School Board discusses parent participation
The School Board rejected the
oroDosal o f its new superintendent
Jim Fenw ick, fo r a parent par
ticipation process and w ill discuss
the issue further on August 25th.
mended in all others.
School board member W ally
Priestley favors a process where
parents w ill elect or select them
selves, not to be selected by the
principal. The principal would be
held responsible for informing and
bringing together the parents. He
does not want principals or faculty
members on parent committees
Sarah N ewhall sees the fu n
damental questions as who selects
the parents, how many participate,
what relation they have to the
school advisory committee and who
controls that committee?
She considers the face-to-face
contact o f parents and faculty to be
positive, and favors having teachers
on the committees. “ The power, ac
cessibility and openess” o f the local
school advisory committees “ are
Fenwick's proposal would have a
five member committee - the prin
cipal, two parents and two teachers -
interview candidates for teaching
vacancies and make recommen
dations to the principal for hiring.
The recommendations would not be
binding.
The parents on the committee
would be selected by the local
School Citizen's Advisory Commit
tee, which is selected by the prin
cipal. One teacher would be chosen
by the school faculty and the other
by the principal.
The process would be mandatory
in the Albina schools, and recom
questioned. Citizens feel they are
less open than they should be; the
com m unity feels they are overly
controlled by principals." She ad
vocates an elective process to select
members.
Steve Buel sees a confusion over
the objective o f the new process.
O riginally it was to be a way for
parents to screen out racist teachers,
now it is a process for added parent
participation. I f the object is parent
participation for the entire district,
the Board should look at the
existing citizen
p a rtic ip a tio n
procedures and committees and
think about redesigning them. “ We
don't set good standards in selecting
our advisory committees.’ ’
Bill Scott said the process needs
" a lot o f a d d itio n a l study and
w o rk" including a thorough review
w ith teacher and a d m inistration
representatives, a clear statement o f
benefits, research o f other districts.
"T h e re are obvious benefits o f
parents feelings o f ownership in the
school process," but the subject
also includes academic freedom. He
felt any system should be City-wide.
Joe Rieke expressed his concern
that interviewing p rio r to assign
ment would be an effort to analyze
competence,
sensitivity
and
philosophy prior to performance.
"A n y system to do that probably
suffers from lack o f q u a lity in
analysis by virtue o f unfam iliarity.”
He prefers parent participation in
evaluation o f teachers already
teaching in the school. He also
fears legal problems arising from
allowing inexperienced persons to
interview job applicants.
Frank McNamara said he is trying
to understand the issue and that
from the discussion it seemed that
the goal is parent participation and
not teaching skills. He considers the
inclusion o f teachers in the process
o f selecting other teachers to be a
serious question that needs further
study.
Herb Cawthorne said the issue
arose as one o f the " lo n g term
resolutions" passed last fall to head
o ff a Black school boycott. As a
historical perspective he explained
that for the last ten years Black
children have been m andatorily
scattered throughout the district,
preventing p a rticip a tio n in their
education by parents and the com
munity.
Since education is the only means
by which Black people can progress,
Black parents are adamant in their
desire for better education for their
children. The request fo r parent
participation in teacher selection is
an effort to regain some input in the
educational process since teachers
are the key to education.
Including parents in the interview
process would provide it ’ s principal
a d iffe re n t historical and socio
economic perspective and a good
principal would use that experience
and perspective to build a staff that
w ould respect and relate to his
school clientele.
Parent participation is one o f the
remaining issues to be solved in
order to stop a threatened school
boycott. The issue will be discussed
at the Board's next meeting, August
25th, 7:30 at the Educational Ser
vice Center.
■■■■Hl
■MMM
PORTLAND OBSERVER
Volume 10 Numberr 32
August 21,1980
10Cper copy
U S P S 959 680
Plan removes Black from board
A plan to manage the C ity ’ s
Revolving Loan Fund - that was
established to provide an oppor
tunity for Blacks to participate in
the C ity ’ s $12 m illio n Economic
Development Agency grant would
remove Black participation from the
loan committee.
