i
U n'
PPS proposes equitable desegregation plan
The
greg
I he d ese g
re g atio
a tio n -integ
-in te g ra tion
tio n
committee o f the Portland School
Board began Wednesday night to
deal with the demands o f the Black
United Front, attempting to head o ff
the school boycott scheduled for
September 4th
I ast Thursday the Board had
subm itted a letter to the Black
United Front stating in part, “ The
P o rtlan d Board o f Education
acknowledges the Black U nited
I rout's objectives to be a legitimate
and accurate expression o f dissatis
faction with the district's present
program o f desegregation. Further
we recognize this dissatisfaction to
express the views o f a significant seg
ment ol the district's population.
Therelore, the Board assures Black
United I rout members and other
concerned citizens that it takes very
(o review very
seriously and pledges to
seriously the objectives o f that
organization."
BUF co-chairman Ronnie Hern
don met w ith Board C hairm an
Frank M cNam ara Sunday and
presented several proposals to be im
plemented for the 1979-80 school
year. Among these were that the 3rd,
4th and 5th grades be returned to
Humboldt and the 4th and 5th to
E lio t; that m iddle school age
children who are bussed out o f the
area have the option to return to
Fernwood. Beaumont or Columbia/
Whitaker middle schools; that white
students in E arly C h ildh oo d
Education Centers be required to
remain through the grades offered;
that all students be allowed to attend
the high schools in their area; that
children wait for buses at the schools
and be provided shelter and super-
Parents w ill chose whether they
children will catch the bus at school
or at pick up points. Supervision and
shelter w ill be provided at the
schools.
The Board o f Education w ill meet
Monday at 7:30 p m. to discuss and
adopt the com m ittee recom m en
dations.
Since all o f the current Board
members were present and only
Forrest Reike expressed substantial
opposition to the measures endorse-
ed, it can be expectaed that they will
be adopted with only minor changes.
Ronnie Herndon told the Observer
that he is disappointed at the “ undo
amount o f reluctance to giving the
Black community the same choices
available to the white community.”
He proposes that all students who
» ratio more
__
a ratio more reflective o f the student
body make-up."
For the coming year, the commit
tee determined to create a 4th grade
class at Eliot and a 3rd grade class at
H um bo ldt and to in v ite those
students who would otherwise be
bussed out to remain in their school.
They declined to add a 5th grade
class at Eliot or 4th and 5th grade
classes at H um boldt or to allow
bussed students whose schools no
longer have their grades to attend
other Albina schools.
Children who are now transfered
can return to their own school if
their grades exist.
T he committee decided to allow
those 6th graders from Humbodt,
Eliot and King Area I, who have no
middle school assignment, to attend
Fernwood, Beaumont or C olu m
c
u
b ia /W h ita k e r. Seventh and 8th
graders must remain in their current
assignments.
Theoretically students who live in
the areas served by C o lu m
bia/W hitaker (Woodlawn, Faubian,
Vernon and King Area II) can attend
Columbia/W hitaker. However, if all
were to attempt to register at the
school, there would be no space for
them. C lint Thomas, desegregation
supervisor, estimated that about 450
students who theoretically belong at
C o lu m b ia /W h ita k e r have been
recruited to other schools.
A ll students are now allowed to at
tend their own high schools, in
cluding Jefferson, even if they have
been transferred to other schools.
This is not widely known and some
parents have met opposition from
principals and area administrators.
PORTLAND OBSERVER
vision; that efforts begin to achieve a
20 percent m in o rity sta ff; that a
com m unity m onitoring system be
developed.
The Board committee agreed to
develop a comprehensive desegrega
lion plan, to be implemented in Sep
tember o f 1980, that where possible
w ill cluster contiguous schools to
achieve desegregated student bodies;
create one or two middle schools in
A lb in a ; not close any school in
Albina. Parents, the Black United
Front and community organizations
w ill be involved in the planning.
II adopted by the Board, the plan
will include mandatory instruction o f
teachers in Black history and culture;
curriculum that w ill enhance self-
worth and cultural identity; an effort
to hire Black staff to “ move toward
(Please turn to page 10 col. 1)
Volume 9 No. 33
Thursday. August 23. 1979 10$
US PS 969 681)
Black suspensions outstrip whites 5 to 1
Two years ago the disciplinary
policies o f the P ortland Public-
Schools were found to be discrimina
tory against Black students. Under
threat o f loss o f federal funds the
d is tric t agreed to make suitable
changes that would lessen the im
balance ol Black students suspended
and/or expelled from school.
The d is tric t’ s statistics fo r the
1977-1978 school year demonstrate
(hat Black children are s till sus
pended at a rate greatly dispropor
tionate to their numbers in the school
population.
Jackson High School for example,
suspended 20.2 per cent o f its
minority students while suspending
2.7 per cent ol the white students.
Madison suspended 21.3 per cent o f
its minority students and 5.4 per cent
o f its white students. Grant sus
pended 43 per cent o f its minority
students and 2. I per cent o f its white
students.
