January 31, 2018
Page 5
Tubman’s Revival
C ontinued from f ront
a bit,” Butler told the Portland
Observer.
Her father was Harold Wil-
liams Sr., an influential com-
munity leader who owned a
consulting business, participat-
ed in public life as an education
advocate, and was elected as a
member of Portland Community
College Board of Directors. He
passed away in 2012.
It was back in the early 90s
when her brothers attended Tub-
man. It since transformed into
a young women’s academy but
that too closed down. The build-
ing has remained dormant for
over five years.
“There’s a lot of history here.
And there are many families
here that have been, as we know,
displaced,” Butler said. “So this
is an opportunity to say there’s
still a place for you here. And
Portland Public Schools is still
committed to academic excel-
lence and that we’re going to do
whatever’s necessary to provide
equitable opportunities for all
students.”
Butler has participated in doz-
ens of community meetings and
has coordinated with 26 school
district departments in anticipa-
tion of the school’s reopening.
District officials report that she
has received tremendous sup-
port from the four north and
northeast Portland elementary
school communities which will
feed into Tubman, identified as
Boise-Eliot-Humboldt, Irving-
ton, Martin Luther King Jr. and
Sabin.
“The support has been hum-
bling,” Butler said.
Tubman’s re-opening was
wrought with uncertainty last
fall when the school board con-
sidered pursuing a backup loca-
tion for its students in light of air
quality concerns due to its prox-
imity to a major freeway. But
the district has since redoubled
their commitment to its reopen-
ing after a community outcry
questioned the legitimacy of yet
another delay in a long line of
postponements by the district,
though they’ll still perform air
quality and environmental test-
ing. They’ve also set aside fund-
ing to perform repairs and install
a new ventilation system.
Harriet Tubman Middle
School and Roseway Heights
are both two new middle schools
slated to open this fall. Butler
will helm Tubman and Kathleen
Ellwood will be the principal at
Roseway Heights.
Butler is drawing on the sup-
port of so many community mem-
bers who are invested in seeing
Tubman’s reopening. She plans
to integrate as many supports for
the school as possible, from aca-
demics to tutoring to providing a
high rigorous curriculum.
“My hope is that school can
be everything that a kid needs,”
she said.
Another aim is to make the
school a community resource, a
place where parents might go to
find help with their job search,
for example, or as a resource for
information about home owner-
ship or how to do your taxes.
Butler is a former principal
at Open Meadow (now Open
School) in Portland. She was an
assistant principal at both Martin
Luther King Jr. School and Mar-
garet Scott Elementary. She also
was a former teacher at Whitaker
and Beaumont Middle Schools.
Though she’s had an illus-
trious career in education, she
said she originally wanted to
be a news anchor and pursued
a speech communication degree
as an undergraduate student.
“I was at a cross roads where
I didn’t know exactly what I
wanted to do. And I was intro-
duced to the Portland Teacher’s
Program. And a good friend said
‘I think you should be a teacher.’
And then the rest is history […]
thank God for second chances,”
she said.
Since then, Butler has earned
two master degrees — one in
education and one in administra-
tion from Portland State Univer-
sity and the University of Port-
land, respectively. She’s since
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put those skills to work in high
ranking roles at SEI Academy,
St. Andrew Nativity School, and
De La Salle North Catholic High
School, establishing academic
programs, developing curricula,
and creating training workshops
for teachers.
She also was a department
chair at Portland Community
College, following in her father’s
footsteps. Harold Williams was
the longest standing board mem-
ber at PCC. He was so influen-
tial that PCC’s basketball court
is named after him. His picture
is also on a place of honor on
the side of the Urban League of
Portland building, near Tubman,
and a bench is named after him
at nearby Dawson Park.
“He was definitely one who
was a trend setter. Wasn’t afraid
to kind of push the envelope a
little bit and get people to think
outside the box,” Butler remi-
nisced. “My dad was very, very,
aggressive about really main-
taining a presence. Because he
could forecast that this area was
changing and that, you know,
many families would be priced
out of the market.”
Butler said she tries to instill
the values her father pushed, like
making sure all his kids were ed-
ucated and had passion for the
community.
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