Page 6
October 18, 2017
Gifted School Protests Closure
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the move as a form of displacement
and gentrification. Some Access
parents also expressed disinterest
in the move, saying the school on
North Gaintenbein Avenue was too
small for their first through eighth
grade students.
Access is currently located in
the former Rose City Park school
in northeast Portland, which is be-
ing prepared to be reopened as a
neighborhood school as part of a
massive refiguring of schools for
the east side of Portland adding
two new middle schools, includ-
ing the former Harriet Tubman
Middle School in north Portland.
A new proposal would dissolve
Access’ 335 student body into
several schools beginning in the
2018-19 school year.
Students chanted “we need Ac-
cess, don’t split the Atoms” (the
Atoms are the school’s mascot) as
they waved signs in green school
t-shirts during Monday’s protest.
Jennifer Ellis, the school’s par-
ent-teacher association president,
said the Access focus option pro-
gram, which caters to “talented
and gifted” students was designed
to work best when their students
are under one roof.
“Access is an alternative pro-
gram serving students who have
highly accelerated learning needs
and who have demonstrated a
need for a cohort-driven approach
to supporting their social/emo-
tional development,” Ellis said.
The PPS board is set to vote on
the proposal to split up Access on
Oct. 24.
Supporting Writers of High Merit
Samiya Bashir and Rene Den-
feld, two female Portland writers
of high merit, have been honored
with academic fellowships and
a cash award of $20,000 by the
Regional Arts and Culture Coun-
cil to sustain or enhance their
creative process.
Bashir brings her poetry off
the written page in multi-dis-
ciplinary projects that involve
video art, sculpture, installation
and performance. She is a wom-
an writer of color who actively
provides creative opportunities
for other writers. The council’s
fellowship panel also recognized
her for writing that speaks to her
specific experience as a queer,
first-generation Somali-Ameri-
Samiya Bashir
Rene Denfeld
can poet/maker, yet is accessible
to wide audiences.
Denfeld is a novelist who grew
up in north Portland and whose
social justice work examining is-
sues critical to our times, includ-
ing poverty and child abuse, is at
the heart of her writing. She has
authored nonfiction books, es-
says and her second novel, “The
Child Finder” was released this
September by Harper.