M inority suspensions:
Jackson 20.2 per cent; Jefferson
25.7; Lincoln 6.2; Roosevelt 15.9;
Wilson 27.2; Adams 62.1; Benson
6.7; Madison 21.3; Marshall 10.4;
M onroe 4 7; Cleveland 19.1;
Franklin 8.2; Grant 43.0; Washing
ton 38.7. The percentage o f minority
high school students suspended is
25.6 per cent. While student suspen
sion rate was 10.8 per cent.
Portland's minority middle school
students (grades 6 through 8) were
suspended at a rate o f 20.3 per cent.
White students were suspended at a
rate o f 12 per cent.
M arkham M id d le School sus
pended 29.5 per cent o f its minority
students while 5.1 per cent o f the
white students were suspended. Fern
wood suspended 23.1 per cent o f its
minority students and 7.8 per cent o f
its white students.
Suspension records indicate the
following rates o f minority suspen
sions: Markham 29.5; Portsmouth
8.9; Binnsmcad 14.0; W h ita k e r/
C olum bia 19.2, Fernwood 23.1;
H osford 25.6; Kellogg 13.0; and
Sellwood 43.4.
A lth ou g h
many
elementary
schools, especially primary schools.
did not suspend students 5.2 per cent
o f the district’ s minority students in
elementary schools were suspended.
Atkinson suspended 15.6 per cent
o f its m inority students while 2.9 per
cent o f its w hite students were
suspended; Glencoe suspended 15.8
per cent o f its minority students and
1.0 per cent o f its white students.
Woodstock suspended 37.9 per cent
o f its minority students and 5.3 per
cent o f its white students; Hayhurst
suspended 40.2 per cent o f its
minority students and 2.6 per cent o f
o f its white students. M ultnom ah
suspended 38.5 per cent o f its
minority students and 7.7 per cent o f
its white students.
(Please turn to page 2 col. 3)
Parent endorses demands, opposes boycott
P n , it . n u t s next mayor? City C om m issioner Charles Jordan hopes so
Ho .m il Com m issioner Frank Ivancie split the vote 2-2 in an e ffo rt of the
Couiii tl to till the vacancy left by the resignation of Neil G oldschm idt
Ms. Edna Pittm an came unde,
some criticism following an interview
that appeared in last week’ s
Willamette Week quoting her as an
opponent o f the planned school
boycott by Black children Ms. P itt
man clarified her position: “ I am
against keeping children out o f
school—even fo r one day— but I
agree with the Black United Front's
demands. I have fought too hard
fo r loo many years to keep my
children in school to take them out
now ”
Ms. Pittman proposes no alter
native to the boycott, but mentioned
a court suit as a possibility. "T hat
takes too long, so I don’t know what
could be done right now ."
Ms. Pittman states emphatically
Some thoughts on the problem
hv W I I McClendon
"M ack people must make positive
decisions about their lives. They do
not need to be m a state of anxiety
about this leading to their being
alienated from white people. They
must be w orking co nsta ntly to
remove their alienation fro m other
Mai k people. ’ ’
— The Mack Scholar,
September 1974
I he present aspects o f Black life in
Oregon are historically rooted. They
were produced here prior to the Civil
War and reflect the character and at
titudes endemic to the widespread
anti-Black white racism o f N orth
west settlers who were the advocates
o f white racism as it was being ex
pressed i hen in the North and the
South Oregon, in fact, remains as an
im pregnable haven fo r fostering
the peaceful co-existence o f the
abrasive, overtly assaultive, racist
practices attributable to the South
and the insidious, ruthless, subtle
racist customs o f the North.
The vast amount o f discord which
is obvious today lies in the unre
solved dispute over the status the
Black population knows it should
have as a matter o f citizenship and
the low status in the social structure
to which Blacks are assigned by the
law m aking and public p olicy
authorities. Their contrivances and
m anipulations to m aintain here
glaring injustices and inequities have
resulted in keeping Oregon, and Port
land in particular, frontiers o f racial
confusion The resulting antipathies
have produced problems in the
education sec.or that have com-
1
pounded and crystallized racial
segregation. The present school ad
m in is tra tio n has c o n trib u te d its
special skills and training to this en
deavor for the past ten years and it is
plain to see an enormous degree o f
success has been realized. The Port
land school d is tric t can now be
assessed as providing a volume o f
damaging and useless mal-education
fo r its Black students percentage
wise that is not surpassed by what
ever urban area may be competing
for first place for this infamous dis
tinction.
A nalysis
/k disclosure o f the P ortland
school system's operations for the
past ten years reveals some appall
ing vio la tio n s o f Black peoples’
rights. For example, the Schools for
the Seventies plan actually isolated
Blacks from other Blacks, even in the
same fam ilies! At the same time
these Black children were also vic
tims o f exclusion by the whites, pre
ferred occupants, in the relocation
com pounds where the buses
delivered the Blacks. This school
administration insisted that this was
in te g ra tio n
who needs it? The
damages to result from subjecting
Black children to this kind o f treat
ment had been foretold a thousand
times by as many Black analysts in
more than 50 cities o f this nation.
