W omen 's
PagcA2
March 19. 2008
H I S K )I< Y
photos by R aymond R endleman /T he
Adriana Lopez-Garcia, a Catholic Charities gang-prevention case manager,
encourages Rose Murdock's fifth graders to think about the future.
Students at King Elementary School In northeast Portland listen to the experiences o f Ricardo Lopez, who works to
prevent gangs through Catholic Charities.
Mentors Break the Mold
R aymond R indleman
T iil P ortland O bserver
bv
Many schools across town have been
making an extra effort lately to attract roll
models that would help students over­
come odds.
The endeavors come as leaders local ly
and nationally have recognized the sig­
nificance of kids relating with adults of
similar backgrounds. Most of these pro­
grams happen through a volunteer effort
that garners no direct financial assistance.
Take a classroom at King Elementary
School in northeast Portland that is ap­
proximately half African-American and half
Latino students, for instance. Rose
M urdock' s 21 ftIth graders welcome regu­
lar visits from people working in the com­
munity, and the after-school volunteer
chess teacher organizes the experiences
through his passion for holistic educa­
tion.
“It’s important that they talk to some­
one who looks like them and who’s been
to college," says Ron Popkin, who makes
furniture in southwest Portland when he’s
not playing chess. "W e’re trying to get
Students gain inspiration
them to see that their skin color is not a
barrier to achieving anything they want in
life.”
Having filled her life with counseling,
paper grading and lesson planning,
Murdock appreciates some help from the
outside tocoordinate the hour-long weekly
visits.
"The kids need exposure to the differ­
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I
High workload levels, limited resources
and a demoralized workforce negatively
affect Portland Public Schools’ ability to
perform effective and efficient building
maintenance, according to new audit.
The study found that budget cuts in the
maintenance program, coupled with the
failure to adjust to a changed funding and
staffing environment, have hampered the
effectivenessof the maintenance program.
However, the audit also noted “rea­
sons for optimism” in recent reforms in
maintenance management and called for
additional improvements including priori­
tizing maintenance tasks; increasing work
performed by generalists rather than spe­
cialist tradesmen and creating a labor-
management committee to build a more
cooperative relationship.
SuperintendentCarole Smith wrote that
budget cuts over many years had forced
the district to choose between maintain­
ing teaching staff and maintaining build­
ings, and conceded that Portland Public
Schools has not spent enough to maintain
buildings - let alone replace failing build­
ing systems.
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MEDFORD
Rogue Valley Mall
Near JCPenney
541 808-2078
ent things that are out there," she says. "I
try to bring in all the people and activities
that I would have liked to have had.”
On a recent afternoon, three employees
from Catholic Charities’ Latino Services
stopped by as part of their work prevent­
ing gangs. Gangs weren ’ t the main topic of
conversation, however. The focus stayed
on how education broadens the possibili­
ties for comfortable lifestyles.
One of the speakers, Ricardo Lopez,
used the dry-erase board to calculate the
shortfall a typical worker with a high­
school degree would experience while try­
ing to pay for food, transportation, rent
and healthcare. Later in the visit, Gang
Outreach Specialist Temo Bautista asked
students to raise their hands if they were
planning to go to college. Not one student
kept both hands down.
Bautista then pointed to a “ 10 ways to
be a good student” poster on the class­
room wall, and said, “They’re providing all
the basic information and guidelines you’ll
need throughout life.” The mandates to
have materials organized and come to
school every day translate into punctual­
ity and planning required for working, he
explained.
Lopez, who identifies as half-black,
spoke to the Portland Observer before­
hand about how kids from gang-affected
neighborhoods already know about sub­
jects that constitute their life drama. He
spoke to the class about concentrating on
education and sports while he was grow­
ing up in East Los Angeles.
“Yeah, I get a check for what 1 do, but
the bigger check is knowing that 1 help
people," he told them.
Buildings Neglected
Let’s Talk Community.
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Valley River Center
Near Food Court
541-485-1859
P ortland O bserver
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