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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 29, 1979)
Mro F ran ce« S choen-N eeapaper fico» U n iv e r a t t y o f Oregon L ib r a r y tu g e n e , Oregon 97403 School Board election vital to Black community by Charlottt Wil/iams and Jeana Woolley Black parents should be especially interested in the outcome o f the A pril 3, 1979 election o f Portland Public School Board members. There are nineteen candidates vying for four positions, and the Albina Voter Registration and Education Committee (AVREC) strongly sug gests that the community focus at tention on the critical issues which the next School Board will be forced to deal with and resolve when casting its votes. Newly elected Board mem bers must be prepared to address in equitable desegregation practices, m inim um competency standards. meaningful parent and community involvement, and above all, quality education for Black as well as white children. For over eighteen months the Community Coalition for School In te g ration, a group o f concerned parents, citizens and educators, care fu lly studied the fourteen year history o f desegregation in the Port land public schools. It presented its findings which outlined a series o f fragmented and inequitable desegre gation practices to the P ortland Board o f Education in December 1978. There was overwhelming evi dence that Black children are bearing the burden and paying the costs for desegregating P o rtla n d ’ s public schools. The next School Board must be prepared to rectify this clearly unequal and d iscrim in a to ry situation. Black parents should make every attempt to involve themselves in all aspects o f their children’s education, and the School Board should con sider p ro vid in g m eaningful, un biased mechanisms for this type o f comprehensive parent and com m unity involvement as one o f its prim a ry responsibilities. Parents who have their children scattered among several different schools all over the City can’ t be effectively in volved in the educational process. Current school district policies and practices hinder the meaningful and wide-spread involvement o f Black parents in the educational system, aside from unfairly burdening and disadvantaging Black children. The primary goal o f education is to enlighten and enrich our children’ s lives by p roviding the basic skills that make learning possible. M inim um competency standards should be required, but the larger goal o f quality education for all children must be emphasized and enforced in this process. The P ortland School Board is going to need tough and creative leadership in the 1980’ s to effectively address the issues o f inequitable de segregation, quality education, and meaningful community involvement in the schools. The current Board has been accused o f being arrogant, paternalistic, and nondirectional in response to the educational concerns o f the Black community. Parents, teachers, com m unity leaders and concerned citizens who are dissatis fied with the current Board’ s perfor mance on the critical issues should view the School Board elections next Tuesday, A pril 3, 1979, as an oppor tunity to register that dissatisfaction where it counts — at the ballot box. What kind o f individuals do we need serving on the Portland School Board? First and foremost, we need Board members who can confront the critical educational issues, make tough decisions, and then provide PORTLAND OBSERVER the initiative and leadership for im plementing these decisions in the school system. We badly need in dividuals who are not afraid to voice their opinions on controversial topics, We need individuals who will put education before politics. We need people who won’t pretend to have all the answers and will view parents, teachers, and concerned community groups, as well as ad m inistrators, as resources whose knowledge and ideas desperately need to be tapped and cultivated in the interest o f providing a better education for our children. We need individuals who are interested in ser ving the com m unity’ s educational (Please turn to Page 6 Column 3) Volume 9 No. 12 Thursday, March 29.1979 10C USPS 969 680 Board challengers seek change Lewis & Clark students exhibit Black art by Kathryn Hoyle | “ Blacks in the A n s’ ’ was the title used for the first art exhibit to be presented by the Black Student Union on their campus at Lewis and Clark College. The exhibit, currently open to the public, displayed the di versified talents o f five Black men and made a strong statement that Black A n is living and well. Opening night, which was March 26th, o f fered an inform al reception complete with hors d’oeuvres, punch and cof fee, honoring A l C oldsby, well- known Ponland metal scuipturist. The show itself may be viewed until A pril 7th. M r. Goldsby, who recently exhi bited his metal work at Hood River, showed some o f his smaller sized free-standing pieces and some newer examples o f his growing interest in (Please turn to Page 6 Column 3) Senate hears Black Commission testimony The Senate Committee on Aging and M in o ritie s heard testim ony M onday on SB 579, proposing a Commission on the Status o f Blacks in Oregon. The bill would provide for an eleven member Commission, appointed by the Governor, to study the condition o f Blacks in Oregon and make recommendations fo r remedies. Senator Frank Roberts, speaking in favor o f the bill, explained that past conditions o f discrim ination have made it impossible fo r many Blacks to find jobs. Older people, he said, had been told that they should not have expectations and prepare for careers. Now young people have expectations but may need to “ reallocate expectations so people don’t go to college and find no jo b .” He added that it is often necessary to recruit Blacks from out o f State because Oregon doesn’ t provide a proper environm