Claims whites bear burden
Blanchard rejects school pairing
PORTLAND
OBSERVER
Volume 8 No. 80 Thursday. December 14,1978 10c per copy
Legal Aid closes
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Albina office
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So
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Al Goldsby is presenting an "Open Studio" showing of his metal sculpture
this Sunday at his North Killingsworth studio.
M etal sculptors open show
by Kathryn H. Bogle
Invitations arc out, but they are
not really necessary to drop in at the
"Open Studio" being presented by
Al Goldsby and Gene Michieli, both
metal sculpturists, for this Saturday
and Sunday afternoons, December
I6th and 17th. The public is invited
to the studio at 825 N. K illings
worth to view some o f their newest
pieaee - imaginative constructions
o f bronze, copper, aluminum and
steel.
Some o f this artistry is meant for
in d o o r pleasure, and some was
designed for the outdoor garden set
ting. A ll o f it is strong and eloquent.
Visitors are welcome from 2:00-5:00
p.m. on both days.
Goldsby’ s M ountain landscape,
done in bronze with its beautiful
patina in remarkable variation in
shadings, undergoes a myriad o f
light changes while you watch. It is
probably a favorite o f this viewer.
You may go for the breathtaking
fluidity expressed in a pair o f bronze
dancers, and, most certainly, you will
enjoy the funny life-like metal turtles
stretching for food in the very real
waters o f the fountain-pool near the
entrance o f the gallery.
Goldsby has some very effective
examples o f dry point on display too.
“ Gusty,” done by Michieli, is a
fascinating and imaginative piece, a
handling o f metal leaves that triggers
the memory o f Nature’s fall pranks.
Michieli has many other delightful
pieces for you to see.
G oldsby ju s t com pleted, in
November, a successful one-man
show that ran for two weeks at the
Sandpiper Gallery in Cannon Beach.
This was all a part o f a busy fall
season that took Goldsby also to
New York C ity to the Crawshaw
Gallery on Madison Avenue so that
he could be in on the opening
showing o f Tom Hardy’ s sculpture
there.
Look for this Studio 825. It is a lit
tle gem tucked away in old Albina.
When you find it, you’ ll be glad you
did.
kBJUST
The Northeast Portland office o f
Legal Aid, which first opened in the
Albina Neighborhood Service Center
in 1968 w ill be closed in February.
The program, which was first funded
by the War on Poverty (PMSC), has
employed such attorneys as Neil
Goldschm idt, Phil Low thian and
Ron Gevertz.
According to J. Richard Forester,
director o f the program, the closing
is due to spending priorities o f the
federal Legal Services Corporation.
The corporation funds legal services
for the poor and its policies, accord
ing to Forester, “ have allowed for
the decimation o f the older, exist
ing programs while its emphasis is
on its expansion policy insured that
everyone w ill be provided w ith
inadequate legal services.”
“ W ith the closure o f the Northeast
office we have the end o f an era in
Legal Services. The ideal was a full
range o f legal services provided to
the people in their neighborhoods.”
The direction o f the Legal Services
Corporation was changed under the
Nixon administration. Forester said
that over three and one half years
under these policies, Legal Aid has
become “ p rim a rily a dow ntow n
operation providng half the services
we used to provide to less than half
the clients. During the same period
o f time that we were forced to close
down four neighborhood operations,
LS C ’ s regional bureaucracy has
more than quadrupled in size.”
The Northeast o ffic e provided
legal services for an average o f 1,500
per year for ten years. It specialized
in legal problems with government
benefits.
“ I hope the next Congress w ill
earmark 95 percent o f the next LSC
a p p ro p ria tio n
fo r
programs
providing direct client services and
mandate m aintenance o f q u a lity
legal services for all as the most im
p ortant objective o f the C o r
poration,” Forester said.
Legal A id w ill be consolidated into
a sinsle downtown office.
Contributions to the Al
Williams Defense Fund
should be sent to the
American State Bank. 2737
N.E. Union Avenue.
Williams is awaiting trial
on a
murder
charge
resulting from his having
been the victim of racial in
sults and an unprovoked
knife assault.
Calling the Community Coalition
for School Integration’ s proposal for
pairing schools to achieve desegre
gation " a considerable over-reac
tion in view o f the extent o f the
problem it is intended to solve,”
Superintendent Robert Blanchard
minimized the burdern o f desegre
gation carried by Black students
and families and claimed this burden
has been equally born by whites.
Attacking the basic premise o f the
Coalition — that desegregation in
the Portland School District has not
been equitable — Blanchard con
fused the issues o f desegregation and
m iddle school reorganization to
enable him to claim that “ when we
examine, district-wide, the results of
reorganization, we find that the in
convenience o f transfer due to
reorganization has been almost
equally shared by Black and white
students.” Stating that 1,326 white
students are transferred to primary
schools, many because they were
displaced from their neighborhood
primary grades when middle schools
were opened, he concluded that
pratically no Black students must
leave their immediate neighborhoods
to attend grades K-5. Therefore, in
his own inexplicable reasoning, “ For
the first six years o f school, white
children have nearly all o f the burden
o f desegregation that resulted from
the creation o f middle schools.” Dr.
