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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