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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 8, 1982)
Page 10 Portland Observer, September 8. 1982 OBSERVATIONS FROM THE SIDELINES by Kathryn Hall Bogle No fewer than eight black principals are on hand to open school doors for children in the Portland School District as they return this week after the long summer vacation. Among the eight is Nathan Jones, new principal at Jefferson High School, who was form erly a prinicple at Marshall High School. Jones has been in the Portland system since 1964. He received his education in Oregon, w ith degrees from Lewis and Clark and from Portland State University. His special interests and certifica tion are in the fields o f Health, Busi ness and Physical Education. He continues his outside association with the National Football League as a referee. Jones was on hand to referee the recent games between the Redskins and the Buffalo Bills played in Washington, D.C. last week. Michael Jordan, an Oregonian by birth, principal now at Bridger Ele mentary School, graduated from Jefferson High School. His degrees were earned from University o f Portland and from Portland State University. Bridger, in Southeast Portland, has an enrollment o f nearly 400 pupils and operates a center fo r the deaf in its program. Jordan’s experience includes teaching fifth grade at Sunnyside El ementary School and four years with the USAF in Thailand during the Vietnam war. Home unscathed from the wars, Jordan is now M ajor Jordan with the A ir National Guard where he serves a stint each month. Jordan returned to teaching with an assignment at King in 1970. Jordan, a single parent to his 11- year-old daughter Paula Renee, is a steelhead fisherman, whenever it is possible. He likes jazz and plays a good game o f tennis. Herman Washington expects about 485 children to enroll at H ar riet Tubman M iddle School in Northeast Portland where he is the newly appointed principal. W ashington, enthused about the Tubman program, sketched in some o f the attractions the program holds for students and their parents. “ We have a strong mathematics and science program ,” Washington said, “ and we are the only middle school in the district to have a com puter program as a magnet. Our language department is extensive, too. We are prepared to teach French, German, Spanish and Swa h ili.” A native o f Alabama, Washing ton had undergraduate work at A la bama State College, an all-black school, now racially integrated. Since then Washington has ex panded his educational experience to include a doctoral degree in polit ical science from the University o f Colorado. He became a Fullbright Scholar for studies in India at Mad ras, Bombay, Delhi and Calcutta; he became a Japan Scholar in con junction with the government o f Ja pan and has had a National Science Foundation grant to study sociology at Western Michigan University. In Portland, Washington taught Social Studies at the now-closed Washington High School until 1974, when he went to the Oregon State Department o f Education as a Spe cialist for Social Studies. His offices were in Salem. A t 39, Washington is single. HERMAN WASHINGTON JOY BROCK PRUITT THELMA UNTHANK BROWN Thelma Unthank Brown, new principal at Hum boldt School, has assumed duties there after two years at Rice Elementary School as princi pal. “ H um boldt,” says Brown, “ o f fers Early Childhood Education — from pre-kindergarten through the fifth grade. We are expecting an en rollment this year o f about 600. When they leave us our students en roll at either Tubman or Ockley Green. “ Here we have a HOST program, a cooperative plan using the input o f students, parents and persons from the general community. These vol unteers help our staff o f 60 teachers and aides to participate in the team work necessary for some o f our stu dents to achieve goals. The program gets its name HOST from its pur pose: ‘ Help One Student to Suc ceed’ .” Brown was born in Portland, the daughter o f the late Dr. and Mrs. De Norval Unthank, prominent Portland citizens. She was educated in Portland, received higher educa tion at Spellman, at Oregon State University, Atlanta University and at Portland State University. Brown is a single parent rearing three daughters. Joy Brock P ruitt is principal at Grout Elementary School in South east Portland. This is her fourth year at Grout whose pupils may en ter at kindergarten age to attend through fifth grade. P ru itt expects about 350 children to enroll this week. The Grout special program, ac cording to Joy Pruitt, is shaped to best serve the m ildly handicapped child and those who have some de velopmental considerations. “ Grout is a structural learning center for [thesej other children with learning disabilities. We have 18 certified