August 16, 2017
EDUCATIONCAREERS Special Edition
Page 9
Showdogs is a full service salon. We do baths,
M ark W ashington /t he p ortland o bserver
Faubion School Principal Jen McCalley and Concordia Dean of Education Sheryl Reinisch share one
of the many spaces inside the new school which fosters and celebrates diversity and community.
photo by
‘From 3 to PhD’
c ontinued froM f ront
students will be interacting with
Faubion students on a daily basis.
Retired PPS leader Dr. Harriet
Adair, a prominent advocate for
the importance of early learning
from Portland’s African Ameri-
can community, played an instru-
mental role in bringing Faubion’s
holistic educational approach to
fruition.
“It really does take a village to
raise a child, and this is that saying
in action,” she told the Portland
Observer, in describing the new
Faubion in a recent interview.
To bring an all-encompass-
ing educational atmosphere to
the school, PPS worked exten-
sively with community partners
to supply a wide range of vital
wraparound services. Students
at Faubion will have access to a
health clinic operated by Kaiser
Permanente, a food club creat-
ed in partnership with organic
grocery store Basics and mental
health care provided by Trillium
Family Services.
“We even have partnerships
with different community organi-
zations that are going to be teach-
ing nutritious cooking for our kids
and families that are interested,”
McCalley said.
She adds that the school empha-
sizes the importance of diversity,
and is actively working to have
minorities represented throughout
the school’s teaching and adminis-
trative positions.
“The thing I’m most proud of
at Faubion is actually the diversi-
ty of not only our students but our
staff,” said McCalley. “We come
from a very diverse part of Port-
land that has historically been an
African American community.
With gentrification, that could be
something that is shifting, but it’s
not.”
Throughout the process of re-
imagining Faubion School, Mc-
Calley says that a tremendous
amount of community input was
weighed and considered. She says
that voices from the community
shaped the new institution into
what it is today.
“It’s a community driven proj-
ect,” she explained. “I could point
to the parent in our school whose
idea it was to have the food club.”
Other aspects of the new
school’s design and program-
ming were also inspired by the
29 parent meetings that PPS host-
ed throughout Faubion’s design
phase.
“The families have such a deep
involvement in the design of the
school,” said McCalley. “The
health clinic was something fam-
ilies asked for.”
Even the school’s students
played a role in the building’s fi-
nal outcome.
“All 500 students hand wrote
letters to the architects about
what they wanted,” McCalley
said. “We were actually able to
implement quite a bit of what
they wanted. We did a lot of ar-
chitectural features to make the
building feel welcoming, and
safe and inviting.”
Preserving Faubion School’s
generational nature has been an-
other important part of the insti-
tution’s rebuilding process, Mc-
Calley says.
“Grandparents, parents and
kids go through this school,” said
McCalley. “It’s that kind of a leg-
acy that instills such a deep sense
of pride within the community in
a local school.”
By recycling parts of the old
Faubion School into the new
building, McCalley says that PPS
has been able to preserve genera-
tional continuity for the school’s
alumni and their children.
“We had a non-native sequoia
tree on campus that had to come
down,” said McCalley, “but in-
stead of getting rid of it, we had
it manufactured into benches and
tables.”
She adds that by incorporating
community voices and involve-
ment throughout the design and
construction process, Faubion
is a school that everyone in the
community can be proud of.
“We want this school to be the
heartbeat of the community, and
that’s something that we’re really
proud of,” McCalley said. “It’s a
huge source of pride for our fami-
lies and for our communities.”
all over hair cuts, tooth brushing, nail trims, soft
claws, flea treatments, mud baths, and ear clean-
ing. We also have health care and grooming prod-
ucts to keep your pet clean in between visits.
Show Dogs Grooming Salon & Boutique
926 N. Lombard
Portland, OR 97217
503-283-1177
Tuesday-Saturday 9am-7pm
Monday 10am-4pm
Yo dawg is gonna look like a show dawg
and your kitty will be pretty.