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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 8, 2019)
Page 8 May 8, 2019 Clarke calls for holistic, new approach C ontinueD from p age 7 students and doing crisis inter- vention and really focusing on improving systems to address, re- fer, and embrace students in ways that they deserve to be wrapped around,” Clarke said. Her achievements include the development of student engage- ment programs at PSU, as well as identity and leadership develop- ment work. She was part of the pro- cess to open the commons, help- ing to guide a consensus-building, collaborative stewardship process with students, faculty, staff and community members shortly after moving to Portland, directly after grad school, in 2016. Clarke is a member of the As- sociation of American University Professors, where she’s active do- ing lobbying and supporting the collective bargaining process. But while being an instructor in dif- ferent capacities at times, she said she identifies most as being an ed- ucation administrator. “Being on the front lines, being a young professional, that gives me the ability to inform an edu- cation policy that’s connected to everyday experiences of students and I think that is something we’re missing on the Portland Public School Board,” she said. Clarke is also a community or- ganizer serving as a Board Member for OPAL Environmental Justice. She was recruited to run by lo- cal African American community leaders, like Joy Davis, the exec- utive director of the Portland Afri- can American Leadership Forum, and from leaders at Color PAC. “Those folks initiated my pro- cess of thinking about running for the Portland Public School Board; and the more and more I thought about it, the more and more things connected,” she said. She said a recent audit of Port- land Public Schools by the Or- egon Secretary of State’s office showing dramatic shortcomings in outcomes for students of color in the district is helping inform her on the needs. Improving the dis- trict’s employee turnover rates by making improvements in teacher training, and supports, are actions she supports. New and improved restorative justice discipline practices—which focus more on rehabilitation and holistic development rather than penal actions for students who misbehave--are a solution Clarke wants to emphasize more. According to an Oregon Legis- lative report from 2017 called the African American/Black Student Success plan, and developed by some of the most prominent eq- uity education leaders in the state, black students are two times more likely to get detention, suspen- sion, or another type of punitive action compared to white stu- dents, Clarke said. In cases where schools in Port- land added a restorative justice coordinator position as part of the student misconduct process, the rates of suspensions dropped by 50 percent, Clarke said. “I know for example at Ockley Green, they had 184 suspensions the year before and then with the coordinator, there was only four,” she said. Wrap around services in gener- al, things like making sure students have housing or food assistance, is something Clarke wants to expand on. She added that she thinks the SUN Community Schools that offer added programs are doing a great job, but she’d like to see more offerings like that in other neighborhoods and schools that are under-resourced. In regard to other plans to ad- dress racial inequality in the school system, Clarke said it should be a multi-prong approach. Firstly, the district needs to “have more teach- ers of color, more black teachers,” and make sure they have the sup- ports in place so they stay. Early literacy interventions, like Head Start and relief nurseries, are also something she wants to invest in, as well as having longer school days and longer school years. Clarke said professional de- velopment and bias training, as it relates to developing pedagogy for teachers, is also something the district needs to be doing, some- thing black educators have specif- ically requested, she said. “That restorative justice piece paired with the training I think will do wonders for students at PPS,” she said. Culturally responsive curricu- lum, as has been mandated with the passage of an Ethnic Studies bill in Oregon, is also important, Clarke said. “It’s…critical to have students feel affirmed and reflected and celebrated through their lived ex- periences and how they connect to curricular goals. And I think we will see higher performance when we do that work.” In addition, Clarke is a sup- porter of KairosPDX, the public charter school focused on closing the achievement gap for African American grade school students. C alendar May 2019 MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY 6 7 Ramadan Begins Eiffel Tower opens to the public in 1889 National Teacher Day 1st Stamp Collection Started Pulitzer Prize Estab- lished (1917) 13 14 Tulip Day Beginning of Lewis and Clark Expedi- tion In 1804. National Dance Like a Chicken Day 8 National School Nurse Day No Socks Day 9 First Newspaper Cartoon In the USA in 1754 15 Frank L. Baum Au- thor of The Wizard of Oz - born 1856 National Chocolate Chip Day Clarke is younger than her op- ponent Michelle DePass in the May 21 vote-by-mail election, but Clarke points to her more years of overall professional experience in education. “I think as it directly correlates to the job, I have direct relatable experience. I am a young profes- sional,” she said. “I just graduat- ed from grad school a few years ago. But I think that that’s also an asset. Being able to have a fresh perspective, a fresh set of eyes that’s connected and rooted in the experiences that students are hav- ing and educators are having and interconnecting those things to in- form how we create goals; those are things that I think the board doesn’t have and could be a pow- erful tool moving forward.” Clarke is endorsed by of Joy Da- vis of PAALF, State Reps. Janelle Bynum and Diego Hernandez; Vice Chair of the Democratic Par- ty of Oregon Black Caucus Rach- elle Dixon; Reynolds School Dis- trict Board Directors Ricardo Ruiz and Yesenia Delgado; Multnomah Education Service District Board Director Helen Ying; former state Sen. Robert Boyer, APANO, PCC Federation of Classified Employ- ees, and Former Law Judge Char- lotte Rutherford. For more information about Clark’s candidacy, you can visit her website at shanice4pps.com/. 16 First US Nickel Minted In 1866, called the ‘Shield Nickel’ FRIDAY 10 Clean Up Your Room Day Christopher Paul Curtis born, 1953 17 First Kentucky Der- by In 1875 Gary Paulson born, 1939 SATURDAY SUNDAY 11 12 Twilight Zone Day Peter Sis born, 1949 Mark Lupica (BDay) 18 Miniature Golf Day Armed Forces Day International Muse- um Day Visit Relatives Day Mother’s Day International Nurses Day Kite Day Limerick Day 19
