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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 31, 1979)
lira France» Echocn-N erspaper Poca U n lv e ro lty c f ö re ro n L ib rary tuR ene, Oregon U74J3 Blanchard recommends transfer assignment change Dr. Robert Blanchard, Blanchard. Sunerin- Superin tendent o f Schools, has proposed that Clint Thomas, area administra tor o f Area I, become Director of Desegregation for the school district. Reorganization Dr. Blanchard has also proposed boundaries for the consolidation of three administrative areas into two areas. Area 1 would include Benson, Jackson, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roose velt, W ashington/M onroe and Wilson High Schools. Area II would include Adams, Cleveland, F ranklin , G ran t, Madison and Marshal High Schools. D r. Blanchard told the School Board that his recommendations were based on: student population balance: ITlinOrifV Haliinr'»»* balance; minority Student student balance; geographic configuration; general socio-economic balance; minimal disruption o f existing attendance boundaries; history, tradition and feeling for neighborhood expecta tions. Although the Com m unity Coalition for School Integration and others have requested that elemen tary schools not be split between the two administrative areas and that students from an elementary school not attend more than one high school — these recommendations were not followed. The Boise, King and possibly Woodlawn attendance areas will be divided into two areas. Dr. Blan pharH’« chard’s raw'AmmanrfatiAnc recommendations vxziirtt point zxnt out nm. araa with all »11 students going to one area that King should remain divided into two areas, with its students going to Jefferson, Adams and Grant (those who do not go to the high school de fined by their administrative transfer assignment) because o f racial bal ance issues. Boise, he states, should be divided between the two areas with students attending Jefferson, Washington- M onroe and G ran t. This school should not be placed in one ad ministrative area with all students going to W ashington-M onroe because the “ Community would be upset.” Woodlawn, now divided into two areas, he recommended be placed in Adams. A d dition al schools which D r. Blanchard recommends continue to be served by two or more high schools are Abernathy, Capital Hill, Creston, Edwards, Kellogg, M t. T abor, N orm andale, Rose C ity Park and Woodstock. Changes recommended include: Buckman students assigned only to Washington-Monroe, but with trans fers to Grant available. Laurelhurst students moved from Washington- Monroe to Grant. Lewis students to Cleveland, with transfer to Franklin on request. Youngston students to Marshall only. _ at Desegregation « w Although the School Board rejec- ed the Com m unity C oalition for School Integration’s recommenda tion for pairing, Dr. Blanchard has recommended some limitation to the scattering o f Black children from a given school to numerous other schools. The following is Dr. Blanchard’s plan for student transfers, to be insti tuted in the fall of 1979. Children who are already assigned to other schools will be allowed to complete their schooling at those schools. Woodlawn 6 - 8th graders will at tend Ockley Green and Witaker/col- umbia, or can go to the Roosevelt cluster. High School students will go a_ a . »» a • to Jefferson, Adams or Roosevelt. This contradicts D r. Blanchard’s recommendations of May 29th that W oodlawn students go to Whitaker/Columbia and to Adams. Under the new School Progression Assignment and Optional Transfer Program, Vernon students will go to Whitaker/Columbia and to Adams. Or they can go to Binsmead and to Marshall. King students will go to Hayhurst, G ray, B ridlem ile, W h ita k e r/- C olum bia, Kellogg and on to Wilson, Adams and Franklin. Or they can go to the Wilson, Madison and Franklin clusters. Sabin children will go to (Please turn to page 8 col. 1) PORTLAND OBSERVER Volume 9 No. 21 Thursday, M ay 31,197910C USPS King : On the academic bottom Boise students meet author Ezra Jack Keats as he leaves Alameda School. Keats, the author of "The Snowy Day" and numerous books about inner city children, was invited to Portland by the students of Sabin ECE. Students of Sabin, Ir vington and Alameda joined to raise expenses for the trip and shared the visit. A listing o f the average test scores of Portland Schools for the fall of 1978 still finds the Albina schools near the bottom of the list in perfor mance. The Portland School D istrict recently released test scores for the fall o f 1978, ranking the district schools in order o f their average achievement levels in reading and math. The tests were developed by the district and measure the child’s performance on m aterial that is taught in the district at his grade level. The tests provide a basic score for each child, the R IT (Rasch Achievement U nit) which demon strates where the child’s performance lies. This score can be measured against the district average. For example, the average score expected for a fifth grader is 200. Most of the administrators contac ted were pleased with the test and in dicated their opinion that it gives an accurate picture o f the student’s per- Kennedy plan: Insuring insurance companies by Martin Brown (PNS) — With the recent unveiling of his “ Health Care For All Ameri cans Plan,” Senator Edward Ken nedy has joined a growing field of politicians who are again placing national health insurance near the top of the political agenda. The new Kennedy proposal is being character ized as more comprehensive in its coverage and more liberal in its benefits than the gradualist plan proposed by the Carter Administra tion. But critics contend that by allowing for the participation o f private insurance companies as “ financial intermediaries’’ the new Kennedy proposal is a serious re treat from the concept of national health insurance put forward by him self and others in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. At