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Community rejects new Eliot school principal
I he appointment o
ol f Mildred Wait
Wan
as principal ol the new Eliol middle
school is being questioned in the
community. Dr. Robert Blanchard
announced
the
appointm ent
follow ing an executive meeting ol
the School Hoard I hursday evening,
Ron Herndon and Reverend John
Jackson, co-chairman o f the Black
United fro n t hit the appointment,
" I his is another slap in the lace ol
the Black com m unity,” Herndon
said. “ We fought to have a middle
school lor our children, the com
munity (ought to have the school
named alter a Black person, then
M i. Blanchard and the board decide
there is no Black person capable
enough to be p rin c ip a l, fh is is
another example ol the racism and
insensitivity that are so charac­
,u . u
.
teristic ol the board and Dr. Blan
chard's administration.”
" A school's success is prim arily
due to the p rin c ip a l,” Herndon
said. “ There is no w hite ad­
ministrator in the system that has
successfully
educated
Black
children. No white principal in the
d is tric t has been able to get
meaningful participation o f Black
parents. It is racist to say not one
Black in the system is capable; and it
is stupid."
On May 6th a meeting was held
with public members to receive in­
put on the qualities desired in tin.
new p rin cip a l. Among those
present, in ad d itio n to ap­
proximately twenty school district
administrators, were: Ireddye Pet
til. Norm Monroe, Urban I eague;
I
Eddie Edmonson; Ed Peterson; Al
Jamison,
ESSA
C om m ittee;
Sherrian Haggar-W arren, Area I
A dvisory C om m ittee; Isadore
Maney; Rosie I ovings; Julie
Sterlmu. Schools lor the City; Ada
Kelsow; (. arm illa Joseph; Bonny
Acker; C aroline R u n d o ll from
possible Area I leeder schools. The
Black United I rom declined to at­
tend
Sherrm Hagger Warren said she
leels that she had been used. " I t is
strange that they bothered to get us
together, then didn’t pay attention
to what we said. I hey wrote down a
lot ol things, but they couldn’t have
listened and come up with the per
son they did.
" I think they appeased and pet
ted us. But that kind ol thing gets
you nowhere. I don’t like to be pat
led on the head."
Am ong the criterion suggested
by the community representatives
were that the principal be Black,
preferably a man to present a male
role model, that he have enough
knowledge ol school district politics
to insure proper budgeting and
stalling, and be responsive to the
community.
Norm Monroe said he thought the
request lor advice was sincere. "But
when I asked about a Black prin­
cipal, M cE lroy went into a
discussion ol equal opportunity and
discrimination, saying you can’ t say
you want a Black But he never
really said why they think they have
no Blacks who could ot would lake
the position."
in response to questioning by the
ESA A Advisory Committee, which
has federally mandated respon­
s ib ility to advise the Hoard on
desegregation. Dr Don M cElroy
said the selection was made with an
effort to consider the desire ol the
Black United f ront lor community
im put, professional requirements
and the personnel contract.
In response to I SAA Committee
C hairman Al Jamison's question,
"were we heard," Mcl Iroy respou
ded, "Yes, one hall page ol your
statements were presented.”
Mcl Iroy said that other than the
standard professional requirements,
the a d m inistration wanted a
“ quality individual who will be sue
cess lu I . ”
NA’tONâi «.
PORTLAND OBSERVER
USPS 959 680
Mcl hoy said the administrators
involved area superintendents and
administrators, central o llice per
sonuel and Dr l ime Hart/og's ol
lice
agreed that the person
"know how to run a school.” He
said a p r io iili/c d list ol several
suggested peisons were presented to
Supeimleiidem Blanchard.
Me Elroy said the admimstiative
groups considered Mrs. Wan the
most q tia lilie d candidate lo r tin
position and the most likely to sue
ceed. He expects her to begin mi
mediately to woik with the com
mutiny regaidmg programs.
Me I Iroy said several peisons
were consideied including peisons
who requested consideration and
some who were asked to apply. One
( Please turn to page 4 col Ii
Volume 10 Number 20
M ay 22. 1080
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m
Boycott just a first step
Called a success by everyone in
volved including school Super mien
dent Blanchard, the school boycott
called by the Black United I loin
look over 70 percent ol the Black
students out ol school Monday.
I he one day boycott is the lust
step m a series ol actions to piolest
racism hi the P ortland Public
Schools.
Ron H erndon, co
chairman ol the BUI said, " I lie
overwhelming suppoit was a scoring
indictment and mass Black vote ol
no confidence in the school board's
integrity and policies. I he com
munity has also decisively demon
straled that it is fed up with Dr.
Blanchard's
practices
and
programs. His departure is long
overdue."
A ccording to school d istrict
statistics, 7 I.7 percent o f the
district’s Black students were out ol
school Monday.
Absences were most noticable in
schools with high concentration of
Black students In all. 4954 ol the
district's 6913 Black students were
absent.
Black absences: Boise, 93 percent;
Eliol. 65 percent; Eaubion, 61 per
cent; Ecrnwood, 97 percent; Hum­
boldt, 68 percent; Irvington, 72 per
cent;
Vernon,
81
percent;
Woodlawn, 83 percent; Jefferson,
91 percent; W ashington/M onroe,
83 percent.
M o u n t St Helens blew its top on a quiet Sunday
m o rning, a spectacular sight visible fro m Port-
W hite students joined the
boycott, with 5455 non blacks out,
I 1181 mine than the previous two
Mondays.
