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Volume X X V I, Number 36
.y*
I •
September 4, 1996
C ommitted to cultural diversity.
(Dii' ^ a r tla n h (Observer
n in ni u n ito
a 1 r n ò a r
Greenpeace m eeting
On Thursday, September 12, 1996,
Greenpeace Portland w ill be h o ld in g a
com m unity meeting at 1122 SE A nkeny
by
J oey M urphy
admissions process, Teitelbaum said.
ortland school kids began a new
school year Sept. 2. Although
new classes begin, an old de­
bate still rages in Portland and
school systems across the nation.
P
ronmental resources at this office. For more
inform ation please ca ll 233-1139.
Neighborhoods for People
Educational tra ckin g involves arranging
classes by student a b ility level.
ing w ill be an open house, a chance fo r
everyone to get acquainted w ith the e n vi­
A screening o f the video “ C oH ousing:
Neighborhoods fo r People” w ill be held
Thursday, September 12th, at 7:30 p.m. at
the Reedwood Friends C hurch/O ng C hap­
el, 2901 SE Steele.
A n in tro d u c to ry presentation about
cohousing and Cascadia C om m ons’ plans
to create a cohousing ecovillage in Port­
land w ill fo llo w the screening. The event is
sponsored by Cascadia Commons.
A dm ission is free. For more in fo rm a ­
tion call 650-7169.
W alk for the Cure
M ore than 80 teams have already regis­
tered fo r the Juvenile Diabetes Founda­
tion, Greater Portland C hapter’ s second
annual “ W alk fo r the Cure” w hich w ill be
held on Sunday, September 15, 1996 at
C iv ic Stadium. Registration is free and
open to the p u b lic up to and on the day o f
the walk. W alkers w ill have th e ir choice o f
either a 8k o r 3k route. Check in tim e is at
8 am at C iv ic Stadium and the w a lk begins
B
Trying to get off-track
A b ility-b a se d tra ckin g in education is a
d iv is iv e issue. I t ’ s a debate between the so­
c ia lly conscious and the so cia lly conserva­
tiv e where actions often contradict words and
real change is hard to come by.
St. from 7:00-8:30 PM. This m o n th ’ s meet­
SECTION
U sually there is a slow track, an average
track, and an above-average track.
Students are taught based on their a b ility.
It begins as early as firs t grade, and continues
through high school.
“ T racking is a m icrocosm o f a universality
today: we say one th in g and do another,” said
U n ive rsity o f Portland d ire cto r o f teacher
education H arry Teitelbaum .
Teitelbaum , a form er school superinten­
dent in C a lifo rn ia , said when he was there
m any educators opposed tracking, yet s till
wanted their ch ild in the upper-track courses.
“ T racking has been popular because it was
the easier way to deal w ith students and
parents,” Teitelbaum said.
Parents want their students in upper-level
classes because o f the perceived status those
classes bring, and their value in the college
T racking supporters say higher-quality
teaching and learning opportunities often
found in higher tracks are only possible when
other
all the students in the class are bright. Poorer
experiences result when students in the class
are less able.
T h a t’ s a m yth Teitelbaum said. He said
homogenous grouping does not accelerate
The N ational Educational Longitudinal
Study o f 1988 (N E L S ), a nationally repre­
sentative student survey conducted by the
N a tio n al Center fo r E ducation Statistics
(NCES), provides an in-depth picture o f track­
ing practices.
The study concluded that tracking segre­
gates along racial and class lines. For exam­
ple, in lOth-grade math classes, o nly 14 per­
“ Argument and research suggests that everybody benefits
from mixed ability-group classes,”
Grant High School vice principal David Aiken
learning. “ The research is overw helm ing that
it doesn’ t w o rk ,” he said.
cent o f children in the lowest socioeconom ic
quartile are in classes judged to be above
“ The only exception that we know w ould
be math,” Teitelbaum said. “ There, some
tracking is a llo w a b le .”
average, w hile almost 38 percent o f those
from the highest socioeconom ic quartile may
be found enrolled in such classes.
Teitelbaum cited tw o problems w ith track­
ing.
Grant H igh School vice principal David
A ike n agreed w ith Teitelbaum .
One, in elementary school and later, when
specialists p u ll slow learners out o f class for
specialized instruction, “ it causes almost ir­
“ Argum ent and research suggests that ev­
erybody benefits from m ixed a b ility-g ro u p
classes,” he said.
reparable damage,” Teitelbaum said, “ the
highest rate o f dropouts come out o f those
groups.”
T w o, tracking tends to ra cia lly segregate
students. “ W hether in New Y o rk, Selma, or
Portland, most low er tracks are m in o rity ,” he
said.
