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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 5, 2020)
August 5, 2020 Page 3 INSIDE L O C A L N E W S The Week in Review page 2 page 7 M ETRO Photo by s teve M organ /W ikiPedia C oMMons Home to Portland’s historic African American community, Jefferson High School, will be completely modernized if voters approve a new bond levy in November for its reconstruction as part of a pro- posed new bond that the Portland School Board last week referred to voters. Jefferson Rebuild Proposed School next in line for bond financing Arts & page 6-8 ENTERTAINMENT O PINION C LASSIFIED /B IDS page 9 pages 9-10 Established 1970 USPS 959 680 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211 The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope. All created design display ads become the sole property of the newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or per- sonal usage without the written consent of the general man- ager, unless the client has purchased the composition of such ad. © 2008 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. The Portland Observer--Oregon’s Oldest Multicultural Publication--is a member of the National Newspaper Association--Founded in 1885, and The National Advertising Representative Amal- gamated Publishers, Inc, New York, NY, and The West Coast Black Publishers Association PO QR code Mark Washington, Sr. e ditor : Michael Leighton Office Mngr/Clasfds: Lucinda Baldwin s ales d irector : Leonard Latin c reative d irector : Paul Neufeldt o ffice a sst /s ales : Shawntell Washington P ublisher : CALL 503-288-0033 • FAX 503-288-0015• news@portlandobserver.com ads@portlandobserver.com• subscription@portlandobserver.com Postmaster: Send address changes to Portland Observer, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208 Jefferson High School, home for generations of families from Portland’s African American community, will get a complete renovation, and schools sur- rounding Jefferson will start a process to open a new Center for Black Student Excellence, as part of a proposed construc- tion bond referred to voters by the Portland School Board last week. Scheduled for the November General Election, the $1.1 bil- lion property tax measure would renew the last school construc- tion bond at the same tax rate that has provided monies for re- building or replacing other aging Portland schools in recent years, district officials said. It would also continue other investments in Portland schools, including funding for critical educational, health and safety priorities. “I’m excited we are investing in the modernization of Jeffer- son and focusing on the Center for Black Student Excellence,” Board Director Michelle DePass said. “It tells our Black students, your education matters. It tells them we care and are listening to your voice. I can’t wait to wit- ness the students we are invest- ing in today.” Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero said the decision to remodel Jefferson and improve educational supports for black students keeps with past prom- ises by the district and listens to the priorities of the district’s community partners. “If we’re going to succeed in serving Black students and youth, we’ll have to do it togeth- er,” said Guerrero. The proposed bond would also complete the moderniza- tion of Benson Polytechnic High School; build a facility for Mul- tiple Pathways to Graduation programs; plan for additional ca- pacity at Roosevelt High School; C ontinued on P age 4 School Classes to Start Online Portland Public Schools Super- intendent Guadalupe Guerrero has outlined plans for holding class- es online at the beginning of the school year, until at least Nov. 5 when local health guidelines for social distancing under the coro- navirus pandemic (COVID-19) will be re-evaluated. In a letter Guerrero sent to school parents and staff last week, he said the district will start the fall semester on Sept. 2 by uti- lizing a new, comprehensive dis- tance learning model, based on the best available guidance to pro- mote public safety from state and county health officials and Gov. Kate Brown. “Our goal is to be prepared to engage students and provide them with a robust learning experience this fall,” Guerrero said. Guadalupe Guerrero The online instruction will be different from the learning expe- rience of this past spring when schools adopted online learning from home when classroom in- struction suddenly ended because of the stay-at-home order by the governor to prevent the spread of coronavirus amid a worldwide health crisis. It is possible that unless COVID-19 conditions improve significantly, online learning will extend past Nov. 5.The decision will be made by Oct. 10 after con- sidering new health information and county health metrics, Guer- rero said. “We believe it is both respon- sible and critical to base our de- cisions on what will best ensure the health and wellness of our students and staff. For those of us who serve in public education, we will always prefer to have our stu- dents engaged in classroom-based learning, but given current condi- tions, it would be unsafe to have significant numbers of students and adults back on campus at this time,” Guerrero said.