Blanchard neglected to explain that
when elementary schools become K-5
schools in white areas, the 6th, 7th
and 8th grades were assigned to a
nearby middle school. In the Black
neighborhoods, the upper grades
have been missing for several years
with no middle schools developed for
them. These children have been
assigned to schools — elementary
and middle schools — throughout
the district.
Actually, no white students are
transferred to Black schools to effect
desegregation. The tw o m iddle
schools now operating that are
“ clustered” with Albina schools —
Femwood and Columbia/Whitaker —
although p ro vid in g desegregated
'middle schools, do not desegregate
elementary schools. Low er grade
students living in the Columbia and
W h itaker attendance areas were
transferred to Faubian and Rigler.
Students living in the Fernwood at
tendance area attend Laurelhurst.
The creation o f Beaumont Middle
School — with the Sabin, Alameda
cluster — w ill send its lower grade
students to Alam eda. The Ockly
Green cluster group w ill not include
a predominately Black school. Thus,
the m iddle schools have not
desegregated the Albina elementary
schools.
Blanchard, presenting his reac
tions and recommendations to the
Board o f Education M onday
evening, did not make a recommen
dation regarding pairing o f schools.
He did, however, make clear his op
position to the plan by questioning
the logistics o f the proposal — i.e.
whether the students could fit
existing buildings, and by calling up
the question o f white flight.
Calling the problems o f numbers
“ perhaps unsolvable” Blanchard
questioned whether a Black school
could be paired w ith one or two
white schools to achieve a 30/70
balance.
Blanchard admitted that “ com
promises” were made in Portland
solutions to avoid middle class deser
tion. “ The prognosis fo r avoiding
middle class flight regrettably is not
good,” he added. “ There is simply
no doubt that compulsory two-way
tra n s p o rta tio n accelerates the
enrollment decline which city school
systems are experiencing by reason
o f low birthrates and grow th o f
suburban areas.” Thus Blanchard
reiterated his often made statement
that the D is tric t cannot institute
m andatory busing o f whites fo r
desegregation purposes.
Blanchard offered:
1) That the number o f schools to
which the students that are dispersed
from each A lbina school be reduced.
2) That Black students be allowed
to attend Early Childhood Centers in
their attendance area or one im
mediately adjacent.
3) That a middle school in the
W a s h in g to n /M o n ro e attendance
area be developed fo r Boise and
Eliot.
4) That greater attention be given
to recruiting white students to attend
Early Childhood Education Centers,
the desegregated middle schools and
the Jefferson magnets.
Blanchard’ s suggested assignment
and optional transfer program is as
follows:
Woodlawn 6th-8th grades (Area I)
to O ckly Green — o p tio n to
Roosevelt cluster.
Woodlawn 6th-8th grade (Area II)
to W h ita k e r/C o lu m b ia (Adam s),
Binnsmead (M arshall) or Gregory
Heights (Madison) option.
Vernon 6th-8th grades (Area I!) to
Whitaker/Columbia. Option to Binns
mead.
King 6th-8th Grades (Area I) to
Hayhurst, Gray, Bridlemile (Wilson).
Option to Wilson cluster.
King 6th-8th grades (Area II) to
W h ita k e r/C o lu m b ia . O p tio n to
Madison cluster.
King 6th-8lh grades (Area III) to
Kellogg (F ra n k lin ). O p tio n to
Franklin cluster.
Sabin 6th-8th grades (Area III) to
Beaumont (G ra n t). O p tio n to
Cleveland cluster.
Irvington 6th-8th grades (Area III)
to Fernwood (G rant). O ption to
Franklin cluster.
Boise — Freshmen (Area I) to
Jackson High School.
Boise (Area III) to Washington.
Hum boldt 3rd-8th grades (Area I)
to Lincoln cluster.
E liot 6th-8th grades (Area III) to
Buckman (Washington). Option to
Hosford (Cleveland).
An alternative, if Boise becomes a
K-5 school, is to send Boise 6th-8th
grade students (Area I) to Markham
(Jackson), w ith the option to the
Jackson cluster. Boise 6th-8th grades
(Area III) would go to M t. Tabor or
Kellogg w ith an o p tio n to the
Cleveland cluster.
Blanchard made the fo llo w in g
recom m endations regarding the
Coalition’s additional proposals:
A d m in is tra tio n : Denying the
C o a litio n ’ s allegations that the
district’ s desegregation efforts are
“ unorganized, piece-meal, and
fragmented,” Blanchard agreed that
there should be more routine
monitoring o f desegregation and will
adjust s ta ff responsibilitie s. He
recommended hiring a desegrega-
tion/integration coordinator
Curriculum: He agreed with the
Coalition’ s recommendation that a
survey o f the use o f m ulti-ethnic
curriculum be done, but did not ap
prove o f an “ outside organization”
being involved in the survey.
