tractors Association to develop that would have to insure that two per plan, and it is working.” cent o f his electricians are minorities; Rogers indicated that AGC would if ten percent o f the brick layers in accept any functioning plan — those the local labor market are minorities, o f the Corp o f Engineers, the Port of ten percent o f the contractor’s brick Portland, the State o f Oregon — but layers on the School D istrict jobs w ill not accept the School District would have to be minorities. proposal. Rogers indicated that there (Please turn to Page 7 Column 3) Millner, Padrow added to list , i ' i , Herb L. Amerson was named by Pacific Northwest Bell to a newly created job of consumer affairs manager. Formerly a staff manager in the company's customer services department, Amerson has been with «he telephone com pany in Portland eleven years. In his new job, Amerson will be in contact with consumar groups throughout the state to establish a rapport with them and define the company's position on matters of interest to the groups. /• The Portland School Board voted to expand its list o f fin a list can didates fo r nom inations to the School Board. Dr. Darrell Millner, associate professor at Portland State U n ive rsity, and Ben Padrow, professor at Portland State Univer sity and former member o f the Board of County Commissioners, were add ed to three persons selected by a committee o f the Board. Candidates selected by the com mittee were: Evie Crowell, librarian; attorney Dean Oisvold; and Williams W etzel, Pastor o f St. P hilips Episcopal Church. Controversy has risen over the selection process and alleged pre-selection o f one can didate. Each candidate w ill speak for ten minutes and be questioned by the '• ‘ Reasonable balance" ¡»¡¿¿ns^tUS^’ 1 I he selection win oe mauc at it the September 11th Board meeting. 4*3«’ Donation of canned goods to the Albina Action Center by the Soroptimiut International of Portland will help the Center meet emergency food needs of area residents. Frances Admas, right, Soroptimist treasurer, delivers the $200 worth of food to Mostaffa Hashemian at the Center. Soroptimist is a service organization of business and professional women.
