Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 17, 1981)
Portland Observer, December 17, 1981 Page 3 METROPOLITAN 'Fenwick plan' proposes school boundary change D r. James Fenwick submitted his annual report on racial balance to the School Board M o n d ay night. The report, required by the Board each year, responds to the state re quirement that each school district report on problems and progress in racial desegregation. Schools that are over 30 per cent m inority enrollm ent and D r. Fen wick’s recommendations follow: •B a ll— W ith 290 students, Ball is 53.4 per cent minority. Fenwick rec ommended boundary changes with in the Roosevelt cluster that would reduce percentages o f minority stu dents at Ball, Clarendon and Ports mouth. He advised that the district continue to work with the Housing A u th o rity o f Portland to address Housing problems. •Boise— W ith 499 students, 87.4 m inority, o f which 120 are South east Asian. An assessment is being conducted o f (he Basic program to determ ine the effect o f the new Early Childhood Education Center and the magnet program on racial balance; student achievement; meet ing o f curricular goals; the presence o f “ elements essential for effective schools.” Fenwick advises that Boise can not be desegregated w ith o u t in volving other schools— possibly Chapm an and B uckm an. A m ong the options arc to close Boise, use the building for Tubm an or a new middle school, establish a Pre-K-5 program , use it as a non-resident magnet school. •H u m b o ld t— W ith 573 students, including 240 transfer studtns, 75.4 m in o rity , H u m b o ld t was trans form ed in to an E a rly C h ild h o od Education Center w ith white pre school children bussed in for pur poses o f desegregation. The desegre gation plan replaced grades 4 and 5, adding to the number o f students enrolled. As in past years, the whole transfer students continue through grade 2 or 3, then return to their own schools leaving the upper grades virtually all Black. Because o f the return o f neigh borhood children to Hum boldt the school is overcrowded. The parents com mittee has recommended that space be added to accommodate the children. Fenwick recommended that the western portion o f the H um boldt area be transferred to Beach and that to compensate for the influx of Black students in to Beach, an EC E C be established there to draw white children. • E lio t, Irvin g to n , K ing, Sabin, W oodlawn and Vernon— Fenwick recommends an upgrading o f the 3rd and 5th grades to prepare stu dents for middle school and to hold white students. “ Target schools’ * should be established w ith c u rri cula designed to draw minority stu dents out o f the neighborhood schools; “ fully implement the more aggressive and powerful marketing programs designed by s ta ff last spring" to entice m inority children to other schools; hire satisfied par ents to recruit parents and children to out-of-neighborhood schools. •T u b m a n M id d le School— 488 students, 64.8 per cent m in o rity . Fenwick advised that the permanent site be chosen; a “ carefu lly m an aged and constantly m ain tain ed public relations focus” be de veloped; a year-long focus on “ mar keting” ; a more comprehensive sci ence program. •Je fferso n H igh School— 1359 students, 64.5 per cent m in o rity . The percentage o f minority students at Jefferson was over 50 per cent this fa ll, follow ing the closure o f Adams and W a s h in g to n /M o n ro e and the transfer o f many o f those students to Jefferson. Fenwick recommended an assess ment o f educational needs, com m unity attitudes and program e f fectiveness. •R ice school is over 50 per cent Southeast Asian and 40 per cent are in English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. ESL classes receive 40 minutes o f English instruction. Par ents recommend that non-English- speaking children be lim ited to 25 per cent or that guidelines be estab lished. Fenwick recommended boundary changes that would transfer Asian children to other near by schools, and that staff be added to Rice. The School Board will discuss the report and the issue o f desegrega tion in greater depth in the Spring. L F Lanita Duka, aditor of "Graaaroot News N.W " and raportar for the Observer. talks with Boise stu dent« Da Norval Bilbraw. Tad Hart. Candaca Ewall, Bao Thou, Chou Vang, Nicky Applegate, and librarian Bath Nanca. Tha diacussion and a — _ .--as talk to tha atudant assembly by Ma. Duka and Kanny Adair of Emanual Hospital, ware part of a series featuring succeasful Boise graduates. (Photo: Richard J. Brown) Demo party responds to 'racist' charge Joe Smith, Chairman o f the Dem ocratic Party o f Oregon, responded to charges o f racism by Calvin O. Henry, President o f the Oregon As sembly for Black Affairs. H enry charged that the State Democratic Party joined with the Multnomah County Labor Council to boycott the O A B A “ S u m m it” held in O ctober. H en ry said the Democratic Party discontinued ad vertising the event in its newsletter because it was to be held at the Thunderbird Jantzen Beach, which is on labor’s official unfair list. Smith said Henry had talked with him last summer about publicizing the visit o f M ayor M aynard Jack- son, who is a member o f the Demo cratic Party N atio n al C om m ittee. “ I had thought the Party would be asked to p articip ate, but I never heard from him again.” When the state office received a flier in the m ail, he placed the an nouncement in the Executive Re porter. “ At the time I did not realize the meeting was being held in a place on (he ’ unfair list,* “ Smith explained. “ When this was brought to my a t tention I removed the announce ment from the Executive Report. I had not been asked to publicize it in the first place.” Smith explained that he had to re spond to an issue that is so import ant to many members o f the Demo cratic P a rty . " I t is sim ilar to the type o f situation where if a white or ganization were holding an event in an Elks Club and a Black organiza tion objected, we would have to re spond.” Smith added that he had not dis couraged anyone from attending. In fact, he had asked Louise Beau- dreau, vice chair, to attend the con ference that the $50 banquet. Mrs. Beaudreau was surprised that she was not acknowledged or in tro duced, especially "in light o f the ex tensive and obvious outreach” the O A B A made to leader o f the Re publican Party, including inviting them to address the assembly. Smith states that the Democratic Party seeks participation o f Blacks. Three Black people— B ill M cC o y, N ick Barnett and M a rv in Reve, serve on the State Central C om m it tee and Carl Braxton is an alternate. “ The State Party has zero control over the selection o f members to the Central Com m ittee,” he explained. They are elected by the county organizations and are people who are active in the party and seek the position. REMINGTON®! “ The most im portant influence members o f m in o rity groups can have is at the biennial convention where there is an o p p o rtu n ity to participate in discussion o f the is sues— building the p la tfo rm . The delegates arc chosen by the coun ties.” Smith introduced a resolution that would have allow ed him to appoint 25 delegates at large— an opportunity to ensure that m inorit ies are represented. S la c k c M a n ’s Shaver Model BMS-800C $49» SS A I L N'S ì e Cal Henry, he reported, opposed that resolution, both signing a peti tion against the rule change and rec- com m ending in a sub-com m ittee meeting that it not be adopted. “ I would have thought that as presi dent o f an organization that talks about getting Blacks into the politi cal process, he would have favored the resolution.” • 4,4 SW W jshingtor Phone 226- B28 HOURS 9AM to 5 30 DOWNTOWN -226-’ 328 LLOYD CENTER 'nside Newoeoys P fw é 281-214: Kustom Karpet Kleaners Maddox’s Wigs Shop JOE SMITH Q u a lity W ork • Reasonable Price» And Estimate» 'Fenwick plan' shows board division (Continued from page I col. 6) the Black United Front, expressed his opposition to the notion o f racial balance and the way it is addressed. “ Much better time could be spent to discuss programs to bring about quality. It is insulting to hear o ur selves referred to as racially isolated when our children arc in schools in large numbers.” He particularly ob jected to the commission to study Boise again, “ better propaganda techniques,’ ’ and the aggressive re cruiting program designed to entice Black children out o f their schools. The 25 per cent that Blanchard considered to be the “ tipping point” has risen its head again, he explained. This time it is for Asian children. ” 1 feel sorry for their par ents; they can’t come here to speak about what they want for their chil dren; you shouldn’t have to guess at what they w a n t .. .is scares m e ." Herndon compared the attitud e tow ard Asians w ith that tow ard Blacks— that they are scalttered and moved around. “ You should de velop programs that meet their needs; I should think that more time would be spent teaching them Eng lish.” School Board member Herb Caw- thorne pointed to “ the confusion and disjointed n atu re” o f the Board’ s policies. Due to disagree ments within (he Board and frustra tion in working on the desegregation plan, there was no thorough discus sion o f the former numerical mea surements o f integration. “ What is the educational ju s tifi cation o f any percentage measure ment o f integratin? Indeed, the comprehensive plan attem pted to place this district on record in stat ing that the Board of Education was more interested in education and less interested in percentages— which was the forerunner o f an achievement policy that promotes the fact that all children can learn and it is the district’s responsibility to see to it that such learning occurs. This is the essence o f the mission of the school d istrict— achievement. And the continued ill-defined focus on percentages— as though within them there is some inherent measure o f the potential for achievement— is misleading.. . . "T h e confusion is ours. And our confusion reflects in the disjointed, inconsistent, and inequitable solu tion o f the administration.” He gave two examples: In the de segregation plan the 4th and 5th grades were added to Humboldt and children told they could attend their neighborhood school. T w o years later, because the school is o ver crowded, the proposal is to move many o f them to Beach. When Adams and W as h in g to n /M o n ro e were closed the board was aware that they were placing more students in the Jefferson area than the build ing can accom m odate and that a large percentage are Black. Now that Jefferson is over 50 per cent mi nority, they are concerned. Board member Steve Buel said them most racially isolated schools are those with nearly all white stu- detns, yet this is no, seen as a prob lem. “ I don’ t see why we keep get ting reports that don’, include those schools— I thought we had agreed to th a t." C alling the report “ subver sive at b est,” he said the Board should get up and say if there is a difference in a school , ha, is 90 per cent Black and one that is 90 per cent white. " W e should quit pitty- (No Job la Too Smelt, Give Jay Lawrence A Call patting about the race issue— not come forth w ith reports that few people read.” Regarding a quota for Southeast Asian child ren — or non-E nglish- speaking child ren — he said every teacher knows it is extremely hard to teach a class in which there are sev eral children who don’, speak Eng lish, or who arc disruptive, or who have learning problems. However, there has never been any suggestion that disruptive children should be transferred to other schools. The suggestion to move non-E nglish- speaking children is “ because the district is not willing to deal with the problem. Why is that so?” He advised that the district pro vide the resources and program nec essary to provide for the children's education. CHRISTMAS TREE SALES # $10 and down 287-0699 i 282-0108 Jay Law rence, O w n e r — 1 If you want to stay on top, you have to stay in touch. Ram ha« the signal that keeps you in constant touch. Providing direct dial, tone alert, tone voice, and mobile telephone service. Christm as tree stand included in all tree sales. Cornar of Alberta & Vancouver O pen 7 Day« A W e e k 10 a m -10 pm . S e c re t “P t o j d c f 1YS S W 12th Awe . Portland. OR 97205 226-1507 1
