July 10, 2019
Page 5
All Hands Raised
C ontinueD from f ront
nership with All Hands Raised
during the time was successful in
reducing disproportionate disci-
pline actions for kids of color. In
recent years, the school’s overall
discipline referrals dropped by 57
percent—and 64 percent for Afri-
can American males, according to
All Hands.
Originally from California, Rob-
ertson moved to Portland, where his
grandparents were from, at a very
early age.
Things weren’t always the
greatest being raised by his moth-
er in Los Angeles in a single parent
home. That changed for Robertson
when he came to Portland, he said.
Tears fell easily from Rob-
ertson’s eyes as he recalled with
fondness the “many great people”
who helped support him as a child
during the 13 years he attended
Portland Public Schools. That has
included many respected members
of the African American communi-
ty in Portland, including Dr. Harriet
Adair, a principal at King Elemen-
tary School who Robertson called
a “big figure,” and Paul Coakley
Sr., who Robertson described as an
“outstanding principal” of Tubman
Middle School.
Self Enhancement Inc. was
also a key organization that con-
nected Robertson with “people
who look like me and one day I
could aspire to.”
“Growing up with a single mom,
her biggest goal and dream in life
was to ensure we did better than
she did,” Robinson said. “And so
although she struggled with educa-
tion, she really forced us to honor
and respect education. And so like I
said having role models in elemen-
tary school meant a lot to me.”
After graduating from Jefferson
High School, Robertson completed
a Master’s degree and returned to
King Elementary school to become
a first grade teacher. There he said
he learned a lot by being surround-
ed by colleagues who were many of
his former teachers and mentors as
a child.
Robertson said he was inspired
by the huge changes he could make
in a child’s life—like bringing them
from being unable to know all the
sounds of the alphabet to being a
full blown reader by the end of the
year—to do things on a larger scale,
though administration.
After spending a year at Whitak-
er Columbia Middle School, where
he supported that community at the
Whitaker Lakeside site in northeast
Portland the year it closed in 2005,
Robertson moved east across the
country to gain experiences in a
school district struggling with equi-
ty issues.
The Champaign Unit 4 School
District in Illinois had entered into
a federal consent decree that was
spurred from a lawsuit filed by Af-
rican Americans to the U.S. Office
of Civil Rights in 1996. Robertson
was hired after community protests
commenced in response to one-way
busing of black students and equity
concerns in student achievement,
programming, facilities and educa-
tional services.
As part of the agreement between
the district and federal government,
initiatives to improve academic out-
comes for African American stu-
dents were implemented under the
oversight of a court monitor.
Robertson joined a team of edu-
cational leaders hired to be change
agents. Though he found the work
fulfilling, Robertson and his wife
decided to move back to Portland
after the birth of a child.
“I loved the work I was doing
but I didn’t want to raise my child
in a city that I kind of saw as being
black and white,” Robertson said,
explaining that the main avenue
in the Champaign community that
separated north from south, Univer-
sity Avenue, “also separated differ-
ent income levels as well.”
Back home, Robertson was
able to land a job at Jefferson High
School, as the Arts and Technolo-
gy Academy Administrator, which
he held for a few years, before
transitioning to Franklin High
School.
At that time, an initiative called
Advanced Scholars Program,
started by Susan Bartley and Pam
Garrett, was aimed at closing the
gap for the number of students of
color participating in Advanced
Placement classes and coursework
at Franklin by connecting them to
teacher-mentors.
Robertson offered being a men-
tor for the program, even though
he was an administrator, he said. A
couple years after he left, he was
informed of the ongoing success of
the program, there were more stu-
dents taking AP junior English than
taking regular junior English.
After four years at Franklin, Rob-
ertson was promoted to be the prin-
cipal at Cesar Cheavez K-8, which
he held for three years, and was later
tapped by his supervisor to become
principal of George Middle School.
“It’s been a great four years; we
saw a lot of growth. We initiated a
lot of great programs at George. Re-
ally developed our STEM identity,
great parent partnerships, parent af-
finity groups.”
When asked what he’s looking
forward to tackling as CEO of All
Hands Raised, Robertson said: “I
think it all starts with equity.”
“We will not abandon the things
that we’ve already started. There’s
a lot of great initiatives happening
around attendance, around dispro-
portionate discipline. There are
site teams in several districts on
the ground doing the work with the
staff of All Hands Raised to look at
data because everyone’s story is dif-
ferent.”
All Hands Raised began in 1996
and was originally operated through
Portland Public Schools Founda-
tion, with parent-led advocacy and
funding for Portland Public Schools.
It now operates independently.
The organization works to bring
objective data, broken down by race
and other demographics, to schools
all across Multnomah County and
partnering organizations, to im-
prove educational outcomes for
kids of color.
Much of the work is behind
the scenes, All Hands Raised Vice
President of Communication Jean-
ie-Marie Price explained. It focuses
on connecting already-existing or-
ganizations serving kids—such as
non-profits, after school programs,
and culturally specific programs--to
create strategies for tackling things
like absenteeism, disproportionate
discipline, and placing students into
college or on a career path after high
school.
“It’s more about ‘believe the
wisdom on the ground,’ and that’s
one of the things we’re so excit-
ed about for Lavert’s leadership,”
Price said. “He’s been on the
ground and he’s been a principal
in the buildings where we’re doing
this continuous improvement work
and he will be able to help build
more pathways to scaling that work
and taking more wisdom from the
ground and influencing policies
and budgets.”