S till, Grant is not a model o f heteroge­
neous education. P rincipal D arrell Rucker
said G rant’ s honors english and social stud­
ies courses currently do n ’ t m irro r the diverse
school’ s 36 m in o rity rate.
Grant is m aking changes, though. Stu­
dents self-select their track in the social stud-
King Games reign the neighborhood
at 9 am rain o r shine. For m ore inform ation
by
S abrina S akai a
call 691-1995.
T
he King Neighborhood Facility Park
saw stars and smiles last week at
the 4th Annual King Games.
The festivities took place on August 29th
and 30th from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and was
presented by the Y outh Gangs Outreach Pro­
gram, a n o n -p ro fit metro volunteer organiza­
tion advocating to keep kids safe from the
detrim ental effects o f gang involvement.
Sports stars Terrel Brandon (above, le ft-
player fo r the C leveland C avaliers) and
M ichael H arper (above rig h t-fo rm e r fra il-
blazers star) jo in e d in the fun and autographed
free t-shirts fo r the kids.
The program was directed by H alim
Rahsaan (pictured behind Harper and Bran­
don ), and has been conducting the project for
the past three years.
The k id -frie n d ly Portland-native compel-
lin g ly stated his devotions. “ I t ’ s a way o f
g ivin g back to the com m unity and guiding
our youths by em phasizing recreation with
sports,” Rahsaan said.
Director of King Games, Halim Rahsaan, welcomed all to the weekend festivity at
King Neighborhood Facility Park. He is pictured here with visiting professional
athletes (I to r) Terrel Brandon (player for Cleveland Cavaliers) and Michael Harper
(former trailblazers player).
Photo by lesha Williams
By free admission, kids, parents, and neigh­
bors enjoyed free food, face painting, sports
activities and contests, and t-shirts. C ity Coun­
ci I Candidate Luscious H icks also took heart
g rillin g plum p hot dogs and sizzling chicken.
ies department, and Grant recently im ple­
mented a program they call “ Challenge En­
g lish .”
" W e ’ ve found i t ’ s been very successful,
w ith high m in o rity p a rticip a tio n ,” Tucker
said.
“ Challenge english is “ open to anybody
w ho wants to push h im self—i t ’ s not tra ck­
ing,” A ike n said.
M ost agree that students, parents, and the
school com m unity are necessary fo r change
in the educational system to happen.
Jefferson H igh School p rin cip a l Alcena
Boozer said “ many factors go in to student
success. Jefferson seeks to encourage par­
ents to be in vo lve d .”
Teitelbaum sees more action necessary.
“ We have to break the m o ld in order to
have a chance to resolve societal norm s,”
1 eitelbaum said.
“ I t ’ s like being in a cage and having to
operate w ith in the bars,” he said, “ you have
to break the bars to make progress.
The will for
good buys
recent article in The Orego­
nian says parents will spend
an average of $ 4 0 0 on each
child's back-to-school wardrobe this
fall-enough to suck the wind out any
parent's schooltime “hallelujahs”.
A
And because kids continue to outgrow
their clothes, mom and dad get to do this
again next fa ll ( i f not this spring).
The good news is that even though you
can’t stop your kids from gro w in g , you can
cut costs o f constantly replenishing their
wardrobes by shopping at G o o d w ill retail
stores. Just look at this com parison be­
tween the average department store prices
and G o o d w ill prices:
hsm
P gpt Store G o o d w ill
L e v i’ s Jeans (3 )...$ 9 6 ............... $18
Dress Pants........... $25............... $4
Button-down
shirts (3 ).................$ 6 0 ............... $12
Sweaters (2 ).......... $60............... $8
T-shirts (2 ).............$20............... $6
Dress....................... $25............... $4
W inter C oat........... $ 7 5 ............... $3
Dress shoes............ $30............... $3
A th le tic shoes........$50............... $4
TO TA L BILL....$441............ $62
As you can see, the secret to stretching
those dollars (and taking the punch out o f
the credit card b ill) is taking advantage o f
G o o d w ill’ s everyday bargains-even on
popular brand names. The key? O ther peo­
p le ’ s kids outgrow their clothes too (and
many o f these outgrow n clothes get a sec­
ond chance through G o o d w ill).
Changes In Health Care Worries Locals
by
S ei . lv K ing
M edicare and M edicaid ostensibly to avoid
ommunity wellness and better
waste. A nd w ith reform s capping w elfare
health care for all community
recipients signed into law. M any poor fo lks
folks tops Carol R. Chism of
are bound to fa ll o f f the coverage ladder,
Center For Community M ental Health
especially children. That bothers Chism who
[CCMH] wish list, but drastic changes
is the E xecutive D ire cto r o f [C C M H ],
In care delivery may dash her hopes.
