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March 10,1999
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Know Who Will Fight For Your Children
B y J eanne A llen
P rlsidfn 1, C i n t m fos E ducation R eform
Recent concerns about declining
s tu d e n t
a c h ie v e m e n t
an d
deteriorating schools - at the local,
state and national levels - have
strengthened the cry for réévaluation
and reform o f our natio n ’s education
system. The viewpoint on educational
issues o f both elected and appointed
S c h o o l B o a rd m e m b e rs , s ta te
legislators and even county officials
has been or likely soon w ill be, the
focal point ofcom m unity discussions
on how to im prove our schools to
m ake them the best.
All states and com m unities differ
in their needs and approaches to
education reform . M oreover, today
school boards and other governing
authorities are often extremely limited
in w hat they can do to im prove
schools. G overnm ent oversight and
opposition from vested interests often
ham string a b o ard 's ability to m ake
substantial changes, but it is still
critical that these governing bodies
take a strong lead ersh ip ro le in
introducing new and effective ideas
■
to their com m unities, and in working
to im plem ent real reform. Because o f
this, know ing as m uch as you can
about your local can d id ates and
members is crucial.
G etting the Answers
It is im portant not only to know
where the candidates stand, but to
make sure the right questions get
asked, and to help b rin g issues
im portant to you and the com m unity
to the forefront o f public discussion.
A ccountability - Should teachers
whose students repeatedly fail to leam
be held accountable? A ccountability
becom es a difficult issue if and when
in e ffe c tiv e te a c h e rs c a n n o t be
rem oved from their jobs. In many
cases, these teachers are m em bers o f
powerful special interest groups, like
the A FT or N EA, and their positions
becom e nearly untouchable. The
processes involved in the rem oval o f
bad teachers almost seem designed
to protect the teachers and not the
cones being harm ed by ineffectual,
uninterested and bad teachers, our
to school?
C harter Schools - do you approve
o f p u b lic s c h o o ls b e in g ru n
independent o f district o r county
supervision? Should parents have
the right to start one? Today, 34 states
plus the D istrict o f C olum bia have
passed charter school legislation. The
num ber o f these schools has jum ped
dramatically to over 1200 today, from
ju st 1 in 1992. These schools serve
over 300,000 students nationwide. In
the years since the first charter school
opened its doors, these schools have
attained m easurable success and in
m ost instances have surpassed both
expectations and their traditional
public school counterparts.
S tandardized testing - Is the use
o f standardized tests a valid and fair
children.
m easure o ot f academ ic achievem
ent
achtevem en
o f our students? Is it fair to com pare
the results o f student achievem ent
year to year w ithin a single school
an d b e tw e e n d iffe re n t sc h o o ls
w ithin a district?
A dvisors - W hat organizations
w ill y o u r c a n d id a te or e le c te d
representative rely upon most heavily
for advice on educational m atters -
Parents ? Unions? PT As? Community
and Civic G roups? Some o f these
groups have specific and vested
interest in the direction taken by
le g is la to r s an d s c h o o l b o a rd
m em bers. N ot every decision is
beneficial to the child. This is a very
important question as it may also be
an indication ofloyalty. Is this loyalty
to an organization that protects jobs
or one that benefits our kids?
Remember, for the next few years
the people elected to represent you,
at both the local and state level, will
play a critical role in the direction
your children’s education will take. It
is up to each parent to leam how each
m em ber or can d id ate stan d s on
education issues important to you.
The Alarms Are Sounding
..
..
-----------
B y H ugh B. P rice
P resident N ational U rban L eague
It should be clear now that the
shooting death o f A m adou Diallo, an
unarm ed law-abiding W est A frican
imm igrant, by four w hite N ew York
City police officers, has crystallized
the anger over police m isconduct that
has been building up in Black America
throughout this decade.
W HOLE OR IN PART W ITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED.
It ’ s also cleat that, in their anger and
The Portland O bserver-O regon’s O ldest Multicultural P ublication-is
dismay that some white police officers
a m em ber o f the N ational N ew spaper A ssociation-F ounded in 1885, and
don’t bother to try to distinguish the
The N ational A dvertising Representative A m algam ated Publishers, Inc,
law-abiding from the criminal among
N ew York, NY, and The W est Coast Black Publishers Association • Serving
them, blacks are not alone.
