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Good with MLK
and Alberta
You and Your
Racist Brain:
'Natural Grocers' to
construct store on vacant site
'Science on Tap'
to explore the neuro
science o f prejudice
See Local News, page 3
See Metro, page 9
Volum e X L IV
'City 0/Roses’
D
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Number 35
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4
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www.p
ww w.portlandobserver.com
wedne
Wednesday
• September 3, 2014
Established in 1970
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i -r
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Committed to Cultural Diversity •/community service
D onovan M. S mith /T he P ortland O bserver
Rosa Parks Elementary Pnncipal Tamala Newsome (left) and assistant principal Reiko Williams pose outside of the north Portland school where students parents and
administration alike are piloting a year round calendar meant in part to offset some o f the ‘learning loss ' that traditionally comes with months of summer vacation.
Schoolgets a
Jump Start
D onovan M. S mith
T he P ortland O bserver
by
The end o f the L abor Day w eekend m eant that Tuesday
was first day o f school for m ost children in Portland but
not at Rosa Parks Elem entary.
Classes have been in full swing for 400 pupils of the
north Portland school where a pilot “Year Round Bal
anced C alendar’’ began in July. Instead o f long sum m er
As kids return to the
classroom, Rosa Parks
already in full swing
vacations o f the past, Rosa Parks’s students will con
tinue on a year-long schedule that puts them in the
classroom for 9 week segm ents sandwiched with 3 week
long breaks.
The Portland O bserver sat down with Rosa Parks
Principal Tam ala Newsome and Assistant Principal Reiko
W illiam s to discuss how the new program m ing is going
so far.
Past the normal anxiety that usually com es with start
ing som ething new, Newsome says that since kicking off
their unique school year, students, staff and parents alike
have adjusted well.
“We can already see the positive effects moving to a year-
round balance calendar are having on our students,” she
continued
on page 4