January 22, 2003
(Tl|c ^Jortlanh © bseruer
Page A7
Making Mentors and Molding Minds
PCC students
'Gear Up' for
Jefferson kids
instead serves the whole student
body, said P h illip Christian, assis
tant director o f Gear Up.
The college advisors are trained
and given resource materials be
fore they are matched w ith one-to-
10 students.
Jefferson High School students
are getting personal guidance from
college students through an adult
mentoring program.
Portland C om m unity College’s
(ie a r Up Project is providing one-
on-one, adult-to-student mentoring
to help Jefferson kids envision “ a
future o f possibi I ities. one hour per
week and four hours per m onth.”
The college volunteers cover
sueh topies as building good study
habits, searching fo r college schol
arships, career exploration, college
P ilo ro by M a r k VV vshington / T iie P or i land Oust: rv er
choice and financial aid.
Jefferson High School student Munira Amme (from left) is joined by college tutors Oni Auer and
The program is not just for high Phillip Christian, along with classmate Chanesa Jackson in the Portland Community College Gear
achieving or at-risk students, but Up project which gives Jefferson kids one-on-one, adult-to-student mentoring help.
Keeping
All Eyes
on the
Prize
continued
from Front
tation included.
This year. Jefferson has seen its
lowest enrollment ever, and two
fu ll-tim e teachers were lost as a
result o f the transfers.
Some say the odds have been
h is to r ic a lly stacked ag ainst
Jefferson, pointing to a trend o f
students transferring out because
o f the Desegregation A ct in the
70s, gang problems plaguing north
and northeast Portland in the early
90s, and the school’ s reconstitu
tion o f I 998, when 90 percent o f the
s ta ff turned over after they were
asked to reapply for their jobs.
Dashiell, a Lewisand Clark C ol
lege graduate, and former Jefferson
vice-principal, said that he aims to
P iloro
bv
D avid Pi
k i i i ./T iii
P o r t i . a m i O bserver
Jefferson High School Principal Larry D ashiell p oints to a
board th a t shows 971 students In J e ffe rso n 's school
boundary who a tte nd other schools in the P ortland School
District.
get the school o f f the No C hild Left
Behind list, and to bring a sense o f
stability that the students and ad
m inistration have been lacking.
W hile students are fo llo w in g a
stringent new reading curriculum
and stru ctu re d aca de m y-style
schedules, Dashiell's battle plan is
to arm the educators and encour
age parent, mentor and tutor in
volvement.
“ W e’ve been doing a great deal
o f staff development since August,
(including) school-wide math and
literacy training,” he said.
Jefferson is among a group o f
Oregon schools fingered on the
federal "fa ilin g schools" list, mean
ing it failed to meet its state’ s m in i
mum academic standards for two
years in a row.
W hile some critics o f Portland
Public Schools think the building
would better serve the com m unity
as a M eM enam in’s brewery, sup
porters question how abandoning
neighborhood schools w ill solve
the problem.
"You have students who feel that
this is their neighborhood school and
they want to succeed here," Dashiell
said. “ This is the midway story. W e’re
holding tight and working our way
though. W e'll see where we are at the
end o f the year story"
White Teachers Flee Black Schools
Trend in South
called symptom of
re-segregation
(A P ) — Jason Johnston took a
jo b at mostly black M idway Elemen
tary School in Decatur, Georgia in
hopes he eould make a difference
w ith the children who needed him
most.
But Johnston, one o f only a hand
ful o f white teachers at the school,
decided to leave after less than a
year, disillusioned by pupils who
struggled, parents who weren't in
volved and the constant pressure
to meet state achievement stan
dards.
schools even in the Atlanta city
and suburban DcKalb County dis
tricts that were among the state’ s
highest paying.
“ It's discouraging," said study
co-author Ben S cafidi, an assis
tant professor o f economics, pub
lic adm inistration and urban stud
ies. “ A nd the most depressing
part ... is our evidence suggests
that even large wage increases
w o n ’ t h e lp ."
Elise Crisp teaches at DcKalb
C ounty's Avondale High School,
where the student body is nearly
100 percent black. She has been
there for six years and seen other
whiteteachers leave for more a fflu
ent schools, w ith more w hite stu
dents.
She says some are overwhelmed
by the culture shock o f an all-black
school; others just want to work
closer to home.
But John Evans, president o f the
N A A C P in DcKalb County, says
no one should be surprised to see
young white teachers leave for the
suburbs after a year o r two. M any
teachers, especially young women,
are scared o f black neighborhoods
and don’ t want to be there after
dark, he says.
Evans rejects the idea that black
schools can't be successful w ith
out white teachers. I f they don’t
want to be there, then let them go.
he says.
However, there sim ply aren’t
enough black teachers to go around.
