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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 20, 2016)
School Superintendent Leaving Local Theater Director Profiled Kevin Jones writes about police incident QR code for Portland Observer Online Carole Smith packing up after lead crisis report See story, page 3 See Local News, page 3 ‘City of Roses’ Volume XLV Number 29 www.portlandobserver.com Wednesday • July 20, 2016 Established in 1970 Committed to Cultural Diversity Photo Courtesy n aim h asan PhotograPhy Albina Head Start staff members Valerie Thomas and Evelyn Lopez join hands with their preschool kids and long time Portland education advocate Serena Stoudamire Wesley (center) during a special visit earlier this year. The most diverse Head Start staff in Oregon is poised to be on the losing end of a new state law that penalizes early education providers that hire parents and people of color with practical experience over new employees with college degrees. Preschool Promise Conflict New requirements fail kids of color, advocates say C ervante P oPe t he P ortland o bserver Early education serves as an important avenue for a child’s transition into their future formative years, but recently imple- mented legislation could negatively impact some of these children culturally. A shift in requirements rolled in by the Oregon Preschool Promise demands a Bachelor of Arts degree from present and future early development educators, by which could potentially hinder the needed educational relationship between minority students and their culturally experienced preschool instructors. Part of the legislation, which passed in December, is beneficial. The Oregon Department of Education’s Early Learn- ing Division seeks to award a handful of early learning facilities with funded con- tracts that would expand preschool options across the state. But the attempt to increase the quality of instructors in the process risks isolating kids of color, especially at Albina Head Start, the most diverse Head Start staff in Oregon, a program with a de- cade of flawless federal reviews and annual local audits. According to longtime backers of the organization, the legislation devalues the experience of well-trained instructors who have deep cultural knowledge and par- enting experience to create good learning conditions for some of our most vulnerable children. Kali Ladd, executive director for the KairosPDX Early Learning network, says the problem with Oregon Promise is that there are “unintended consequences.” Kai- rosPDX is a non-profit organization that tackles some of the consequences of Port- land’s low minority graduation rates and educational inequity. The group provides culturally compe- tent consulting and services to current in- home providers and families, friends and neighbors who serve under-represented youth including low-income youth and youth of color. KairosPDX has been in place in Port- land for years, including Albina Head Start, whose instructors risk being negatively af- fected by the Preschool Promise decree. “In my 40 plus years with Head Start, I have seen absolutely no connection be- tween a BA and a good teacher,” says Ron Herndon, the director of Albina Head Start. “This is not about professionalizing; we don’t need this veneer of respectability placed upon us by people on the outside that feel this is going to help.” According to Herndon, Albina Head Start has the most diverse demographics C ontinued on P age 15