Ihe district kept an atiendence
count ol Black children's absences
on Ihe preceeding two Mondays
(rumored to be an effort to discount
Ihe boycott absences). On May 5th,
1003 Black students were absent and
on May 12lh 1032 were absent ap­
proxim ately 14.5 percent About
9'/i percent ol while students were
absent on those Mondays.
ta ilin g dial absentee rale
disgraceful, Herndon challenged the
district to make an el fort to solve
this problem. "W e haven't heard ol
any edoit to solve this. Nothing was
said until we decided to pull the
children o u t."
Another interesting statistic was
the drop o f Black students between
May 12th and May 19th. On May
5th the district had 1949 Black high
school students; oil May 12th there
were 1941 and on May 19th there
were only 1880. Porter Sexton, of
the district, had no explanation ex­
cept that students missing for ten
consecutive days are considered no
longer enrolled. He said maybe they
were there but the teachers just
hadn’ t seen them around.
In response to Blanchard and
School Board Chairman Bill Scott's
statements that the boycott would
probably not effect the Board's
refusal to involve parents in teacher
and principal selection, Herndon
said considering
Blanchard's
statements last summer that respon­
sible Black people would not sup-
pot I the BUT, his remarks would
not seem very reliable.
Reverend John Jackson said a
group ol Black ministers had been
invited to lunch with Dr. Blanchard
but he had not been invited. " I t ’s
the old divide and conquer strategy.
Reverend Garlington told them the
bretheren would not attend.”
Not participating in the boycott
were the white pre-school children
attending
Early
C hildhood
Education Centers in Albina Ihese
children are sent to Black schools to
benefit from enriched programs and
Irom the multi-racial environment,
however, when Black parents
boycotted
to
demonstrate
dissatisfaction with the education
provided Black children, these white
parents failed to join them. White
absences at ESE’s were: Humboldt,
5 percent; King, 23 percent; Sabin,
14 percent; Vernon, 14 percent;
Woodlawn, 18 percent.
The School Board will meet next
week to evaluate the Superintendent
and consider his tenure.
land A b o v e , a v ie w of the S outh side fro m a
distant of tw elve miles
(Photo Richard J Brown)
Hill advocates minority coalitions
By Ullysses tucker, Jr.
\
J A M E S HILL
"W e're absent from politics, like
many other things," said Janies A.
H ill, J r., candidate fo r the
dem ocratic nom ination to the
House o f Representatives, from
Salem.
At the time ol H ill's statement, he
was speaking to a small group o f
students
and
professors
at
W illia m e tte U niversity several
weeks ago. H ill believes that
minorities have the power to make
themselves visible in areas where
they have been invisible in the past.
“ N ationally, the impact o f Ihe
m inority voter was felt during this
country’ s last presidential election.
President Jimmy Carter was able to
secure the presidential nomination
because ot minorities. He was able
to reap the benefits alter we went to
the polls,” said H ill.
H ill, a native o f A tlanta, feels
that it is time for all minorities to
join forces for a collective effort.
“ Whenever there’ s a co n flic t
between minorities, the media blows
it out o f p ro p o rtio n . There w ill
always be a difference in interest no
m atter which group it is. We
minorities must realize one fact that
we have in common, we are all on
the bottom ,” he said.
H ill has been an attorney with the
stale's Justice Department for five
years - in the Appellate Division
handling criminal and civil appeals,
in the A n titrust Division and the
Public Utilities Section.
H ill went on to say that the gate is
open lor minorities in politics, it’ s
just a matter ol taking advantage.
"W e have very lew m in o rity
politicians - it shouldn’ t be. Power
is something that you have to go out
and earn,” said H ill.
"A s long as we are absent from
the p o litic a l arena, conditions
facing m inorities w ill remain the
same. We have to be heard.”
H ill a ttrib u te s most o f the
problems confronting minorities to
apathy. "W e can not afford to be
apathetic tow ards government
because that power turns in to
money,” he said.
"E ve ryo n e must be involved
politically as our communities con­
tinue to grow ," H ill continued.
How many o f those reading this
article voted this week?
(James Hill was elected nominee
o f the Democratic Party fo r House
District H3I in Salem)
M a. Erma H epburn joins M ayo r - elect Frank
Ivancie in news conference announcem ent of her
appointm ent to head the City's Bureau of Human
Resources
(Photo by: Richard J. Brown)
Hepburn heads Resource Bureau
Commissioner Erank Ivancie an­
nounced the appointment ol Erma
E. Hepburn as Executive Director
ot the Bureau ol Human Resources.
She is the first Black woman to head
a major City bureau. "She brings to
the job an excellent background and
impressive credentials,” Com
missioner Ivancie said.
Ms. H epburn began her em­
ployment with the City o f Portland
as Manager o f the Adm inistrative
Services Division o f the Bureau o f
Human
Resources in
1973.
Previously she was Assistant Direc­
tor ol Community Programs tor the
P ortland M e tro p o lita n Steering
Committee. She has served on the
Review Panel of the Portland Public
Schools, the Board ol the YWCA,
the Governor’ s Advisory Council on
Vocational Education, the Planned
Parenthood Board, and the Model
C ity’s Youth Affairs Council.
Ms. Hepburn is cu rre n tly the
Manger o f the Social Services
Division o f the Human Resources
Bureau. The Social Service Division
is responsible tor the Area Agency
on Aging and the Youth Service
Center Programs.
The bureau's current Executive
Director, Janice Wilson, has been
on loan from the First National
Bank since June 1978 when she was
brought in to head the bureau. She
will be returning to the bank. "She
has done an outstanding job and 1
have enjoyed working with her,”
Commissioner Ivancie said.