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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 23, 1983)
1rs Prances Schoss-Nsvspspsr Rooa University of Oregon Library tugene, Oregon 97403 Vote March 29th 1X1 LU School ioard endorsements W hat's with Surinam? Page 4 Page 2 Calvin's turn-about jump-shot PORTLAND OBSERVER U S I’S 959 680-855 March 23, 1983 Volume XIII, Number 24 25C Per Copy < t a r PuhMung Co.. /«HI ir Controversy f»y Rich Lochner Steve Buel end Herb Cewthorne consider educe rio n ei o p tio n s a t re c e n t P o rtla n d School Boerd meeting. Buel seeks second Board term Sieve Buel, a member o f the Port land School Board, believes a m a jo rity o f the Board is "keeping Dr. P ro p het under th eir th um bs, and not allowing him to really work and take care o f the problems o f the Dis tric t." This charge is borne out by the m a jo rity o f the B oard’ s refusal to allow S u perintend en t M atth ew Prophet to co n ciliate the Jackson closure problem as he did success- f u l k , w i t h the T u b m a n M id d le School siting. stron g ly support D r. Prophet,” Buel said. " H e is doing a j^nod jo b and could do more i f he 1 ' w«M given the freed om to make somt o f the changes that should be m a d e ." ' O ne o p p o rtu n ity P ro p het w ill have is to select a large num ber o f new principals to replace those who w ill retire in the next year or two. " T h e key to better teaching is the principal," Buel said. The answer to inadequate leaching is the principal, he explained; principals evaluate the teachers and it is their responsibility to rem ove those w ho are not suc ceeding. E valuatio n o f principals should also reflect me quality o f education being p ro vided in th eir schools. "T h is is a serious problem and one I ’ ve been talking about all a lo n g ," Buel said. " T h e r e has not been a real e v a lu a tio n o f p rin c ip als for years; i f you look at their ev alu a tion s, they are a ll the same. T h e people writing evaluations say about the same thing about all of them ." Selecting the right people for ap pointment to principalships will be a major factor in the District’s ability to provide quality education. A n o ther d eficit Buel sees is the broad differences in program s o f fered in different schools. Principals have had much leeway in choosing program s and s ta ff. " I have d e veloped a plan that D r. Prophet is studying now that w ill change the way staff is allocated. It would cre ate a basic elementary school includ ing class size stand ards, physical educatior, music, improved library facilities, and certificated librarians. Then the ind ividu al schools could build on that basic program. " T h is w ould ensure that every c h ild , even those a tte n d in g sm all schools, w ould get the same basic education." Currently staff positions are allo cated to the principal according to the number of children and the prin cip al can d eterm in e w hat type o f s ta ff he w ants. A ll adults in the building— including secretaries and janitors— are counted so the “ F T E " ra tio does not reflect teacher-stu dent ratio or class size. This results in some schools having large classes, others having no physical educa- lion, art or music teachers. Buel counts many acco m p lish ments in his first term on the School Board; He proposed a task force on drug and alco h o l abuse to assess the p roblem and m ake reco m m en da tions. This committee will meet for the first time on April 30th. H e persuaded the D is tric t to orient every staff member who has contact with children on child abuse so they can bring abuse problems to the attention o f the authorities. He successfully proposed centrali zation o f counselling services, which not only rejuvenated the counselling staff, but for the first time is obtain ing in fo rm atio n on who drops out and why. Buel persuaded the ad m in is tra tion to set safety standards for play grounds and equipment and to as sign an inspector, as a result acci dents have decreased. The District’s achievement policy in large part came from Buel’s pro posal that each elem entary school em phasize one subject area each year for improvement. A n ele m en tary school teacher, Bud's main concern as he serves on (he School Board is providing qual ity education for each child in the District. He looks at every issue that comes b efo re the Board w ith this principal in mind. and Natasha Beck W o u ld a sales tax relieve high properly taxes and boost Oregon's economy, as business and govern ment groups say? O r would it be a new burden fo r poor and working people, as labor, farm , and commu nity groups say? The sales tax, beat en six times at the polls, has risen again— and a m a jo rity o f the state House say they could send it for vot ers' approval next November. The p ublic w ill gel a chance to state its views on the sales tax at public hearings in Portland. March 28, at the Po rtlan d Building (1120 SW 5th at 7:30 p .m .). But just what would a sales lax d o , and fo r whom? Three sales tax proposals are now b efo re the stale leg islature T he main hacker behind each is the busi ness oriented Taxpayers for a Better Econom y, state R epresentatives Io n y Van V lie t (R -C o rv a llis ) and Peter Courtney (D -S alem ), and the Local Government