Page 2 Portland Observer, December 31, 1981
Rance Spruill: Finding alternatives in education
G rassroot News, N . IF .— Rem
nants o f the era o f social agencies
find themselves fighting extinction
against a backdrop o f the era o f Big
Brother. W ith attention riveted to
wards traditional educational sys
tems people involved in alternative
education can send ripples through
the entire spectrum o f education
with the concern, commitment and
accom plishments they show w ith
children who are exiled from the tra
ditional school system. M arva C ol
lins o f Illinois recently gained na
tio n al prom inence while Ranct
Spruill o f the Albina Youth Oppor
tunity School has always had grass
root respect.
S p ru ill, the directory, sum m ar
ized his program: " A .Y .O .S . is a re
laxed, structured environment for
kids who have a demonstrated prob
lem dealing with the structure im
posed by public school. W e have
structure here but we don’ t have a
situation where we try to create
competition. W e’re more concerned
with kids developing self-confidence
so when they leave here their skill
level will be built up and they will be
able to survive in a public school
where that attention is not given.
Most o f the kids have been going to
school, but not as a part o f the
school. They were just there.”
A child will end up at A .Y .O .S .
through a c o n fro n ta tio n w ith a
teacher or
or a
a fight.
teacher
fight Spruill
Spruill concedes
concedes
that the fights and confrontations
are a big problem. “ But the m ajor
problem that I concern myself with
is kids who have attendance prob
lems. How do you get kids to go to
school so they w ill feel it ’ s a place
where they can go do things fot
themselves. I f they aren’t at school
you can find them at home, walking
up and down the street or in some
body’s car.”
This involvement with kids dates
back in to the m id-sixties. Docs
Spruill notice any change w ith the
children o f the Vietnam era as com
pared w ith the childen o f today?
“ The kids o f the late ’60s and early
’70s had a lot more intim ate things
going for them. They didn’t have a
lot o f options available to them and
they attended regularly. Over the
years you have so much neighbor
hood competition that the kids are
just program hopping. They will go
from wherever to whoever’s paying
the buck.”
The children that come in contact
w ith A .Y .O .S . are considered
“ bad." “ I don’t think that children
go b a d .” Sp ru ill explains. “ C h il
dren are a product o f their environ
ment and sometimes you don’t have
t nyone else to hold responsible so
you hold that child responsible. Is it
ti kid’s responsibility to feed himself
or clothes herself? A lot o f kids are
>ut in that situation. They are not
necessarily being children. They are
a
d u |ts and by the tim e th e y ’ re 15
adults
years old they have gone through
things that most 25-year-o ld s
haven’ t gone through. W hen they
reach young adult-hood they have
done it all. They have gotten so far
out there that they are lost in the
s h u ffle .” Spruill summarized this
thought by stating that kids just sur
vive from one day to the next. The
biggest problem is that kids caught
up in this existence are not very flex
ible.
“ Kids have m ore in fo rm a tio n
a va ila b le to them to d a y and they
will even dare you. I f a child decides
that he wants to be a rebel and if his
parents come down on him too hard
they will be accused o f child abuse.
I f he goes to school and acts up the
schools can’t do anything about it.
When they go to the courts most o f
them live better in the court system
than they do at hom e.” Spruill be
lieves that although th e re ’ s a lot
more in fo rm atio n surrounding to
day’s children, they are not making
the wisest decisions.
Sp ru ill’s commitment is refresh
ing in a time where those who were
com m itted have become d is illu
sioned. “ I d o n ’ t feel that I could
have gone anywhere else in this
country and gotten this grassroot
o rientation. I have a real com m it
ment to the com m unity in which I
live.” For 16 years Spruill has been
the D ire cto r o f the A lb in a Y o u th
O p p o rtu n ity School and his com
mitment
shows.
mitment shows.