ent fo r young people to encourage them into career fields. He questioned Oregon’ s record in m in o rity hiring. “ Our problem m ight be that we kept saying we were doing great, while other places w ith more problems were doing more.” Lucius H icks, President o f the N A A C P , P ortland Branch, also supported the bill, " A Commission w ill serve to communicate that Black unemployment, poor housing, and retarded com m unity services still exist.” He explained that Black unem ployment is not by choice — Black fathers and mothers want to work to m aintain their fam ilies. Unem ployment o f young people is 46 per cent. The Commission should be a medium for communication o f the needs o f Blacks, and a vehicle to help the legislature provide programs to meet those needs. In response to a question fo r Senator L.B. Day, Hicks said that although the Slate has done a good job in employing women and minori ties, it has not hired adequate num ber o f Blacks. Lea Powell, o f the Salem Branch, N A A C P , told the committee that Blacks do not hold su fficient positions in Salem and in the state and that they do not provide a viable political force. Noting the absence o f Black people at the hearing, she asked “ what prevents them from being a viable force?” Committee Chairman Jan Wyers expressed his concern that the bill, as it is now written, places too much emphasis on research. Although he hopes the Commission members would be “ activists,” the wording o f the bill might be restrictive. He was also concerned that the $285,000 budget for the biennium — nearly twice that o f the Commission on In dian Services — might discourage the Ways and Means Committee from funding the Commission. A similar bill was not passed out o f the Ways and Means Com m ittee in 1977 largely due to resistance to funding. EVIE CROWELL Evie Crowell is seeking election for the position to which she was ap pointed in September. Ms. Crowell sees finances as the school district's highest priority — managing dwindl ing funds in a manner that w ill produce good educational programs. Her vote against the Coalition for School Integration’s pairing propo sal she considers somewhat misun derstood. She considers the Coali tion’ s report to be quality research and agrees with many o f the recom mendations but thinks the Board’s actions, except in the area o f pairing, were responsive. One o f the motions she presented — dealing with teacher training — encourages training in multi-cultural education. It was not made manda tory in part to avoid opposition by the teacher organizations, but also because she felt that stating the policy and desired action would alert the staff to the Boards’ wishes. I f staff members do not respond, she would consider making this mandatory. She opposes school pairing at this time and favors more concerted ef forts to bring white students into the A lbina schools. She questions the State Board’ s policy that no school should be over 50 percent minority, feeling that the assumption that a majority Black school is inferior, to be racist. However, i f the school is to be desegregated she agrees with the district’ s target o f no more than 30 percent minority, which is twice the (Please turn to Page 4 Column 1) STEVE BUEL BETTIE OVERTON Steve Buel is a pu b lic school teacher who is concerned about the elementary schools in the Portland school district. “ The conditions in the district’ s elementary schools are deplorable. They are the worst schools in the metropolitan area. The School Board seldom mentions edu cation — the teaching o f children should be their primary concern.” Buel, who spent three years substi tuting in the Portland district, has taught in most o f the P ortland schools and those in the east county, blames the adm inistration fo r the lack o f teaching. He sees the key to • education as the principal, who con trols the activities o f his building, directs and supervises the teachers. In the Portland district, he says, principals are selected and assigned because o f politics rather than edu cational performance and they spend their time on administration and red tape rather than dealing w ith children. He considers class sizes too large and prefers taking money from the administration budget to hire enough teachers to bring primary classes to 22 students. He would eliminate the FTE (full-tim e equivalent) now used to assign numbers o f adults to schools and instead would consider only the numbers o f children in classroom. “ For a while the district was steadily decreasing class size, but for the past three years have held it the same. Class sizes o f from 26 to 35 Please turn to Page 3 Column 1) Bettie Lou Overton is seeking elec tion to the Portland School Board, position #5. Mrs. Overton is known in the community as a “ grass roots activist.” “ I oppose desegregation in its current form ,” Mrs. Overton said. “ Like most parents, I prefer the neighborhood school. I think young children should go to school close to home. But I think if there is going to be busing it should go both ways. It isn’t fair for Black children to have to go all over town because white families don’t want their children to be bused.” Mrs. Overton is concerned about the functioning o f the School Board and accuses the members o f fo llo w in g Superintendent Blan chard’s directions. “ As a member o f the Board I would demand that I be given all o f the inform ation so I could make a proper decision. I would ask for the pros and cons, the entire program and how it was deve loped. I would want everything^ laid out in front o f me so I could make my own decision.” She would like to see a shift o f funds from administrative to teach ing. There are too many administra tors and too much emphasis on non teaching staff. Special students — the gifted as well as the retarded and handicapped — should receive special attention and all students