July 10, 2019
Page 3
INSIDE L O C A L N E W S
The
Week in Review
M ETRO
page 2
page 6
photo by D anny p eterson /t he p ortlanD o bserver
Lavert Robertson, who has been the Principal at north Portland’s George Middle School for the past
four years, has been named Chief Executive Officer of All Hands Raised, a non-profit organization
working to improve learning outcomes county-wide for kids of color.
All Hands Raised
Homegrown
school leader
takes helm
D anny p eterson
t he p ortlanD o bserver
Lavert Robertson, a seasoned
African American education admin-
istrator at Portland Public Schools
who was raised in northeast Port-
land, has taken the helm as chief ex-
ecutive officer for All Hands Raised,
a non-profit organization working to
improve learning outcomes coun-
ty-wide for kids of color.
Robertson, formerly the principal
by
Arts &
ENTERTAINMENT
page 7-8
at north Portland’s George Middle
School and a principal in the district
for the past seven years, already had
experience working with All Hands
Raised on things like improving
attendance and working on dispro-
portionate discipline issues for kids
of color.
He said seeing from the ground
the way All Hands Raised builds re-
lationships with other organizations
to work collaboratively to improve
student outcomes made him “in awe
of what they do.”
“When the CEO position came
open, just reading through of what
they were looking for in a CEO
and just thinking about my affilia-
tion and my continued support of
the organization, I thought that this
would be a perfect time to chal-
lenge myself, to step into a role
of not just supporting single com-
munities, but to support the entire
county,” Robertson told the Port-
land Observer.
Robertson is replacing the former
All Hands Raised CEO for 11 years,
Dan Ryan, a former school board
member and schools advocate.
Robertson managed a $3 mil-
lion budget and staff of 50 at
George Middle School over the
past four years. The school’s part-
C ontinueD on p age 5
Lillard Inks New Contract
Blazers tap All
Star for future of
franchise
O PINION
C LASSIFIEDS
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F OOD
pages 9-10
pages 10
The Portland Trail Blazers have
signed their sensational guard
Damian Lillard to a multi-year
contract extension, cementing the
NBA All Star’s role as the team’s
top franchise player through the
2023-24 season.
The four-year extension also
has a player option for 2024-25,
Neil Olshey, Blazers president of
basketball operations announced
Saturday. The so-called supermax
deal is reportedly worth $196 mil-
lion.
“Since the day we drafted Da-
mian he has exemplified every
C ontinueD on p age 4
Damian Lillard