PCC provides child care program
The child development center at
Portland Community College. Cas
cade Campus, announces the begin
ning o f flexib le hour child care
available immediately. “ We are o f
fering more flexible scheduling for
child care so we can meet a wider
range o f child care needs for PC C
students and fo r other parents
working in the co m m u n ity,” says
L u z V illa lb a , head teacher at the
child development center.
Previously, only PCC student and
s ta ff children enrolled in the on
going preschool program could be
left at the center. Now area parents
can leave children ages three to five
for full days, morning or afternoon
sessions everyday M onday through
F rid ay or some co m b in atio n o f
those days.
Several options are available to
cover child care costs. Parents may
pay for the service on a sliding fee
scale or negotiate a work exchange
option wherin equal hours o f work
at the center are exchanged fo r
equal hours o f child care. O r they
may combine the fee and work op
tion.
Hot lunches, morning snack and
afternoon snack w ill be furnished
for children left full days. Those at
tending mornings only receive snack
and lunch, and child ren in a fte r
noon sessions only w ill receive an
afternoon snack.
C h ild re n enrolled in the w in ter
program must be three years old by
January 15. Additional information
may be obtained by calling the child
developm ent center at P C C , 283-
2541.
We’re getting
closer to you
than ever
This brand new farmers
Insurant e otfke is an exam
ple of what can happen
when folks are really con
cerned about you and
your family.
I’ve opened up in a con
venient new location to
better learn your needs
and to bettei fill them
If you already know me.
stop in and say hello.
If not, come in for a sample
of farmers fast, fair, friend
ly service on your present
insurance problems.
V IV IA N I. W A R R E N
q
.
FARMERS
H E R E R O Designs a visual and
performing arts company will host a
benefit for the M att Dishman Com
m unity Center located on 77 N .E .
Knott on Friday Jan. 15th and Sat
urday Jan. 16th. The evening’ s en
tertainment will be by the H E R E R O
Complete Laundry & Dry Cleaning
Services
1 Block N orth o ff Eoat Bumalda
1 0 5 n o S tn ave
P o r t la n d . O r e g o n 9 7 2 3 S
p ro n e 3 3 9 -4 1 OO
g o r d o n g. w o n g
Happy New Year
EL DORADO RESTAURANT
5016 N.E. Union Ave.
287-4755
Read the Observer every w eek.
Subscribe today!
C a ll 283-2486.
Breakfast
Lunch
D inner
1 am -11:30 am
M i a o u * W afflM
Servad with hot maple ayrup
11:30em-2p«n
4 pm 9 pm
unlimited.
Resale Clothing
"First Quality
T he Ser ond
I ime Around"
brings recognition and bolsters the
good and services arenas o f the
community. The Band will also be
available for h a lf-tim e p erfo rm
ances at high schools, colleges and
professional sports events.
Men's, Women »,
Children’s Clothing
and Household Items
Al l SIZE S
AVAILABLE
The Jazmin Band director and co
ordinator have been working hand
in hand with some o f the communi
ty ’ s m ajor service organizations.
They are hopeful that more resi
dents will want to become involved
through donations. A ll o f the band
members do not have instruments.
The Band is asking that community
residents donate instruments that
they have in their homes that are not
being used to the Band. I f a resident
wants to make a contribution either
o f time, money, scholarship, or in
strument donation, call the Urban
League Northeast Youth Service
Center at 288-6708.
(Continuedfrom page I column 6)
It has been suggested that the ex
cessive drinking associated with
some New Y e a r’ s Eve parties is a
relic o f the deliberate disruption and
chaos practiced by primitive peoples
at the end o f each year.
The din and racket we now think
we’ re making just for fun and cele
b ra tio n — the blowing o f party
horns, the tooting o f car horns, the
ringing o f bells, the banging o f pots
and pans and, in some places, the
firin g o f guns— was o rig in ally
meant to scare away low and evil
spirits.