Portland and Vancouver.
Rail Y zaguirre, president o f the
N ational Council o f La Raza, and
Karen Narasaki, executive directorof
ubscribe to w I P o r t ia n b © b w r u e r
the National A sian Pacific American
The Portland Observer can be sent directly to your home for only $60.00
L eg al C o n so rtiu m , g av e h ea rt-
per year. Please fill out, enclose check or money order, and mail to:
wrenching exam ple o f police abuses
S ubscriptions
aim ed at their com m unities during a
T he P ortland O bserver ; PO B ox 3137
press conference the National Urban
League convened in W ashington,
P ortland , O regon 9 7208
D.C. February 25.
N am e : _________ __ ------------------------------------------------------------- —
Y zag u irre and N arasaki w ere
Address:___________________________________________ _______— — —
jo in ed by a broad cross-section o f
City, S ta te :---------------- ------ -------------------------------- -------------------------
g ra s s ro o ts g ro u p s , c iv il rig h ts
Zip-Code: ____________ ________ ______________ _— ---------------------
organizations, and ordinary citizens
who cam e to W ashington that day to
T hank Y ou F or R eading T he P ortland O bserver
urge President Clinton to becom e
directly involved in resolving these
issues and defusing this crisis.
A be Foxm an, president o f the
A nti-D efam ation League, K w eisi
M fum e, president and CE O o f the
N a tio n a l A s s o c ia tio n f o r th e
A dvancem ent o f C olored People, Ira
included m ore than 250 criteria. It
G lasser, executive director o f the
B y S enator B rady A dams
w as a system that w as cum bersom e
A m erican C ivil Liberties U nion, the
“R evolution” is not a term one
and slow to react to changes in the
R everend Jesse Jackson, president
often hears in discussions about
o f the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, and
higher
education
landscape.
budget allocation systems. However,
C ongressm an John Conyers (D em .-
U nder the new funding model,
there is a quiet revolution underw ay
M ichigan), shared the podium .
each institution will retain its own
in the O regon U niversity System
The Reverend A1 Sharpton, the
tuition and fee money. In addition,
(O U S) and. w hile its focus is on
attorney, Johnnie L. Cochran Stewart,
each cam pus will share state general
p r e s id e n t
of
th e
N a tio n a l
changing the w ay m oney is allocated
O
rganization
o
f
Black
Law
Enforces,
fund
allocations
based
on
a
more
to cam puses, its prom ise is for a
th e R e v e re n d J o s e p h L o w e ry ,
student-centered
m
odel
that
uses
dram atically revitalized system o f
only tw elve key criteria (as opposed chairm an o f the Black Leadership
public higher education for our state.
Forum , and Edw ard Lewis, president
to 250). These tw elve criteria look at
T h e S ta te B o a rd o f H ig h e r
o f Essence Com m unications, were
differences in “cost-per-student,” am ong those present as well
E ducation adopted this new budget
based on the level o f instruction and
So, too m ost poignantly, was Betty
allo ca tio n system in resp o n se s to
program costs. A freshman history G rim m ett, w hose son was slain by an
calls from legislators, the governor
student, for example, would be a lower avow edly racist cop in Pittsburgh,
and from m any in the private sector
PA last Decem ber. No one could
co st th an a se n io r, e n g in e e rin g
for a h ig h er ed u c atio n system that
rem ain unm oved as she described
student. O U S w ill look at each
the pain o f her loss and appealed
is b o th m ore resp o n siv e to p ublic
institution’s enrollm ent using the directly to the President to lead the
e d u c a t i o n a l n e e d s a n d m o re
criteria as a filter to provide an nation out o f this crisis.
ac co u n tab le for is p erfo rm an ce.
allocation based on the actual student These people and others cam e to
T he new system w ould accom plish
W ash in g to n arm s are sounding.
population served.
b o th goals.
Am erica m ust respond.
