A look at Portland's Black educators
A review o f som e o f the edu
cational ladders in the Portland
School District by Lamia Duke,
C rassroot News, N. W., with
p h o to g ra p h y b y R ich ard J.
Brown.
Herman
Washington
Herman Washington is the conductor
o f the educational experience at H a r
riet Tubman Middle School. C urrently
housed on the M onroe campus site,
Harriet Tubman ws founded in 1981
as part o f the District’s desegregation
efforts which called for a middle
school in Northeast Portland to serve
the Black community.
" W e are a magnet m iddle school
with a duel purpose,” Washington ex
plained. “ T o provide an excellent ed
ucational opportunity as well as foster
ing integration"
W ashington said his aims are “ to
Nathan
Jones
provide students with a good founda
tion to go on to high school. W e start
with students at their ability level and
o ffer them as much and as varied a
curriculum as a student requests and
hasa need for.**
I A student of Jefferson High School has re-
tumed as principal. Nathan Jones is entering his third year as principal and in
three short years, Jefferson’s image has improved and their student body is
growing.
Jones said his goal is to provide students with a foundation to either pursue a
higher education or to go o ff into the world o f work. "W hen they finish here we
want to have them ready.”
Jones indicated that lus education approach instills in the student a desire to
learn. “ The desire for education comes from within. I f a student does not want
to learn, then he or she can’t be taught."
Through a variety of programs, Jefferson is developing an outstanding reputa
tion in performing arts. This reputation has built the school up in the eyes of the
students, community and parents.
Jones wants students at Jefferson motivated to achieve even after they finish
high school. One element o f this motivation is Project Pride " It started with the
freshman class as an image awareness program, and later it was suggested that
As a magnet school. Tubman has a
variety o f info rm al and form al edu
cational o fferin gs. “ A n education
should help every person to be the best
person he or she can be. You move
in the w orld according to your edu
cation and we prepare our students*
minds to give them access to their
goals." Washington added
What course has Washington plot
ted to lead his students to the promised
land o f quality education? “ W e gather
the best teachers to w ork w ith stu
dents to develop their unique poten
tials. Students are people who have all
sorts o f abilities which need help
in shaping, developing and refining.
W e teach them to love and respect
themselves and to know who they are
and where they come from. W e teach
our students this: W e serve ourselves
best when we serve others,” Washing
ton concluded.
this same positiveness spread throughout the school. Other than providing an
education we want to motivate kids to build positive images for themselves and
other students. Those ingredients are just as important as a formal education.
You can’t have one without the other,” Jones concluded.
PATRICIA RVAN
Patricia
Ryan
Patricia Ryan is principal o f la n e Elemen
tary School, located in outer Southeast Portland “ I t ’s an older neighborhood,
but unlike other older neighborhood, there is no rallying point where the com
munity can congregate."
Ryan said residents o f la n e are between a rock and a hard place. “ The large
park next door is not cared for by the Q ty or Multnomah County. Also, many
o f the services you take for granted in the city do not exist here. So, in a lot of
ways, residents of Lane are just as disfranchised as those in A lbina."
Ryan has served as a principal for eight years in every part o f the city except
Northwest. Wherever she goes, Ryan carries this educational philosophy: "Given
the opportunity, all children can learn," she explains.
She said the trick is to find the right balance between curriculum knowledge
and non-curriculum kinds of problems. " In the city we have a large number of
students with non-curricular kinds o f needs and we as a school are supposed to
concentrate on the curricular.”
She advises teachers not to lower their expectations because of the non-curricu
lar events that affect children. “ Aim for getting children at grade level or be
yond,"
H lh M A N WASHINGTON
NATHAN JONES
Pioneer to Poverty
PORTLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE
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Helps Celebrate
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BLACK
HISTORY
MONTH
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Matthew
Alexander Henson
IV
The story of Columbus, who m ade the ambitious crossing of the
Atlantic to the West Indies and yet died a poor man. unrecog
nized. is no less sad than that of Mathew Alexander Henson
Join us io hear
He was the first person to reach the North Pole on the Arctic
Continent He was a member of the Peary mission
the last
polar expedition in 1909 — and was sent ahead of the main
party, reaching the North Pole some 45 minutes ahead of
Peary
Poet, Colleen McElroy
professor, University of Washington
February 26, 1985
Noon
Cascade Auditorium
705 N. Killingsworth
The two explorers planted the symbolic flags together and
celebrated the historic moment Some 46 years later when
Henson died he was living in Harlem on a pension of $1.020
a year
Portland
'Community
College
THE PEOPLE AT PACIFIC POWER
Portland Observer, February 20, 1906, Section II, Page 5
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