John Wight, Director of the City
of Portland’ s Bureau o f Economic
Development, explained his plan for
a n o n -p ro fit " C it y Loan C o r
p oration" to handle development
loans to the C ity C ouncil at
Tuesday’ s informal session.
Passage o f the plan, along with
C o m p r e h e n s iv e
E c o n o m ic
Development Strategy (CEDS)
proposal for 1980-1981, was set for
Council passage August 13th, but
was postponed at the insistence of
M ayor-elect Frank Ivancie and
Commissioner Mildred Schwab. So
certain was the Bureau o f prompt
passage of its program that on July
12th invitations had been mailed for
a “ celebration" to be held August
15th. The celebration had to be
postponed.
The articles o f incorporation o f
the new C ity Loan C orp o ra tio n
were not available to the Council for
the August 13th meeting. Although
Wight said they and the bylaws were
completed and available, a citizen
who asked for a copy later in the
Barbara Young at the drawing tabla. Ma. Young
la a summer employee of the U. S. Soil Conser
day was told by Bureau personnel
that they are being revised and were
not available.
The corporation papers call for a
board o f five directors: bankers
Don Wendle and L a rry M o rris;
Randy M iller, Portland Develop
ment Com m ission; Hum berto
Reyna, businessman; and John
Wight, Director o f the City Bureau
o f Economic Development.
Obviously absent from the list
was Bruce Broussard, who had been
selected fo r the o rig in a l Loan
Committee by the M inority Over
sight Sub-committee on the advice
o f the six Black organizations that
had sued the C ity over lack o f
m in o rity involvem et (N A A C P ,
Black United F ro n t, A lbina
W om en’ s
League,
A lbina
M in iste ria l A lliance,
Oregon
Association o f Colored Women’s
Clubs, Northwest M in o rity Con
tractors Association) and the Com
mittee o f Spanish Speaking People
o f Oregon (COSSPO). Broussard
has complained publically about the
loan process, the lack o f m inority
loans (one-third is targeted fo r
minority business) and the type o f
loans being made.
Wight explained that the bankers
were retained because o f their ex
perience in lending and to create
continuity. Asked by Commissioner
Schwab why he put himself on the
board and why there were no
Blacks, Wight said he would be glad
to step aside for someone else. The
board was reduced from seven to
five because that is the smallest
board the federal government w ill
allow. Wight said the board requires
technical skills and there should be
no "citizen participation.”
Com m issioner Charles Jordan
pointed out that directors are to be
appointed by the Council and said
he wants a Black on the board.
Louis Scherzer o f Benjam in
Franklin, Chairman o f PDC, ex
plained that although PDC has been
involved in the past he recommends
that it no longer participate in the
loan process. “ PDC is in real estate
leans and this loan fund involves
business loans.”
Scherzer recommended that the
Council determine whether these
should be "social” or "economic”
loans. He said loans should only be
made when there is a “ reasonable
feasibility o f payment.” Phase one
needs to be "successful” to get
more money, so there should be a
very high rate o f success. He advised
i f there is not a definite policy on
"e c o n o m ic " vs " s o c ia l" and a
policy o f low-risk loans, the staff
might get frustrated with the lack o f
(Please turn to Page 9 Col 3)
vation Service. (Photo: Richard J. Brown)
Student engineer catches train
By Stephanie Cole
The tijatin to success often runs o ff
its track these days. Unfortunately
its passengers are headed for a d if
ferent station. A station where life ’s
challenges and achievements are
detoured from its regular route. The
only route to this station becomes
over-dependence, and membership
in society’ s outcasts.
Barbara Young shares a common
bond with many o f today’ s youth.
What distinguishes her from her
fellow peers, is the fact that she has
constructed her own path. She is the
conductor o f her train, on her own
track. Her route is headed for the
station o f success.
Meet Barbara Young, a young
Black woman who has set her
designs on a career in engineering.
