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