Page 4
August 31, 2016
Parents Call Rap Music Ban Racist
Portland school
bus policy
under fire
C ervante p ope
t he p ortland o bserver
A memo sent out to Portland
Public Schools bus drivers stipu-
lating that rap music was not ap-
propriate on school buses leaves
parents concerned of an underly-
ing racial bias.
“The stations that are deemed
inappropriate include any reli-
gious, rap music or talk show
programs,” the March 9 memo
from PPS senior director of
transportation Teri Brady reads,
by
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L egaL N otices
leaving only five stations the dis-
trict feels are safe to play while
transporting students.
Of the suitable options, pop
stations 103 FM, 106.7 FM and
97.1 FM were at the top of the
list, followed by country station
98.7 FM and jazz station 89.1
FM.
A copy of the memo was ob-
tained by Colleen Ryan-Onken,
a white parent to a senior at Roo-
sevelt High School, who shared
it with fellow parents that also
shared her outrage.
“I think it’s overtly racist and
leaves out two of our major com-
munities in our music choices,”
Ryan-Onken told the Oregonian.
Ryan-Onken also pointed out
You Can Now Text 911
C ontinued froM p age 3
that someone in need would add
an emoji or smiley face to their
cry for help, Bledsoe says the
possibility is more likely than one
would think.
“There’s a big variety of emoji
keyboards in this day and age and
so sometimes people might, with
language barriers or translation
issues, think that they can trans-
late or give us information where
they might not know the word for
it,” says Bledsoe. “That might be
a situation where someone might
try to use an emoji and try to com-
municate information to us. But it
Fixing the Taps
C ontinued froM f ront
until all school kitchen faucets are deemed safe.
Vegetables like lettuce and brussel sprouts will
come to school kitchens prewashed and essentially
ready to serve, eliminating the need for faucet-run
water.
“We are still evaluating fixtures for lead used for
food preparation, but the number one priority is get-
ting our kitchens back in order,” says Westling.
She also says that PPS is working with a consul-
tant regarding upgrading kitchen pipe systems with
the hopes of having the issue resolved by the next
school year.
Grains and starches, such as rice and mashed
potatoes, will be cooked using a rotation between
vegetable broth, meat broth and outside sourced wa-
ter. Students with religious or dietary restrictions for
food will have vegetarian options made available
daily, according to Westling.
Additional problems regarding the District’s wa-
ter lead levels involve school community gardens,
which is somewhat addressed in a joint statement
released by Portland Public Schools and the Oregon
Health Authority.
“The amount of lead delivered to soil through
water is quite small compared to the amount of lead
how Latin music isn’t even men-
tioned and how certain topics
covered in country songs make
it just as offensive as rap can be.
Portland
Public
Schools
spokeswoman
Courtney
Westling offered a response.
“We regret the way this was
communicated. Our intent is to
limit student exposure to reli-
gious teachings, profanity and
violent lyrics,” said Westling.
“The transportation department
will be revising its guidance to
bus drivers shortly to be more
inclusive of different genres of
music.”
Exactly when this revision
will be happening has not yet
been disclosed.
doesn’t work, unfortunately, yet,
in the 911 sector.”
She reiterates being precise
with messaging and location de-
tails without any multimedia at-
tached because “if someone says
‘help’ or ‘I need help’ and then
sends us an unhappy face, we
won’t even see the ‘I need help.’”
People are encouraged to always
call 911 first (or use relay services
or TTY) whenever possible.
already present at background levels in soil. Other
potential sources, such as lead-based paint chips and
dust, represent a much more significant contributor
to soil lead concentrations,” the statement reads.
“In general, garden plants do not absorb signifi-
cant quantities of lead. However, it is important for
people to wash vegetables and hands after gardening
to reduce possible exposure to lead in soil, which is
the major potential source of lead contamination on
produce.”
PPS is still discouraging use of community gar-
dens due to spigots containing lead that may have
fed water into the gardens. Westling says the District
has no intentions to shut down their near 75 commu-
nity gardens, but that vegetables grown in them will
not be used in school kitchens.
Vegetables from schools’ community gardens
will not be used again until untainted cold water fix-
tures can be secured to safely wash garden produce.
PPS plans to continue updating concerned parents
and the general public through videos, newsletters
and posted signage like they have already exercised
since the lead issue became such a hot topic.
Communication on the topic is available in En-
glish, Somali, Vietnamese, Russian, Chinese and
Spanish, though Westling says interpretation is
available for additional languages as well.
“We’re really trying to hit people from all angles
with communication since not everyone receives in-
formation in the same way,” Westling says.
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