Barbara is an 18 year old graduate
o f Grant High School. She has a
younger sister Paula, and lives with
her parents M r. and M rs.
Lawerence Fields o f Portland.
Q.
F irst o f all w h a t is an
engineer and w h a t specific area
of engineering are you interest
ed in?
A . An engineer is a person who
designs different kinds o f building
and different types o f substances.
They w ork through designs and
plans. I ’ m interested in the area o f
C ivil Engineering. A civil engineer
builds larger structures such as
bridges, highways, and septic tanks.
Q. W hy did you becom e In
terested In engineering?
A . I enjoyed math and sciences in
school, so 1 just started w orking
w ith the Core o f Engineers. I
worked there during the summer,
and this year I started working with
the Soil C onservation Service
through the help o f Mr. Chatman of
the Urban League.
Q.
Why are engineers Impor
tant to our society and In what
areas ara they useful?
A . Everything in society that is
build was designed by an engineer.
Engineering is the backbone o f
society. They are particularly im
portant in the area o f construction.
World Book Encyclopedia expands
upon B arbara’ s d e fin itio n o f
engineering. Engineering puts
power and materials to work for
man. Engineers use steel and con
crete to construct dams, bridges,
building s
and
roads.
C iv il
engineering is the oldest profession
o f engineering. Civil engineers plan
and supervise the construction o f
waterways, streets, tunnels, dams,
aqueducts, canals, railroads, a ir
ports, levees, and irrigation systems.
Civil engineers also work on man
made structures such as the
fram ew ork o f autom obiles, a ir
planes and missies.
Q. Because of your Intereet In
en g in eerin g , do you consider
yo u rself a m in o rity w ith in ■
minority concerning your racial
and sex statu e,en d w h ich of
these factors carry the greeteet
■mount of discrimination?
(Please turn to page 5 Col 4)
BUF pushes street name change
By Stephanie Cole
The request to have name changes
o f streets honoring Black Americans
in the Black community was recent
ly dismissed by City Commissioner
Mike Lindberg.
A recent survey taken by the City,
indicated that most Vancouver and
W illia m s Avenue residents and
businesses, were opposed to the
renam ing o f the tw o streets. In
response to the survey, the Black
United Front has urged Lindberg
not to drop the issue because o f the
survey results, but to realize that the
positive responses to the name
change truly reflect the aspirations
o f the Black community.
Rev. Jackson, co-chairman o f the
Black United Front said that "none
o f us should be surprised with the
survey results, but we sincerely
believe that those who favored the
name changes accurately reflect the
true aspirations o f the Black com
m u n ity .”
Jackson fu rth e r expressed the
Front’ s stance: "O u r desire to name
streets in our com m unity is
legitimate, which is evident based on
the numerous name changes
honoring Black persons in other
major cities across the country.
"N am e changes o f streets have
usually been opposed by the
business community in other cities,
but the name changes still occured.
Furthermore, business in general
rarely, i f ever, support the en
deavors o f the Black com m unity
(Please turn to Page 2 Col 1)
KGW special explores Albina
A K G W -T V News 8 special
report, '" A L B IN A ” takes a close
look at the p o w e r, p o litic s and
problems in Portland’s Black com
munity. The half-hour special will
be shown on Channel 8 on Friday,
August 22, 1980 at 9 P M . Lew
Frederick, News 8 reporter, looks at
the issues uniting Blacks in P o rt
land.
Frederick visits with people on the
streets, at the breakfast table and at
church. H e looks at the life and
changes in north and northeast Por
tland and how it affects the rest o f
the City.
W ith the recent changes in the
school district: the firin g o f the
school superintendent, the cutback
in forced busing, and the opening o f
a middle school in the Black com
munity, a new sentiment and sense
o f confidence has been created in
Albina.
Frederick, education reporter for
Channel 8, has closely followed all
o f these changes and discusses with
the people o f the Albina community
what changes the future may hold. •
The special report is written and
prod uced by Lew Frederick and Jon
Tuttle and filmed by Roger Thom p
son.
1
k