M akin g a good start in the new
Special
Plata of the Day
B a r-B -Q A ll The T im i
has the potential tor being an eco
nomic asset to all o f its residents.
Performance and musical scholar
ship possibilities are the immediate
goals o f the director for the Band.
But M em ory looks fu rth er than
these im m ediate goals to what the
possibilities are for the community
as a whole. The Band wants to plan
some festivals on a future perform
ance date that w ill attract bands
from all over the country. P er
formances o f this kind are not seen
in the N orthw est, and for a com
munity to play host to such an event
R
Consignments Accepted
(Quality Merchandise Only|
By Appointment Please
281-9418
R
Musicians of tha marching band being put togathar by Thara
Memory meat on Thursdays at Jefferson High to practice. Bass
Clarinet, Ronnie Tolbert; Flute, Adrienne Dixson; Trumpet, Charles
Johnson.
(photo: Richard J. Brown)
This New Year
N e w C hina Laundry
Cr D ry Claanars
Students. Further inform ation con
tact Sevedious Simington, 282-1460
or M arvin Johnson, 288-9535.
DANZERS.
Tickets are a va ila b le th ru the
M a tt D ishm an C e n te r. Cost o f
shows are $3.00 for A dults, $1.50
Memory organizes community band
On October 16, 1981 the Jazmin
Community Marching Band started
rehearsals towards their first per
formance goal, the 1982 Rose Festi
val. The Band is the first o f its kind
in the Northwest. Its marching style
is based on the Southern high school
and collegiate band styles o f a Flori
da A & M or a Grambling. Presently
the Jazmin C om m unity M arching
Band has fifty members from the
North/Northeast communities. The
age range is officially 14 to 21 years,
but the Band is accepting younger
members who still work their way
into the m a jo r perform ing group
which w ill eventually number 100
members. Rehearsals are held at
Jefferson High Scoool every Thurs
day evening from 4 pm to 7 pm.
Soon the Band will hold a weekend
rehearsal to attract youth whose
schedules conflict with weekday
practice.
Some members have already
made sacrifices in their planned fall
school schedules to become mem
bers o f the Band. Some have fo r
feited being on the football and bas
ketball teams and one member
comes all the way from Vancouver,
W A in order to participate.
Since moving to the Northwest
some twelve years ago from Florida,
the Band's director, Thara Memory,
has dreamed o f a Marching Band in
the Northwest o f the caliber seen in
the South.
A C om m unity M arching Band
1727 N .E . 13th
284-9999
RANCE SPRUILL
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
year by resolving to change some
thing or “ turning over a new leaf”
has been part o f New Y e ar’ s plans
for ages. W atching to d a y ’ s New
Y e a r’s resolutions fall by the way-
side as the year progresses doesn’ t
mean it was all for naught.
And to the Babylonians, the pub
lic h u m iliatio n and subsequent
reinstatement o f the king meant
a new beginning for him, even if it
did reduce him to having his nose
tweaked and his ears boxed.
The culmination o f the festivities,
it is thought, was the celebration o f
new birth with feasts and the restor
ation o f order. Even the ancient
Greeks carried a baby around in a
basket as a symbol o f the new year
long before we ever thought o f par
ading a young one w ith the year
printed on his diaper.
So, this New Y e a r’ s Eve, as the
gray, decrepit man representing the
old year staggers out your door and
the bright-eyed baby, the new year,
bounces in, take a moment to re
flect. As you stare in to the punch
bowl and review the past 365 days,
look to the future, too. In a thous
and years, others might be staring
into a punch bowl, wondering how
people celebrated a new year in the
1980s.
2406 N.E. Union Ave
Parking On NE Sacramento St
If you want
to stay
on top,
you have
to stay
in touch.
‘S M
1 J1? 1 keeP * V° U ln COn«tant touch
P rm iding direct dial, tone alert, tone voice, and
m obile telephone service.
713 8.W It t k A m . Portland. OR 97M S
2 M -1 M 7
H