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Volume XXXX, Number 41
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • October 27, 2010
Caring
fo r
Women
Veterans benefit
from new clinic
M elissa C havez
T he P ortland O bserver
by
Female veterans from the coast to Bend, and from
south of Salem up to Vancouver, now have access to
vital medical services that are programmed specifically
for their needs thanks to a new Center for Women
Veterans Health at the Portland VA Hospital.
With women accounting for 20 percent of current
military enlistees — up from 9 percent who served in
Desert Storm during the early 1990s — the new health
center is expected to meet an increasing demand for
continued
on page 6
photo by
M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
U.S. Marine Corp veteran Kim Wilkie (left) and Women Veterans Program Manager Nancy Sloan welcome
patients to the new Center for Women Veterans Health at the Portland VA Hospital.
PPS Board OKs STARBASE contract
Program offers hands-on math, science teaching
The Portland Public Schools Board o f Education on
Monday voted 4-2 in favor o f renewing a contract for
STARBASE, a 25-hour educational program funded
out o f the Department o f Defense recruitment budget.
The STARBASE program sends fourth and fifth
graders to a week-long science camp on a local military
base. Portland Public Schools has participated in
STARBASE since 1993.
This 2-year, $300,000-revenue contract between the
school district and the DOD drew much attention
district-wide, as it is usually a 1-year alliance, and
comes before the board in spring, not fall. A growing
number o f Portland parents and community members
strongly oppose the program because it is funded out
o f the U.S. military's recruitment budget and takes
place at a military facility.
The STARBASE program has repeatedly been a
hot-button issue for the school board, drawing dozens
o f people wanting to comment on it, and hundreds
protesting it whenever it comes up for renewal. Mon
day was no different.
Former and current teachers - both at the base and
at PPS - praised the program’s ability to demonstrate
to students a real-world application o f math and sci
ence, taking it beyond classroom theory.
Andrew Jaquiss, a North Portland elementary school
teacher, called STARBASE “the best field trip o f my
life.”
continued
ARMED FORCES
on page 4
Special Edition
Students from
Harvey Scott
Elementary School
get a demonstra
tion of a bomb-
detonating robot,
at STARBASE, a
Department of
Defense-funded
program that
teaches kids about
math, science, and
engineering. Photo
courtesy of
Starbase.