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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 2018)
Spring Forward ‘City of Roses’ Clocks move ahead 1 hour Sunday for Daylight Savings Time Volume XLVII • Number 10 A Pathway to Return Housing reserved for displaced residents See story, page 5 www.portlandobserver.com Wednesday • March 7, 2018 Established in 1970 Committed to Cultural Diversity photo by b everly C orbell /t he p ortland o bserver Estefania Tapia (left), one of the music teachers helping keep alive an after-school band program at Jefferson High School, fills in on vocals during a dress rehearsal of the Pacific Northwest Show Band, held recently at the school, drawing students from all over the metro area. Tapia is also director of the Sounds of Jefferson band, created just for Jefferson High students. School Band on a Lifeline Sounds of Jefferson is back; but program needs funds b everly C orbell t he p ortland o bserver In the 1970s, Jefferson High was a performing arts school with a thriving school band, the Sounds of Jefferson. Today, the focus is on college prep aca- demics and the school’s highly-rated dance program is the only remnant of those days. Back then, the school’s music program was creat- ed and run by Jim Little. He said the school band was by a huge success with hundreds of kids involved, from elementary school on up. Now he’s trying to do it all over again, but this time, as an after-school program. “The reality is that it’s going to be a long time be- fore it’s an in-school program (at Jefferson), so the best shot we have is for an after-school program, and I’m a believer in after-school programs,” he said. Serving inner north and northeast Portland, Jeffer- son High has traditionally been a school that has in- cluded and attracted African American students, who comprise more than half the student body. Luwam Solomon, who is black, rides a bus for an hour each day just to go to Jefferson, and now as a singer with the Sounds of Jefferson, she’s getting a music education as well, Little said. But the band is in danger of folding because of C ontinued on p age 4