January 9, 2019
Page 5
KairosPDX is a K-5 charter school focusing on closing the achieve-
ment gap for its majority black students.
KairosPDX Gets 5 year Lease
KairosPDX, the public charter
school that focuses on closing the
achievement gap for its majori-
ty-black students, has signed a new,
longer lease from Portland Public
Schools that leaders of the school
say will give them more stability.
On Dec. 18, the school board
voted to offer Kairos a three year
lease with an option to renew for
an additional two years, Portland
Public School Board Chair Rita
Moore confirmed to the Portland
Observer via email.
That extension gives the school
the five year lease they originally
requested back in August for their
stay at the former Humboldt Ele-
mentary School located on North
Gatenbein Avenue.
“This gives us the time we need
to find a permanent home for Kai-
ros and the growing community
we serve,” Kairos said in press r
elease on New Year’s Eve.
The organization was recent-
ly honored by Portland’s Human
Rights Commission for its work
using evidence-based teaching
methods to bolster the learning
outcomes for underserved and mi-
nority students since 2012.
Jayapal Takes Oath
C ontinueD froM p age 3
in a historic contest between two
black candidates.
Jayapal enters office with issues
of homelessness and gentrification
dominating the landscape, matters
she said are large and complicat-
ed, but ones she says the county
is best positioned to take action on
and improve residents’ lives.
“District 2 has borne the effects
of a booming economy, resulting
in construction of expensive con-
Opposition
Grows
C ontinueD froM p age 3
economic development policies
and projects helped gentrify his-
torically black neighborhoods.
Leaders for the local civil rights
group claim the earthquake warn-
ings would devalue the impacted
properties and even act as an im-
pediment to improving the build-
ings and keeping them in current
use, all under the guise of public
safety for the benefit of specula-
tive redevelopment.
“We will no longer allow these
things to remove us from our
community. We want action, we
demand action, we want it now,”
Mondainé said.
In addition to black churches
made of bricks and masonry in
Portland’s African American com-
dos, boutiques and restaurants,
and soaring real estate values.
And also resulting in the displace-
ment of those left out of that econ-
omy and in the ripping apart of
long-established and closely knit
communities,” she said. “This is
where we have daily direct impact
on the lives of our most vulnera-
ble residents, and where we pro-
vide the services that can put those
residents on the path of housing
stability, economic mobility, and
community wellness.”
munity, many well-known music
venues like White Eagle, Crystal
Ballroom, Dante’s and Kelly’s
Olympian, would be impacted,
according to Music Portland.
City officials said the placard-
ing ordinance, approved in Octo-
ber, was part of an effort ultimately
aimed at upgrading old buildings
to withstand an earthquake.
But the NAACP says the policy
will make it tougher for masonry
building owners to get loans for
improvements and will discour-
age investment. Instead, the group
argues that the buildings will be
sold, and developers will demolish
and redevelop the sites, increasing
the cost for residents to live there
and forcing current residents out.
Publicly-owned buildings have
been required to post the placards
since last week. Privately owned
buildings would be required to
post the signs by March 1, and
non-profits, like churches, have
until 2020 to post the warning
signs, according to the mandate.