Teacher Training: He agreed that
desegregation-related tra in in g fo r
teachers should be m andatory.
“ Such background should be a
minim um competency fo r present
service teachers and supervisors in
our district.”
Discipline: He concurred with the
recommended categories o f suspen
sions — and recommended that the
district allow expulsions o f less than
one semester. He agreed to recruit
m in o rity counselors and social
workers. He agreed with recommen
dations that bus rules be the same for
the entire district and that children
not be removed from buses before
reaching their destination. He denied
the need for aides on all buses. He
agreed that a ’ Student Rights and
Responsibilities Handbook* could be
published at the 5th grade reading
level.
The Portland School Board will
begin consideration of the
recommendations of the Com
munity Coalition for School Inte
gration and w ill hear public
comment on Monday, December
18th, at 7:30 p.m. at Benson High
School.
Minority Hiring: Blanchard accept
ed the Coalition’ s logic that priority
should be given to increased recruit
ment and h irin g o f m in o rity
professionals who have contact with
students. He would not recommend
that m in o rity s ta ff be tied to
enrollm ent figures (20 percent
m in o rity students — 20 percent
minority staff) “ because o f lack o f
available Black educators in the job
market.” He w ill develop programs
to assist employees to q u alify fo r
principalships and fo r aides to
qualify as teachers.
M in o rity Teacher Placem ent:
“ The district remains willing to con
sider any alternatives to the present
approach o f balancing staff assign
ments that the C oalition, teacher,
administrative and parent organiza
tions wish to submit.”
H ousing Desegregation: The
school district w ill intensify its ac
tivities to influence equal housing
opportunities.
Advisory Boards: The C oalition
asked fo r less duplication on ad
visory boards and a broader com
munity representation. The district
w ill explore this possibility.
Nurses honor Harriot Tubman
The Oregon Nurses Association
presented a commemorative Harriet
Tubman cancelled stamp and en
velope to the Urban League o f Por
tland to honor H arriet Tubman,
Civil War nurse and abolitionist. The
presentation was part o f a nation
wide effort o f the American Nurses’
Association.
Mrs. Tubman was selected as an
example o f the contribution of Black
nurses to the profession. It was one-
hundred years ago next year that the
first Black nurse graduated from a
school o f nursing.
Harriet Tubman was born a slave
in Maryland and at the age o f twen
ty-one escaped to Philadelphia. She
was aided by free Blacks, Germans
and Quakers who operated the “ un
derground railroad” , a network of
abolitionists who helped fugitive
slaves.
Mrs. Tubman became the guide to
freedom for more than 300 slaves.
When approaching slave quarters,
she often signaled her presence by
singing “ Go Down Moses” , a
spiritual forbidden by many slave
owners.
Timmy Pittman, ale van, (in background) and Todd Irving, thirteen, both
students at Binnsmead Elementary School, have been selected to represent
Oregon in the Pacific and Western States Dunking Championships, December
26th-January 1st in Hawaii. The Pacific Championships, for boys and girls ages
seven to seventeen, will feature dunkers from the U .S ., Japan, Taiwan,
Canada and the Philippines. Each participant must provide all travel costs.
Rescues became more difficult as a
result o f the fugitive slave law of
1850 which ordered the return o f
escaped slaves to th e ir masters.
Financial penalties were invoked on
persons who aided runaway slaves.
Since Philadelphia, New York and
Boston were no longer safe, fugitives
had to go to Canada. In the Spring
o f 1852, Harriet Tubman conducted
her firs t group o f slaves to St.
Catherine’s, Ontario. From then on
she spent most o f her time working
in Canada and the northern states,
but returned to Maryland at least
twice a year to free family members
and others.
As the C iv il W ar began, Mrs.
Tubman was able to slip through the
C onfederate lines on spying
missions, although she was easily
identifiable and always in danger.
At the beginning o f the Civil War
Massachusetts Governor John An
drew sent her to Port Royal, o f the
coast o f South Carolina, to care for
wounded Union soldiers and newly-
freed slaves. Dysentary, rather than
battle wounds, caused the greatest
health problems and led to death in
many cases.
Seeking a cure fo r the disease,
Mrs. Tuban took a boat inland and
searched until she found the water
lily, a plant common in her native
Maryland. From the roots o f the
plan she concocted a bitter tasting
but effective brew that was suc
cessful in treating the disease.
A fte r the war, she resided in
Auburn, New York, where she spent
the test o f her life - impoverished by
respected.
r
XjACKSON
...a
reorganization
desegregated Black Albina schools. N o w h ite
' s tu d e n te h ave b een a e e ig n e d to B la ck
schools. Arrows show assignment of lower grade
children moved from middle school attendance
areas. Columbia to FAubian, Whitaker to Rigler,
Fernwood to Laurelhurst, Beaumont to Alameda.
Okley Green to Kenton, Chief Joseph and Beach.