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' J î o r t l a n h O O b s e r U e r __________________________________ December 18,2002
S ports / metro
Board Chops
Spring Sports
Damon Stoudamire donation helps
but more fundraising is needed
by W ynde
D yer
T he P ortland O bserver
A generous gift of$250,000 from Port
land Trail Blazer Damon Stoudamire may
not be enough to save spring sports at
Portland Public Schools if the Portland
Interscholastic League cannot raise an
other $300,000.
W ith the exception o f A frican A m eri
can school board m em ber Derry Jack-
son, all m em bers o f the Portland Public
School present on T hursday night voted
to support $2.4 m illion in budget cuts
o u tlin e d by S u p e r in te n d e n t Jim
Scherzinger.
“ I d o n ’t alw ays agree with
D erry,” said M onica Dixon, the
m o th e r o f a B en so n H igh
School Senior. “ But I alw ays
respect him because he will lis
ten. The others, they a re n ’t
even trying to listen.”
O n M o n d a y , D ec. 9 all
sch o o l b o ard m em b ers but
Jackson w alked out o f a m eet
ing w hen the p u b lic began booing a
pro p o sal. So T h u rsd a y ’s special m eet
ing w ith 45 m inutes o f public com m en
tary g av e stu d e n ts, p a re n ts, teach ers
and co n c e rn e d co m m u n ity m em bers a
glim p se o f hope.
But in the end, left on the chopping
board, along with spring sports funding
was the O utdoor School, a w ilderness
science program for sixth graders, two-
top level adm inistrative jo b s, 20 other
jo b s and a round o f early retirem ents.
“ In all my years 1 never though I’d see
this happen,” said Y vonne Shaw, w h o ’s
daughter O ris is on the state cham pion
Harrington
‘Fine’
After
Irregular
H eartbeat
track team at Benson. “ W hen a state
suffers budget cuts the schools are the
first things to go. The students, who
should be the future, should be the last
to su ffer.”
Shaw said she put her faith back in the
pub lic school system and took her
daughter out o f private school in fourth
grade. It was a big fam ily decision, she
said, and now they are w ondering if it
w as the w rong one.
O ris, a junior, suffered a stress frac
ture in her leg last year and could not
com pete in track and field. She hoped
this season w ould be her com e back
Danny Van Voorhis, a junior at Franklin High School, wears a sign on his back thanking Portland native and NBA guard
Damon Stoudamire for his $250,000 donation to keep spring sports funding.
I c a n ’t think o f any reasons to go to
Portland Public Schools right now .”
H arrison’s daughter, C am elle Taylor,
now a freshm an on scholarship at PSU
w ho took fifth in sta te fo r sp rin tin g
w h ile at Je ffe rso n , said sp o rts are
so m etim es the o n ly c h an ce low -in-
—Yvonne Shaw, parent of a
com e stu d e n ts have to m ake it fin a n
Benson High School junior
c ia lly in c o lleg e. She said not e v e ry
body can get sc h o la rsh ip s for a ca
d em ics alone and she fears the e lim i
year.
“ It hurts,” O ris said. “ I was hoping I n atio n o f sp rin g sp o rts w ill have a
n e g a tiv e im pact on w o m e n ’s a th le tic
was going to get a scholarship.”
Som e p a re n ts w ho d o n ’t have the involvem ent.
“ W om en already d o n ’t play m any
o p tio n o f sen d in g th e ir c h ild re n to
p riv a te school said sp o rts are the only sports,” T aylor said. “ H alf o f the sports
w ay th e ir kids w ill be able to afford they do play are in the spring.”
W hen Karis Stoudam ire presented her
co lleg e.
“ M y c h ild w o u ld n ’t be at P ortland c o u sin ’s pledge to the board she asked
State U niversity rig h t now if it w e re n ’t them to take notice o f the role sports
fo r s p r in g s p o r t s ,” s a id R o n n y e have played in the success o f so m any
H arriso n , an elem e n ta ry school m usic athletes.
“ D am on w o u ld n ’t be w here he is to
te a c h e r and the fa th e r o f a Je ffe rso n
H igh S chool g rad u ate. “T h e y ’v e a l day w ithout sports,” she said. "W tteil I
read y cut m usic - now they cut sp o rts? told him w hat was going on he said,
* W hat if they had cut w inter sports when
I w as in high school?” ’
(AP) — Lions rookie quarterback and former Central Catho-
The board graciously accepted the
lic standout Joey Harrington will miss the rest o f the season
pledge and thanked the Stoudam ire fam
because o f an irregular heartbeat.
ily for providing what chairw om an Karla
Harrington, the No. 3 overall draft pick out o f Oregon, left
W enzel called “a catalyst for students to
Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay with the heart problem
see their dream s take shape.”
and was taken to the hospital for tests and observation.
Som e are optim istic that schools will
Doctors said Harrington’s heartbeat returned to a normal
be able to raise the additional $300,000
rhythm before he was hospitalized. Lions coach Marty
to keep spring sports, but the future for
Momhinweg said the ailment is not career-threatening.
O utdoor School looks bleak.
PHOTOS BY W V N D E
D y ER/T h E PORTLAND OBSERVER
In all my years I
never though I ’d
see this happen.
Jefferson High School graduate Camel le Taylor and her father Ronnye Harrison
listen to public comment Thursday at a Portland Public School Board meeting
that cut spring sports. Taylor said she would not have received a scholarship
to Portland State University if she had not played spring sports.
U nless donors can raise m ore than
$400,000 in outside funding. O utdoor
School will end in the spring.
Several O utdoor School youth coun
selors stressed the im portance o f the
program for its ability to teach sixth
graders to get to know nature along with
other students o f different races, reli
gions and lifestyles.
Form er O utdoor School staff m em ber •
B riggie Thom as said she m oved to Port
land 10 years ago because Portland was
a city that cared about natural diversity
and hum an diversity.
“All o f these things that Portland cares
about are w hat kids learn, in this pro
gram ,” Briggie said. “ Please save O ut
door School.”
P eninsula L ittle L eague
The power to
quit smoking
is within
your reach.
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