C hism fears that insurance companies who
C
B y C h is m ’ s calculations, managed care,
the new mantra o f health care p ro vid e rs w ill
dig more graves than help the p o o r get w ell.
It is because managed Care s im p ly is a nego­
control care p rovider organizations could
pack th e ir care bags and w a lk away from any
com m unity, i f it's no longer fin a n cia lly fea­
sible fo r them to operate there. That could
tiated q u a lity o f treatment fo r a negotiated
price. A nd that means the few er the dollars
the lesser the service.
decline in per client entry in to the state health
W ith U ncle Sam ready to slice the p ile o f
plan and a rise in fo lks streaming into the
have adverse effects on poor folks whose life
depend on th e ir service. A lre a d y stats show a
Pickpocketers arrested
O
n Tuesday, August 27th , Cen­
tral Precinct Detectives charged
two suspects with the robbery.
These charges stemmed fro m the p ic k ­
pocket cases in v o lv in g e ld e rly v ic tim s at the
T ri-M e t lig h tra il stations.
John S y lv e s te r W a s h in g to n , 36, was
charged w ith one count o f R obbery I, four
counts o f R obbery II, one count o fT h e ft I and
tw o counts o f Fraudulent Use o f a C redit
Card.
M ac Lee T u rn e r was charged w ith fo u r
counts o f R obbery II and one count o f
T h e ft I.
W ashington and T urner are alleged to
Sale of the
Oregon Cactus
The Fall Show and Sale o f the Oregon
Cactus and Succulent Society w ill be held
September 20, 21, and 22 at The G a lle ria
at 521 SW M o rriso n St. in D ow ntow n
Portland.
The Oregon Cactus & Succulent Soci­
ety is an a ffilia te o f the Cactus & Succulent
have com m itted at least 5 robberies, starting
July 30, 1996, and ending A ugust 10, 1996.
These robberies were com m itted between
2:00 pm and 6:00 pm on SW 5th and 6th
between M orrison and Y a m h ill stops.
The men w ould target victim s that were
e ld e rly males between 79 and 99 years old.
In most cases, one o f the suspects w ould
either fa ll dow n or act as i f he was having
some d iffic u lty boarding the lig h tra il train.
As the v ic tim attempted to help the fallen
person, the second suspect w ould p ick his
pocket. The v ic tim w o u ld then board the
train B y the tim e the v ic tim realized his
w allet was gone, so were the suspects.
p ro fit - driven health organizations.
For those who need mental health Care,
the Executive D irector assured that C C M H
w ould keep its com m itm ent o f serving the
less p rivileged in N o rth /N o rth east Portland
keep up with the demand,” says Chism.
“ We can become more inclusive and treat
people less intensively or we can be more
selective or require the public sector to par­
regardless o f race, creed or re lig io n , w ith
ticipate more actively in ensuring health care
fo r the needy or do nothing. That should not
help from the com m unity and private donors.
be an o ption.”
“ N o one in this comm unity should go w ith ­
out any form o f health coverage. It is unaccept­
able. Our non - pro fit agency has the profes­
sional sta ff to meet the mental health care need
o f every one but we lack financial resources to
The outcome o f current legislation on wheth­
er or not to include mental health care and
substance Abuse Treatment in the current O r­
egon Health Plan, Chism says, is also crucial to
the future health vita lity o f inner Portland
Back-to-school traffic plan
On Tuesday, September 3, 1996, w hich was the beginning o f the Portland School
D is tric t’ s new school year, The Portland Police Bureau, in cooperation w ith the C ity o f
Portland’ s Bureau o f T ra ffic Management, w ill initiate the “ Enhanced V ehicle Safety
Enforcem ent Program Slow D own fo r School K id s” .
This m ulti-faceted program, w hich w ill concentrate in and around school zones,
consists o f enforcement and education, along w ith the installation o f more school zone
flashing lights by the Bureau o f T ra ffic Management.
The “ S low D own fo r School K id s” includes the fo llo w in g :
Applicable Traffic Laws
♦
♦
♦
Failure to stop fo r bus system lig h ts........................................................... B ail: $285.
Careless d riv in g ...............................................................................................B ail: $285.
Failure to yie ld to pedestrian in crossw alk..................................................B ail: $165.
♦
♦
Failure to obey tra ffic patrol mem ber........................................................ B ail: $285.
Passing stopped vehicle at crossw alk......................................................... B ail: $165.
♦
Failure to yie ld to pedestrian on sidew alk...................................................B ail: $165.
♦
♦
V io la tio n o f basic rule............................................................. B ail: Varies w ith speed
Failure to fo llo w rail crossing procedures fo r high risk vehicles.......... B ail $165.