A com panion initiative enacted
In the past, ou r public colleges
The racial crisis that exists in
by the H igher E ducation B oard A m erican law en fo rce m en t w as
a n d u n iv e r s i tie s w e re fu n d e d
establishes performance benchmarks underscored the follow ing Sunday
through a com plex system in w hich
for each institution. Institutions will w hen G o v ern o r C h ristin e T odd
all tu itio n m oney w as cen trally
be encouraged to develop plans for W hitman, o f N ew Jersey, fired the
pooled and then reallocated to the
head o f the N ew Jersey State Police
meeting the benchm arks and their
institutions, along w ith state general
for racist rem arks he m ade during a
progress will be monitored.
new spaper interview.
fund m oney, using a model that
Col. W illiam s said that certain
m in o r ity
g ro u p s
w e re
disproportionately involved in certain
kinds o f drug trafficking: heroin,
cocaine, and m arijuana were heavily
Black people, their achievem ent,
I am deeply concerned that the
province o f blacks and Latinos.
which are many. I pray that the people In saying this, however. Col. W illiams
O regon legislature and residents o f
o f O reg o n w ould b ecom e m ore steadfastly denied, as he had in the
Oregon. It appears to be a racially
s e n s itiv e to th e 1.7% A fric a n past that the state police engage in
bias m ove how can a state with moral
racial profiling-the notorious practice
A m erican that live there.
v alues and e q u a lity p e rm it the
o f ’Driving W hile Black.”
Som e have defen d ed C olonel
elim ination o f A frican A m erican or
Thank
you
W
illiams,
declaring he was merely
Black History for one day. I suppose
speaking
the
truth: that blacks and
Rev.
Clifton
Zinney
students study the contributions o f
S
Parents
Parents - - W
W hat
hat roles
roles do
do parents
parents
play in the educational process? Does
your local representative w elcom e
and invite parental involvem ent and
interaction in their proceedings? Are
all deliberations and decisions m ade
in the open and under public scrutiny?
D o you know w here m em bers or
candidates send their ow n children
.lv
H ispanics or»
are zticr.rr'nnrtinn.tE
d isp ro p o rtio n a tely
involved in the drug trade.
Y es. th a t is tru e .
B u t th e
documented fact o f the history o f the
widely disproportionate stopping o f
black and Hispanic motorist by New
Jersey state police-the overw helm ing
num ber o f those m otorist are not
arrested-are powerful evidence that
something else was being said as well.
In fact, Col. W illiam s com m ents
starkly reveal the attitude behind
racial profiling: So w hat if m ost are
law-abiding, stop enough o f them on
suspicion and y o u ’ll catch the few
who are doing som ething wrong.
The new York police departments
own statistics show that in the past
two years, officers o f the city’s elite
(and nearly all white) street crimes unit
stnnned and
and frisked
stopped
frisked 45.084
45,084 people.
people.
M ost were black and Hispanic.
But that action resulted in only
9,546 arrests m eaning those 35,000
people were stopped and frisked on
the streets because these officers
dedicated to keeping the peace.
W e also reject the odious notion
that blacks and Hispanics should be
glad to "trade” a reduction in their ci vil
liberties for the reduction in crim e in
theirneighborhoods. W e'vehadquite
enough o f second-class citizenship.
O ur coalition has m ade as the
drafting o f guidelines for state and
local law dealing with this crisis-such
as the drafting o f guidelines for state
and local law enforcem ent agencies
to help them attack crim e w hile
protecting citizens’ civil liberties.
n ew s
T h e m o rn in g o f o u r nei
conference the President notified us
that he considered the issues ofpolice
misconduct “critical” and would take
action to exam ine it.
Attorney General Janet Reno agreed
to meet with a group o f those who
participated in the news conference
and she also spoke about the gravity o f
the issues o f police brutality at her own
weekly news conference.
These are steps in the right direction.
O f course, they are only a beginning.
Much more needs to be done.
The alarms are sounding. This
issue is going to tear at A m erica’s
social fabric ifclearefforts to guarantee
that law-abiding people o f color need
have no reason to fear the police as
well as criminals are not made.
Let’s Build A Better
University System
Just think: to u r son
is b rig h t, hea lth y
a n d h e a d e d fo r
college one day You
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Letter To The Editor:
A ll Your Protection U n d er
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