least four separate and com peting proposals for national health insurance are now being seriously pursued in Congress, but only two — Kennedy's and Carter’s — are given a chance o f passage. These two proposals are similar in major ways. Besides providing a role for private insurance companies, both would be financed primarily from employer employee contributions. Both con tain provisions for quality standards and cost controls (which critics say are inadequate), and neither would directly affect the distribution of medical resources or the kinds of services offered. The Administration plan would phase in national health insurance over a period of several years. The P rin ce»» L yn n T a ito n (Photo«: KenneU-EHial J o h n Adam » High S c h n f' first phase would cover only the aged, the poor, the unemployed and those suffering from catastrophic health expenses. Other citizens would be included later. The Kennedy proposal, which is not yet in bill form, would include all citizens and is more liberal in its benefits. It has the endorsement of most of organized labor, including the A F L-C IO , as well as numerous civil rights and church organizations. The earlier Kennedy proposal omitting the private insurer has been re-introduced by Representative James Corman (D -C A ), its original co-sponsor. The bill would involve the government directly with health care providers through a federal health insurance corporation. In ad dition, the bill would fund 50 per cent o f the program out o f the progressive income tax. In the new Kennedy version, the bulk o f finan cing would come from an employer- employee payroll tax, which authori tative economists consider much more regressive than the income tax. The fourth major proposal, spon sored by Representative Ron Dellums (D -C A ) would create a national health service. It would establish a nationwide network of community-based health centers controlled by health care consumers and health workers. The program would be financed by a separate progressive health tax on personal and corporate income. The American Public Health Associa tion, representing the public health professions, has endorsed the proposed Dellums Health Services Act, but it is given little chance of (Please turn to Page 5 Column 1) formance. For the first time the district can draw accurate com parisons between schools, or bet ween classes. Previously each ad ministrative area used different tests, and tests were sometimes given at different times of the year, so ac curate comparisons were impossible. The rank order found the Albina schools at or near the bottom in reading and mathematics, in grades four and five. A t the very bottom in 4th and 5th grade reading and math, is Martin Luther King Early C hildhood Education Center. Not only are the test scores for these grades (there is no testing below the fourth grade and King has no sixth, seventh or eighth grades) but this year’s fifth graders scored lower than they did the previous year. LeRoy Moore, Principal o f King, said he is not surprised by the low scores and expects no improvment until the fall o f 1981, when this year’s second graders reach the four th grade. The first children to begin the pre-school program for four year olds are now in the second grade, and not until those children are tested in the fourth grade does he ex pect to see the results o f thousands of dollars o f federal, state and local money concentrated in the Early Childhood Education program. The fact that current fourth grade children are attending an ECE center and have been since the first grade, he does not believe has affected their achievement scores. Moore blames the schools’ ap parent failure to educate on the socio-economic level o f the com munity. He explained that many of the children have severe home prob lems, come to school without proper nutrition, live in one-parent families, and have lives so disrupted that their education is difficult. Add to this a turn-over rate of approximately 25 per cent. Some staff members and parents disagree with Moore. They believe large classroom size and allocation o f personnel may be at fau lt, although they have no easy answers. Teachers say they see progress in most children who have been in the program for two years or more, especially those in the lower grade levels. They see these advances slip ping away as new childrervtransfer to the school and class sizes are too large to deal with all o f the children adequately. Pre-school classes and kindergar ten classes have approximately 20 children, with a teacher and a full time teacher aide. Grades one and two have approximately 25 students and two classes share one aide. At grades three, four and five there are approximately 30 students to a class, with three classes sharing one aide. Although there are specialized staff for PE, music, etc., most o f these teachers’ time is allocated to the younger students. Therefore, while four and five years olds, who arc 68 percent white, have a low teacher- child ratio and time for in dividualized attention, while grades three, four and five, which are majority Black are large and under staffed. A nother consideration is that white children, who are bussed in for pre-K and Kindergarten programs, leave after the early grades, making the 3rd, 4th and 5th grades highly Black. Moore does not con sider the ratial balance of the upper grades an influence on achievement. Some staff members and parents believe the older students, particular ly grades three through five, are suf fering from neglect while the district allocates its resources to the preschool students and that the true purpose o f the Early Childhood Education Center is not to offer an enriched opportunity to neigh borhood children -- who in the eyes o f the district need special help because o f their impoverished con ditio n — but an e ffo rt to meet m inim al federal and state requirements for desegregation. ’•ÜHL __ Princes» Davi Portar Jefferson High School Prince»» Lori Sm ith W ilson High School I ( (Story on paye 6)
