February 24, 2010
The Portland Observer Black Histoiy Month
Page 23
PORTLAND S.D.
photo by J ake
T homas /T he P ortland O bserver
Ernest Hartzog, a former Portland Public Schools assistant superintendent who was involved in efforts to desegregate schools, stands next to a bus outside o f
Humboldt Elementary in northeast Portland.
A Campaign for Equity in School
continued ^ ^ J'rom Front
minority children being stuck in
underperforming inner-city schools
and called the problem “a cultural
and racial disservice to the entire
community.”
At the time, most o f Portland’s
black population was concentrated
in north and northeast portions of
the city, particularly the Albina com
munity, and the schools serving
that population didn ’t have the same
resources as their more affluent
suburban counterparts.
After coming underpressure, the
school district turned its focus to
improving the quality o f education
in inner-city schools -- transform
ing some into magnets- while taking
steps to encourage racial integra
tion district wide.
Ernest Hartzog, who served as
PPS assistant superintendent, over
saw the district’s early efforts to
bring more diversity and equity to
schools in the 1970s.
"It was doomed to failure," said
Hartzog bluntly of the district’s ef
fort.
According to Hartzog, the prob
lem with the district’s plan to inte
grate schools was that it depended
on parents voluntarily busing their
children across town.
Many white parents were reluc
tant to send their children to the
inner city, leaving the burden to fall
largely on black families.
"It was a one way situation," he
said.
There were other problems asso
ciated with the efforts, as educators
and administrators struggled to deal
with an influx o f students from a
different part o f town, said Hartzog.
Hartzog recalls a tense atmo
sphere, "loaded with emotions."
Fights broke out at sporting events.
Black parents complained that their
children were being unfairly treated.
There were threats o f lawsuits and
actual lawsuits. Hartzog remembers
a police officers being stationed in
schools, which he described as a
welcome presence.
Black parents were also rankled
by district plan to keep students
from the Boise Neighborhood from
transferrin g to Jefferson High
School, and the Black United Fund
raised a ruckus at school board
meetings, with organizers jumping
on tables, because o f the dispropor
tionate burden on African Ameri
can families.
By 1980, Hartzog had stepped
down from his position, as PPS
passed a series o f resolutions that
tried to monitor it better, make the
burden more equitable, and placed
it under the direct control o f Super
intendent Matthew Prophet.
During the 1980s, the district gave
additional money and teachers to
schools with concentrations o f mi
norities and established magnet
programs in them. It then made it
easier for students to transfer, and
assumed that integration would
happen by choice.
The district’s efforts had some
success. In 1966 there were only 3 88
transfers. In 1980, there were 4 ,9 6 1,
according to PPS records.
But schools seem to have gravi
tated back to being divided along
racial lines, with minorities concen
trated in certain schools. For in
stance, Jefferson High School is 57
percent black.
PPS is currently in the midst o f an
ambitious redesign o f its high school
system that seeks to make course
offerings at each high school more
equitable and close the achieve
ment gap. The plan will severely
limit transfers, requiring students to
attend their neighborhood school.
Carole Smith, PPS superinten
dent, said that restricting transfers
will bolster diversity throughout
schools.
“I would not call what w e’re do
ing desegregation,” stressed Smith,
who once worked on efforts to inte
grate Boston public schools in the
1980s. She added that mixing stu
dents from different ethnic and so
cial backgrounds improves success
across the board, which she hopes
to do with the redesign.
In 2007, the Supreme Court is
sued a ruling prohibiting school
from using race as a factor in schoo
choice, essentially ending manda
tory busing programs in other part:
o f the country.
But busing might not be the bes
way to achieve parity and diversity
“It does come down to relation
ships,” said Smith, who explained
that moving people around town
will make little difference if students
don’t feel welcome and part o f the
community their attending school
in.
Hartzog adds that it means little if
schools are the only place that are
integrated.
"If you don't have racial equal
ity and parity in the work place,
and the church place, and neigh
borhoods, why should we think it
works in the school place? W hat
happens is people m irror and re
flect what they learn in segregated
living," he said.
"The jury is still out on what the
best way to do this is," he added.