Nevertheless, the Portland school
district persisted in fo llo w in g the
lead set by a mind packed with racist
and contem ptuous ind iffe re nce .
M oreover, a co m p lia n ' School
Board, a subordinate administrative
s ta ff and teaching constituency
(Blacks and whites) gave collective
support and this provided the
machinery and the momentum for
wrecking the minds o f Black children
in many ways that approximate the
damages resulting from incar
ceration in P .O .W . and concen
tration camps.
Education for the Seventies, the
highly publicized operating format
for Portland schools, planned by the
present school superintendent was
understood by Black analysts from
the beginning as designed to serve as
an unmatched demoralizing regime
for Black students. This was per
ceivable regardless o f the catch
phrases and elaborate jargonese used
by school district spokespersons to
have subtle mechanisms o f coldly
designed segregation thought o f and
accepted as educational innovations.
It was at this point that the superin
tendent and his supporters (including
the Blacks) were revealed to be un
suited and unqualified to head edu
cational programs and make policies
in the best interest o f students o f any
ethnicity or class.
Nevertheless, educational racism
was expanded and intensified under
this leadership. Through the years
many
extraneous,
b e littlin g
machinations emerged to increase
the difficulties and miseries endured
by Black students.
It should be clear by this time that
Blacks do not wish to see any school
authorities assuming the roles o f
overseers o f the Black community. Il
is expected that they will carry out
th e ir
duties
as professional
(Please turn to page 2 col 4)
■ ‘
.hat the school district has a serious
discrepency in the discipline of Black
children and that she has learned this
firsthand.
Ms. Pittman is a member o f the
Title V II committee and as a member
of that committee went to visit Binns-
tnead School, which her children at
tended. Jeffery, who was then in the
sixth grade had attended Binnsmead
for three years with no particular
problems. Following her visit to the
school, she states, Jeffery began
having frequent suspensions for
m inor rule infra ction s, this con
tinued during his seventh grade year
and got so bad that she organized a
group o f Black parents who also had
children at (he school.
“ I considered a boycott then. I
wus ready to ask all the Black parents
to take their children out o f that
school. I had made so many trips to
school, went to the principal, the
area administrator and everywhere I
could to gel help but no one would
help me. I tried to get Jeffery into
C olum bia/W hitaker but they said
there was no room for him.
“ I received a call from an admini
strator who asked if I liked my job at
Adams and suggested that Jeffery
slay at Binnsmead. He had never
asked me how I liked my jo b
before."
The day the parents were to meet,
Jeffery was suspended pending ex
pulsion. He and two other boys had
been giggling When the teacher told
them to stop and they did not, the
!•
teacher allegedly hit Jeffery with a
book. He said, " I f you weren’t my
teacher, I would hit you back" and
was suspended " I called HEW and
decided to file a complaint, I made
the m istake o f te llin g an ad
m inistrator what I planned to do.
The next day a place for Jeffery was
found at Columbia/W hitaker and in
one day he was transferred.” Ms.
Pittman relates that many ol the
Black parents at Binsmead were
angry that she had moved her son
and though, she should have stayed
to tight.
Je ffe ry stayed at C o lu m b ia /
Whitaker the remainder ol the year,
and because he was unhappy there he
went to Kellogg for his eighth grade
(Please turn to page 2 col. 4)
Park change brings safety concern
Residents o f the King neigh
borhood have been asking for a park
on C ity land adjacent to M artin
Luther King School for many years,
but now that construction is in
progress they are not sure what they
arc getting. A controversy has risen
over the selection o f playground
equipment.
“ The main reason we wanted a
park was to have a playground for
the little children," Linda Johnson,
a member o f the King School Parent
A d visory C om m ittee explained.
"N o w we aren’ t sure what we are
getting is safe or that it will last."
Mrs. I inda Johnson and Marian
Hawaii represented King School
and the King Neighborhood As
sociation on the com m ittee that
designed the park. "W e were the
only community representatives, the
others were for the City and knew
about building parks. They were the
experts, we just tried to make sure we
got the playground equipment we
wanted and to insure that the park
will be safe for children. We didn’t
want another Unthank.”
Specifications were written to call
play equipment "m anufactured by
Wildwood or approved equal." The
bid accepted from Paul Brothers
Construction was $31,310 less then
the next bid and they were awarded
the contract. Their bid on the play
ground equipment was $550 less but
they substituted Timberform equip
ment.
Mrs. Johnson explained that she
was told by Rich Wiley in the C ity’ s
Purchasing Division that a commit
tee had approved the Timberform
(Please turn to page 2 col I)
s-
Üé
r *
Workers instslll playground equipment at King community park ad
jecent to Martin Luther King Elementary School. The park also will
have a track, sports field and tennis courts.
(Photo: Tarry Robertson)
* •A41'-**» M
...
■