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
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H ealth
pages 18-19
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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
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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.”