Coalition. Sales tax opponents fall into two camps: those who oppose the sales tax because i t ’ s regressive; and those who oppose taxes in general. The . ijis t group has organized into O re gonians U n ite d to Stop the Sales Tax (O USST) Members include the stale A H C IO and several unions, the O regon S tale G ra n g e , the O re g o n W a s h in g t o n f a r m e r s U n io n , the G ra y P an th ers, the Democratic P arly, and the Oregon Citizens Party. Other groups oppos ing a sales tax that would make the poor pay more include Oregon l air Share and the Black United F ro n t. Anti-tax groups include the Oregon Taxpayers Union, which has backed three barely defeated lax lim itation in itia tiv e s , and the L ib e rta ria n Party. T h e sales tax plans share some common features A ll would go into the state constitution, and could be approved or changed o nly by the voters. All would not lax necessities such as food, medical care, housing, and utilities A ll would cut property taxes 40 to 50 percent, and limit fu tu re governm ent g ro w th . A n d all would be regressive— taxing lower incomes more heavily than lower in comes. A 1980 C alifo rn ia sales tax study showed differences between income classes: households m aking under $20,000 spent 40 percent o f that in come on goods subject to the sales tax. (California has exclusions simi lar to those projiosed in O reg o n ). Bused on these figu res, a fa m ily niukiug $10-20,(NX) a year would pay about $240 a year, or 1.6 percent of us income, with a four percent sales tax. A fam ily making $75,(NX) and up, on the other hand, would pay $760, or .67 percent o f its income. I f the p o o re r fa m ily paid the same p e r centage as the richer one, it would pay $105, a difference o f $135. The same study shows a fa m ily pays more sales lax for each child it must provide for. The sales tax is regressive because rich people can affo rd to save more than can hard-pressed low and m id dle-income people The sales lax a l so usually excludes some items used mostly by the w ell-o ff, such as legal services and private education. T w o O regon plans deal w ith the fairness issue by a rebate scheme th at w o u ld re fu n d $8 to $40 per household member fo r those m a k ing under $17,500. But it's still not eq u al; w ith a fo u r percent tax, a fa m ily o f fo u r in the $ 1 0 ,0 0 0 to $12,500 bracket would gel an $80 re fund, and still pay a higher rale than the $75,OCX) + class. Critics also say many poor people who pay no in come tax y o u ld n 'l apply for the rc- (PI ease turn Io page ti column /) Parents, youth charge police abuse by Lam ia Duke P o rtla n d police o ffic e rs are charged with racism and insensitiv ity in the reaction to and treatment of six young people— four black and two white— last Friday night. Around 9:45 p .m ., M arch 18th, six juveniles between the ages o f eleven and fifteen were touched with spring fever. Darryl M cW illins, 14, explained the incident: " W e were acting crazy, goofing o ff and doing silly things. W e threw three rocks at a police car. We were walking home and came upon a policeman giving a guy a ticket. W e ran to the alley on Ainsworth and M oore Streets. The police followed us and slopped me in that alley ." D a rry l was accom panied by another youth, Frank Smith, 13. " T h e police o fficer grabbed me by the neck and threw me down on the ground." Darryl received super ficial cuts and abrasions on his face from the impact. During the course o f being arrested the o ffic er made obscene remarks to M cW illin s , the youth reports. " T h e o ffic e r said, ’C a n ’ t you find anything else to do on a Friday night, like be with your girl friend and get a h— on?" T he parents and neighbors did not condone throwing rocks at a po lice car. H o w ever, the harsh tre at ment and obscene language was felt to be excessive and unnecessary con sidering the repentful nature o f the boys once they were ap p reh e n d ed. Mrs. McW illins said, " D a rry l was wrong for throwing the rocks. But the way they apprehended him was just as w ro ng — such as putting his knee on his b a c k , th ro w in g him dow n and m a kin g that sexual re mark to a 14-year-old boy. Another item is that all the boys that were picked up were black and the tw o white boys were told to go hom e." The parents o f one o f the w hile youths involved, Nathan Maszy, 11, also believe that this was u n ju s t. " A l l the kids were together. There was no reason for the police to sin gle out Nathan and Donald Gibson, 1131. to go home. It wasn't the idea that they d id n 't see a rock in D o n ald 's or N a th a n 's hand. F ra n k ie didn't have a rock and the police a r rested him, anyway. The police nev er did sec who threw the rock. A ll they know is that rocks were thrown and a group o f kids were running.” The police took the four boys over to Frank Smith's home. His mother stated . " T h e r e has been so much happening in our neighborhood. I didn't realize the boys were involved until I saw Darryl getting out o f the car in h an dcuffs. T h e other boys, Kicky, Faison. 