should be well grounded in basic fun damentals. (Please turn to Page 3 Column 1) to bring any charges about my staffs conduct to me personally. M y staff has been maligned and falsely ac cused. Their accusers have never come forward and identified them selves to these young men. No one has ever checked with my office to see if there is any basis o f fact to these charges. I can no longer stand by while two dedicated young men have their reputations besmirched and their in te g rity questioned. I stand before you and state categori cally that any charges o f wrongdoing or unethical conduct by my staff is totally without foundation. In fact, we arc the only office that compiles a log o f all phone calls and photo copying. These logs are open to all who wish to see them. They were and are open to those who are at this moment continuing this campaign of falsehoods. “ It is true that Sandy Pitler and Chuck Johnson o f my staff are also members o f the Trojan Decommis sioning Alliance. Just as true is the fact that some members o f the legislative staffs are members o f a union, or the Lions Club, or the Rotary, or the Republican party. Membership in a public organization does not disqualify a citizen from working within the confines o f this capitol building. I have in my years, attempted to open up the halls o f government to the citizens o f this state. I believe that more public mind ed Oregonians need to feel that they have access to the process by which they are governed. Furthermore, 1 shall continue to keep my office open to the citizens o f this state and shall encourage them to get involved in the decision making process. “ I see these attempts to place my s ta ff on p u b lic tria l as a ruse. Because o f the Governor's failures and his frustration, an attempt is being made to make my office the issue in order to obscure the real and substantive issues o f the day — taxes and energy — just to name two. “ This session has seen the Gover nor propose a tax plan which was un- (Please turn to Page 2 Column 4) Priestley staff: Activism in the Legislature Representative W ally Priestley’ s legislative aids are doing such a good job that they have brought the wrath o f the governor’ s office, some Re publican legislators and private utili ties down on their heads. Chuck Johnson and Sandy Pitler, part-time aids, are working on four bills Priestley is sponsoring as well as related legislation. Their infam y began when Governor Atiyeh ap pointed Kelly Woods as head o f the State Energy Department. Johnson and P itltr brought their resources to bear, and those o f the Trojan De commissioning Alliance (o f which they are members) and other anti nuclear organizations, and persuaded the Senate to refuse to confirm the nomination. Woods is reported to be a proponent o f nuclear power and to have little knowledge o f alternative power sources. W ith an angry response that a small special interest group had ef fected the Senate’s vote, the Gover nor appointed himself as head o f the Energy Department. Then PGE launched an attack on Representative Sandy Richards who was rumored to be housing TD A in her legislative office. “ Picky, picky, p ic k y ,” responded Representative Richards, revealing that T D A only used a desk drawer to store their supplies. “ M y office is open to any citizens groups — even to PGE,” she responded. More rum ors flew — this time Representative Priestley was accused not only o f harboring T D A , but paying them, too. Priestley admitted that two o f his legislature aids are members o f TD A , but arc working for him with very strict guidelines. He had given them written instruc tions: “ A ll use o f photocopying equipment, phones, typewriters, o f fice supplies, and other office equip ment must pertain to the specific bills I have assigned you to work on.” Then the G overnor decided to replace two members o f the Energy Facilities Siting C ouncil — two members expected to vote against the Pebble Springs nuclear plants. John- son and Pitler went into action again and one o f Atiyeh’s nominees, Ken neth O’ Connell was forced to with draw because o f conflict o f interest — he owned stock in companies who would own Pebble Springs. The other nominee — Harvey Risewick, Jr. — is employed by Teamster leader and State Senator L.B. Day. Day is a member o f the Senate Energy and Environm ent Com m ittee, which must confirm Risewick, and is reported to be the person who suggested Risewick to the Governor. Day, an outspoken proponent o f nuclear power, can be remembered as the “ hatchet man” who, during the campaign fo r Governor, accused Bob Straub o f im p ro p rie tie s regarding a State Housing Department contract for low-income housing. Opponents o f nuclear power op pose these changes in the Siting Council prior to its Pebble Springs decision this fall. The Siting Coun cil, in existence for eight years, has spent seven years studying the issue. Public hearings, court decisions and testimony have compiled an enor mous record — one impossible for new members to read and digest in six months. They see the change at this crucial time to be politically mo tivated — to insure that the power plants w ill be built. A bout the time the controversy over the appointments o f McConnell and Risewick began, the move against Priestley and his sta ff intensified. Finally, last week, House M inority Leader Representative Gary Wilhelm said he was asking the Ethics Com mission to investigate Priestley’ s s ta ff to determ ine i f th e ir em ployment is a conflict o f interest. Priestley rose on the floor o f the House and amid applause by his fellow members, defended his staff. “ For the past m onth I have refused to dignify, by commenting publicly, the baseless campaign o f whispers and innuendos which has crept along the floors and corridors o f this legislative body. In vain I have waited for these silent accusers