May 3, 2017
Page 5
Healing Our Schools
c ontinued from f ront
Munson is running for the seat
representing Zone 4, which in-
cludes all of north and parts of
northeast Portland. While the can-
didates for each seat must reside
within their respective zone, the
voting is school district-wide.
Bringing more equity to stu-
dents of color is another import-
ant plank of Munson’s platform.
Munson said her own experiences
within PPS opened her eyes to the
disparities present in Portland’s
educational system.
“There was a lot of separation
in terms of the demographics of
who was in honors classes and
who was in regular classes,” Mun-
son said of her time at Grant High
School. “Predominantly, the kids
who were in the more advanced
classes were white.”
Bridging that gap has been one
of the motivating factors through-
out Munson’s candidacy. Munson
says that since Portland’s teaching
population is not representative of
the diversity present in the class-
room, it’s important for schools to
develop strong partnerships with
community organizations.
“Our teaching population is not
reflective of our students,” Mun-
son explained. “Until we can get
to a place where we can increase
and diversify our teaching popula-
tion, we will benefit from having
community partnerships. It brings
additional role models into the
building.”
Munson’s campaign is the re-
cipient of an abundance of en-
dorsements from groups such as
the Asian Pacific American Net-
work of Oregon, and prominent
local officials, including Portland
Mayor Ted Wheeler and former
Oregon State Sen. Avel Gordly
from Portland’s African American
community.
In spite of the prevalent com-
munity support, Munson’s cam-
paign faces opposition from the
Portland Association of Teachers,
the union of educators. The union
cites Monson’s past work with
charter schools as cause for con-
cern, and has endorsed her oppo-
nent in the race, education advo-
cate Rita Moore.
Munson says that she is sympa-
thetic to the criticism surrounding
public charter schools. While she
describes charter schools as in-
novative, she says that we must
temper their development with
an evaluation of whether conven-
tional public schools are being left
behind.
“I think we have to be very
careful about the way that we
open up charter schools,” she
explained. “It is important that
charter schools still continue
to be monitored by the school
board… They should still be ac-
countable, and they should still
be public.”
Munson says that she’s hoping
to help PPS heal and redevelop af-
ter the district’s difficult past year.
She wants to develop stronger
community partnerships within
the school system, and offer more
equitable education to Portland’s
children.
“My vision,” Munson said, “is
to have strong community schools
that are accountable to excellent
outcomes, and that are really
grounded in our neighborhoods.”
Running for School District Change
Parent activist
places blame on
governance
c hriSta m c i ntyre
t he p ortland o bServer
Portland Public Schools suffer
from a chaotic and dysfunctional
system of governance according
to Rita Moore, a long time volun-
teer, parent advocate and school
activist who is running for school
board from Zone 4, representing
north and northeast Portland.
Moore takes issues with current
and past school board members
who have supported her opponent
in the election contest, Jamila Sin-
gleton Munson, a former teacher
and principal and native Port-
lander from the African American
community.
“The board needs to be paying
attention and they haven’t been. If
you look at who’s endorsed Jami-
la, you think she’s going to be the
candidate to bring change? She
has 4 current school board mem-
bers endorsing her. These are the
very people who brought PPS into
the sorry state it’s in now,” Moore
said in an interview with the Port-
land Observer.
Last year’s lead- in-school-
water crisis peeled back a scab
on the internal problems plagu-
ing the school district and helped
force former superintendent Car-
ol Smith into retirement. Many
problems which Portland Public
Schools face are shared across the
by
nation. Older buildings with crum-
bling plaster, cracks in walls and
holes in ceilings and restrooms
that aren’t working.
Newer concerns are homeless
children being able to complete
grades with the additional stress
of unstable shelter and food.
Long term concerns in the Afri-
can-American community include
the lack of teachers and principals
of color.
Moore says the over disciplin-
ing of students of color and cultur-
al sensitivity are still challenges
which families face.
photo by c hriSta m c i ntyre /
“We as a district need to do a
t he p ortland o bServer
much
better job of listening to
Rita Moore, a school activist,
real
people
about real issues. We
single mom and former college
professor is running for the
c ontinued on p age 15
Portland School Board.