13 and James Smith, 15, were in another poiice car and the officers refused to let them out until they had Darrly and Frank un der control. " D a r r y l and Frank were not out o f c o n tro l. I began to ask them to take the cu ffs o f f o f D a rry l and I noticed that they had the handcuffs on so tight, they couldn’t take them o ff. They could not get one o f the c u ffs o f f . T h e Po lice kept saying som ething ab o ut it's getting that tim e o f the year and w ith c o m m u n ity relations the way that they are they d id n 't w ant to start this kind o f thing. It seemed to me the police were saying to us purents that we were breeding a pot o f summer violence. " A g a in , I felt the treatment was too harsh and throughout their in terac tio n w ith the police the boys were very remorseful and scared.” The neighbors, parents, and the yo u th w ho w ere in v o lve d all feel that if this incident had occurred in the S .W . H ills it would have been viewed d iffe re n tly . As a group of boys p e rfo rm in g a very ch ild ish , th ou gh tless act, n oth ing m ore, no hing less. Instead, the police o f ficers involved added insult to in ju ry by treating the boys like crim in als and showing preferential treat ment to the white youths. T h e P o lice Bureau spokesman said the police officers involved are not available for comment until the Internal A ffa irs com plaint, filed by one o f the parents, is cleared Educational Service District: Forgotten race draws few candidates by Rouert Lothian The Board o f the M u ltn o m a h County Educational Service District threw itself into the Jackson contro versy when it ruled that (he area had sufficient resources to run its own schools. Their decision helped pave the way for Jackson’s secession, and the outcome o f the M arch 29 elec tions, with three ESD positions con tested, could in flu en ce whether other areas fo llo w Jackson's ex ample. But besides its increasingly con troversial boundary setting author ity, ESD is also a large cooperative with a $21 m illio n budget. Il p ro vides computer services and school supplies at discount rates to the C o u n ty ’ s 12 school d is tricts , and funds special program s, including (he outdoor school for sixth g rad ers, a p ro gram fo r pregnant high school students, and nursing ser vice*. Over h alf o f ESD 's budget is de voted to special education— handi capped, speech impaired, English as a Second Language (E S L ) and ta l ented and gifted programs. After receiving recommendations from the various districts, the E SD Board, through its budget delibera tions, has u ltim a te a u th o rity over the choice and extent o f special o f ferings D r. H o w a rd C h e rry , a N o rth Portland orthopedic surgeon, is the incum bent ru n nin g fo r P o sitio n Five, Zone One, an area which cov ers most o f N o rth and Northeast Portland. Running against Cherry is Ron M cC arty, a tax accountant and former restaurant owner. C herry found him self in the m i nority on the Board when he voted against the decision fa v o ra b le to Jackson's secession. H e fears it could be the beginning o f a landslide secession movement on the affluent west side. This would be a "horrible b lo w " to the Portland School Dis trict, he said, because the loss o f the a fflu e n t west side tax base would mean huge cu t* fo r rem aining schools. " V e r y , very v a lu a b le " special programs should be kept, he said, but some may be threatened by the outcome of wage negotiations which could mean cutbacks in other areas. Cherry, who was a stale legislator for 12 years, is also running as an in cumbent for the Portland C o m m u nity College Board. M cC arty's main qpneern is m on ey. “ We have to have fiscal respon sib ility," he said. "M o nies must be spent w isely." Uncontrolled spend ing and waste are big problem s in education, according to M c C a rty , and his jo b on the Board would be to "ju d g e which monies are being spent fo o lish ly " and do away with unnecessary programs. H e was un willing to specify what needed to be cut, however, saying he would have to be on the board for awhile to find out. Alluding to the "ta x revolution” and Ballot Measure 3, M cC arty was concerned about the large number o f foreclosures which he connects w ith high p ro p e rty taxes. H e Ihoughi Ballot Measure 3 had tech nical problems, but he supports the idea o f a properly tax lim itation " to keep people in their homes." M cC arty said he doubts whether he would support any new secession movements. " I need more fac ts,” he said. " I haven’ t totally made up my m in d ." John Sw eeney, a tree trim m e r w ith the P o rtlan d Park Bureau, is an incum bent ru n nin g unopposed fo r the a t-la rg e P o sitio n S ix, Sweeney leels that fear* o f a land slide secession m ovem ent are u n founded. The ESD Board’s decision in the Jackson case, he said, "w as not a blanket ap p ro val" for all dis tricts that might want to pull out. Each case must be judged on its merits, but " i f they met the criteria I would lend to go along with i t ," he said. Sweeney thinks the talented and gifted program should be expanded to in clu d e m ore th an the present three percent o f students who quail fy fo r the m ore exciting and ch al lenging subjects. It w ould provide an incentive, he said, for some stu dents to stay in school. P o s itio n seven covers the west side, and secessin is the big issue there. Pat D o o lin g , vice-president {Please turn to page N column J)