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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 2010)
August 18, 2010 171,1 JJortlanì» (Dbscruer IN S ID E The Week Review This page Sponsored by: Fred Meyer What's on your list today?, page 2 t D iversity pages 4-7 page 8 School Administrator Assigned Two Jobs Jefferson will start year with interim principal by J ake T homas C lassifieds pages 14-15 A L IV I O pinion pages 16-17 COMSHWAWt KtCMiNQt ! I /'"Six MS •<&. •/ *,<. ■ ' H ealth pages 18-19 Page 3 I P ortland O bserver Portland Public Schools Superintendent Carole Sm ith an n o u n ced on Friday that Toni H unter, deputy su p erin ten d en t for the district, w ould rem ain interim principal at Jefferson H igh School for the co m in g acad em ic year, w hich w ill likely be a pivotal tim e for the north P ortland school. In M ay, H u n ter w as ap p o in ted tem p o rary p rincipal o f Jefferso n after a ro u tin e audit o f the sc h o o l’s finances rev ealed q u estio n ab le fin an cial practices. T he au d it su g g ested that they w ere due to lax m an ag em en t at the school. C ynthia H arris, the sc h o o l’s p rin cip al, and Reis W ilbank, the sc h o o l’s b u sin ess m anager, w ere placed on ad m in istrativ e leave shortly after the audit w as released. T he audit found that d o n atio n s w ere im p ro p erly placed in the p rin c ip a l’s account, reim b u rse m ents lacked p ro p er d o cu m en tatio n , in d ep en den t c o n tracto rs w ere paid befo re co n tracts w ere w ritten, and a n u m b er o f acco u n ts w ere running deficits, am o n g o th er problem s. H arris, w ho b ecam e p rin cip al o f Jefferso n in 2007, is cu rren tly u n d er in v estig atio n by the district. N o co n clu siv e fin d in g s have been re leased. W ilbank w as laid off. W hile serving as principal o f Jefferson, H unter w ill retain h er duties as dep u ty superin ten d en t, w hich include supervising schools in the Lincoln, F ranklin and Jefferso n clusters. She w ill also co n tin u e to p lay a key role in the district by helping m ake d ecisio n s reg ard in g the budget, and will co n tin u e to serv e on the su p e rin te n d e n t’s e x ecu tive co m m ittee and acad em ic cabinet. “ A s a lo n g -tim e p rin c ip a l, I am e x c ite d to be b a ck o n th e g ro u n d w o rk in g w ith e d u c a to rs an d stu d e n ts in a h ig h sc h o o l. I lo o k fo rw a rd to h e lp in g J e ffe rs o n c o n tin u e to b u ild o n th e s u c c e ss e s w e ’v e se e n in th e p a st tw o y e a r s ,’’ sa id H u n te r, w h o se rv e d as p rin c ip a l o f G ra n t H ig h S c h o o l fro m 19 9 7 to 2 0 0 7 , in a p re p a re d s ta te m en t. T he co m in g acad em ic y e a r w ill likely be critical for Jefferson. T he district is cu rren tly in the m idst o f a stalled red esig n o f its high school sy stem that w ould co n so lid ate the n u m b er o fh ig h schools in an effo rt to m ore eq u itab ly d istrib u te reso u rces to students. T he su p e rin te n d en t’s red esig n plan called for clo sin g M arshall H igh S chool in so u th east P o rt land and reopening it as a m agnet, w h ile d rastically shrinking Benson Polytechnic H igh School in north east Portland. • S upporters o f Jefferso n , the sta te ’s only m ajo r ity black high school, p raised h er plan b ecau se it w ould have b o o sted a tten d an ce and fu nding at the school, w hich stru g g les to m eet acad em ic sta n d ards. H ow ever, several school b o ard m em b ers sig n aled th at th ey felt that th ere ju s t w e re n ’t en o ug h reso u rces in the district to keep Jefferso n o p en as a n eig h b o rh o o d school, and su g g ested reo p en in g it as a sm aller m ag n et school. T he b o ard co u ld m ak e a d ecisio n on Je ffe rso n ’s fate this S eptem ber. Cox & Cox Property Sold c o n t i n u e d f r o m front pages 20-21 & : t 1 IS U 0 * PR * 5 * • ' • i * •Ax F o o d page 24 “They look nice, very tradi tional craftsman style,” Warwick to ld the P o rtlan d O b serv e r. “T hey’re much better than what w e’ve been seeing. W e’ll need to see how this progresses, but it looks good so far.” Bluestone will seek to meet the C ity ’s Com m unity Design Standards, which would spare them from any sort o f a design review process in E lio t’s His toric Conservation District. “ W e’ve been in business for 13 years, and w e’ve done a lot o f d e v e lo p m e n t in P o r t l a n d ,” Kassebaum said. “We try to pro vide a product th a t’s equal or better than its surroundings, and that respects the historic style o f older neighborhoods.” Neither Kassebaum nor Partain would com m ent on financing for the project. Both said that Blue- stone is spending a fair am ount o f m oney on design and the subdivi sion process, and is confident that they can obtain financing fo r c o n s tru c tio n . H o w e v e r, the p ro je c t is not lik e ly to break ground this year, Partain said. Regarding the funeral home building, the form er location o f lo n g -tim e A fric a n -A m e ric a n business, K assebaum says he expects it will be used for “som e thing advantageous to the com munity, either commercial or resi d en tial.”