teachers and eight teacher aides on our staff. They are responsible for our successes.” Pruitt is a Jefferson High School graduate, with degrees from Lin* field College, Portland State U ni versity and a teaching certificate from Lewis and Clark College. Joy P ruitt is the wife o f Dr. C lar ence Pruitt, a former professor o f dentistry at the Dentistry School o f the Oregon Health Sciences Univer sity. They have three adult sons. Samuel Cameron, the new princi pal at M artin Luther King Elemen tary School, is also a new arrival in the Portland community. Cameron came to Portland d i rectly from Seattle where he was principal at Garfield High School fo r two years. The longest teaching and administrative experience came through 27 years in New Jersey schools, says this gregarious man. His experience includes both urban and suburban situations on the East Coast and West Coast. He is a prod- ■tet o f M ontclair State, New York University Biblical Seminary and the University o f Washington. “ I like a multi-ethnic school pop ulation,” says Cameron. “ We are expecting close to 550 youngsters and I am looking forward to meet ing them all. We have a ‘ prescrip tio n ’ learning program here at King — a program tailored to develop the strengths o f each individual child. The district has been generous to give us a good staff and staff-aides I SAMUEL CAMERON for our resources.” Cameron is married. He likes to sing, has a good baritone voice, likes to sing in churches and to help put on concerts for church benefits. Cameron may be new to the com munity, but he w ill be well-known soon. Gloria Gostnell, the new principal at Glencoe Elementary School, presides over a sprawling, beige Spanish tile-roofed building in southeast Portland. The building houses about 450 youngsters and 25 or more sta ff persons. Gostnell may be new at Glencoe but she is not new to teaching nor to the Portland Public School District. An experienced teacher and administrator before she came to Portland four years ago to work in the office o f the dean at Clackamas Community College, Ms. Gostnell transferred to W oodlawn school for another two years to teach basic skills to elementary pupils. ” 1 was born in D etroit,” says Ms. Gostnell, “ and I was educated there. My undergraduate work was completed at Michigan State University. I received my Masters degree in Supervision and Adm inistration from Bank College o f Education in New York. I (aught eight years in New York C ity ’ s elementary schools and later I taught teachers at Grand Valley State College - again in Michigan. “ Here at Glencoe wc have a good basic curriculum and an enrichment program staffed by involved parents who participate with teaching staff in a ‘before and after’ school program. We are fortunate also to hve a computer purchased by parents. "O u r classwork runs from kindergarten through fifth grade for our m ulti-racial student body. We have about 18 per cent m inority enrollment including American Indian, Asian, and black children and our regular programs o f Great Books, A rtist in Residence, Brotherhood M onth, Conservation A ctivities w ill interest everyone.” Ms. Gostnell is married and has four children - none at Glencoe. (Photoa: Judith Slawart) Rosemary Daniels, at Edwards Elementary School on S.E. 32nd Place, was head teacher at Brooklyn Elementary before transferring this fall to Edwards. Ms. Daniels, herself, attended Woodlawn, Jefferson High .School and Portland State University. As a graduate student she earned her Masters degree in administration, also from PSU. Ms. Daniels has had 18 years experience teaching at King and at Llewellyn where she was a unit leader or support person for staff. She also has been active in curriculum being a part o f a team selecting books on “ reading- adoption” as well as being a committee person for the State of Oregon, inform ing the various districts o f the level o f their children’s w riting skills. The 300 yoiungsters at Edwards, a “ year around” school, enjoy going to school for nine weeks and then having three weeks at home, returning to school for another nine weeks, and so on for the entire year. Their parents appreciate this style o f school attendance, according to Ms. Daniels. “ On any day we see as many as 50 parents in our school. They come to tutor, they come to assist in the library or to help in some school funcitons,” said Daniels. Parents at Edwards arc busy at plans for this Sunday when they will honor Rosemary Daniels at a “ Welcome to Edwards” party or picnic on the beautiful green prks form ing the campus at Edwards school. Neighbors and friends w ill jo in in the welcome. Ms. Daniels is married and has one son, an elementary pupil at Faubion school. (Photographs o f Ms. Gostnell and Ms. Daniels were not available. Watch this column./