O nly 20 percent o f (ieorgia teach
ers are black, but black students
make up 40 percent o f the public
school population.
That means high teacher turn
over at black schools, which hurts
the quality o f instruction, Scafidi
says. Schools that have a lot o f
teaching positions to fill every year
can t be as selective. They also
wind up w ith more inexperienced
teachers.
Schools Transfer Deadline Extended
Portland Public Schools have
extended a transfer process until
March 3 1 forelemcntary and middle
school students wishing to trans
fer to other schools fo r the 2003-04
school year.
School officials said every effort
w ill be made to give families one o f
theirchoices fortransfer, but it may
not be possible dtfe to lim ited space
in certain programs and schools
A lottery w ill be used for families
wanting to enroll in schools and
programs that have more applicants
than space available, replacing the
Conner first come, first served w ait
ing list.
The change in p olicy was made
because o f the uncertainty o f the
income tax measure facing voters
on Jan. 28, school o fficia ls said.
Depending on the outcome, fami
lies w ho might not otherwise have
requested a transfer may wjint to
take advantage o f the process and
should be given the same options
for school choice, o fficia ls said.
New Governor's Budget Cuts Community Colleges
A proposed budget by new ly
elected G ov. Ted K u lo n g o ski
w o uld bring new budget reduc
tions at M t. Hood and other com
m un ity college.
The g o v e r n o r ’ s p ro p o s e d
budget includes a $48 m illio n
I nformation S essions
fo r
Trillium Charter School
A New Portland Public K -12 Charter School
16 at 7.00 p . m .
27 at 7:00 p . m .
T hursday J anuary
M
onday
at
J anuary
116 N. P age S treet
Trillium seeks to create an environm ent of
Independent learning w ith in a small
school, small multi-age class setting.
Learn how our focus of Community,
Urban and Global Studies encourages
cross-age relationships, social awareness and critical
thinking.
Alternatives...Choice... Change
FOR INFORMATION AND APPLICATIONS CALI
(503)285-3833
d o lla r reduction in funding to
O regon com m u nity colleges for
2003-2005.
“ T his is very disap pointin g
news," said Mt. Hood Com m unity
College President Robert Silverman.
"T h is leaves us no choice but to
continue on a path that w ill result
in theelim inationofm ore positions
and further reductions in classes
and programs."
Budget red uctio n e ffo rts at
M H C C have already included a
freeze on h irin g in w h ich over 30
positions have gone u n fille d , the
e lim in atio n o f several a d m in is
trative positions, a salary reduc
tio n taken by adm inistrators, su
pervisors and c o n fid e n tia l per
sonnel, a reduction in class o ffe r
ings and increases in tu itio n .
OR
VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WW W.TRILUUMCHARTERSCHOOL.ORG
I
A F R IC A N A M E R IC A N
M E N ’ S C LU B, IN C .
‘2003 Annual
valentines ^ a l l
Featuring
The Kirk Green Hand
«5»
*
ft,
S°'S° vèr
Friday, F ebruary 14, 2003
9:00 PM - 2:00 AM
The Melody Ballroom
6/5 S£ Alder Street
region's schools have become in
creasingly segregated. And a new
study suggests that the trend is
having a dramatic effect on where
teachers choose to teach
Three Georgia State University
professors found that during the
late '90s w hite elementary school
teachers in (ieorgia were much more
lik e ly to quit at schools w ith higher
proportions o f black students.
Afterthe 1999-2000school year,
31 percent o f white teachers quit
their jobs at schools where the stu
dent population was more than 70
percent black, and those who
changed jobs went to schools that
served lower proportions o f black
and poor pupils.
Johnston is part o f an exodus o f
M any (ieorgia teachers say they
w h ite teachers le a v in g black felt pressured to leave low -perform
schools that some see as a trou ing schools after the state passed
bling symptom o f the re-segrega an education reform law that tied
tion o f the South.
teacher pay to test scores. S till, the
As decades-long court busing study found that white teachers
orders are loosened or lifted, the were leaving predominantly black
Time given to
consider fate of
tax measure
PCC reeei ved a $2.8 m il lion fed
eral grant from the Department o f
I dueation to implement the five -
vear program, which runs until 2005.
f o r more inforniption. contact
the PCC Cascade Campus at 503-
493-0131.
Tickets Available fn m
Cannon'« Rib E,x press 5410 N t JJrd Ave
503/288-3836
Hair Cre iiions 5425 Nfc 30<h Ave 503/281 USS
Any A A M U Member
E Z Nail 28X3110
U red Meyer 11 aatux 224 8499
One Slop Music Inc 284-2435
AAA/C - In the Community For the Community
Proceeds from this event will benefit the AAMC Scholat ship Fund