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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 19, 2010)
May 19. 2010 a'*!‘’ ^Lìortlanò (Observer This page Sponsored by: The Week LWS 7 1 N Coalition Keeps Pressure On page 4-5 Advocating for police reforms H ealth page 6-8 ì i h a b ■ What's on your list today? page A2 1 I I / V Jgf I ■ ■, Page 3 i t H e le n s page 10 loyce Washi ngton Classic Hi page i l The Albina Ministerial Alliance, a coalition o f several faith and com munity organizations, reacted Mon day to several significant develop ments with the Portland Police Bu reau. Last week, a traffic stop in north east Portland ended with a man dead and an officer wounded. The inci dent has raised more questions about how the police handle en counters with the mentally ill, with questions lingering about the exact circumstances o f the event. The city also settled a protracted lawsuit brought against it from the family o f James Chasse, a schizophrenic man who died while in police custody. Mayor Sam Adams appointed a new police chiefafter a public falling out with now former C hief Rosie Sizer. Speaking to reporters at the Allen Temple in northeast Portland, Rev. Leroy Haynes, vice president o f the AMA, said that his group was re joicing with the Chasse family, which settled the suit for a record $1.6 million, bringing to a close a three year battle that has scandal ized the city. Haynes said that the develop- f?ev. Leroy Haynes, vice president of the Albina Ministerial Alliance, calls police to task for another shooting of an African American man during a traffic stop. ment did not carry the same force as if the family had won the lawsuit in court, but did send a clear message to the city. He also noted that the AMA was looking forward to the release o f internal documents kept secret for three years while the city grappled with the suit. continued on page 22 Benson-Jeff Merger Draws Fire New option gets thumbs down page 12-15 C lassifieds page 17 ? O pinion B l page 18-19 F ood page 24 The Jefferson High School com munity had a clear message Mon day for school board members and Superintendent Carole Smith: Don’t tinker with the high school redesign proposal anymore. On Saturday, the school board asked district officials to consider a new option on Sm ith’s controver sial plan to reduce the number o f high schools, including a sugges tion by Board M em ber Martin Gonzalez to transfer Benson High School’s vocational-technical pro grams into Jefferson High School. Sm ith’s original plan called for turning Marshal, High School in southeast Portland into a focus school, making Benson Polytech nic School into a part-time program open district-wide to junior and se- n io r stu d e n ts, and b o o stin g Jefferson’s place in the community as a comprehensive neighborhood school. Tony Hopson, the head o f Self Enhancement, Inc., a public charter school serving students o f color in northeast Portland, which spon sored the Monday night forum, told Smith and several school board members, that Jefferson had been systematically stripped o f resources and set up for failure for decades under a number o f proposals from the district. He suggested that further revi sions to Jefferson were on the table because the school was perceived as the path o f least resistance. “The district has systematically raped Jefferson over the past 40 y e a r s ,” said an im p a ssio n e d Hopson, who drew wild applause from the packed room. Interestingly, most people who spoke at the forum supported Sm ith’s proposal, which would re quire students to attend their neigh borhood schools, bringing in more funding and equal course offerings to sch o o ls like Jefferso n and Roosevelt. “That’s what this proposal does, is it allows us to grow the good things at Jefferson,” said Andy Kulak, a teacher at Jefferson. “I speak in support o f this proposal, and 1 ask the board, please don’t walk away from this proposal.” O thers noted that Jefferson, which some consider to have a bad reputation, has a strong sense o f community, and a lot going for it that people don’t recognize. A Beaverton woman said that she considered herself part o f the Jefferson community and was al ways impressed with the sense o f continued on page 22
