WWW . THESKANNER . COM
J UNE 6, 2012
P ORTLAND , O REGON
V OLUME XXXIV, N O . 23
25
CENTS
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C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW
State
School
Czar
AMERICAN WINTER
Rudy Crew tapped
by Governor for
newly-minted position
By Lisa Loving
Of The Skanner News
PHOTO COURTESY ‘AMERICAN WINTER’
R
udy Crew is officially Oregon’s CEO
of schools – that’s Chief Education
Officer, a unique position expected
to “lead the transformation of” all public
schools from early childhood programs
through college.
He toured the city yesterday, meeting stu-
dents at Jefferson Middle College and
Portland Community College, before
attending the 2012 Oregon League of
Minority Voters Annual Liberty and Hope
Award Dinner – where he was buttonholed
by many community leaders curious about
his new job.
Crew, who has led school districts across
the country, is considered a controversial
choice to work under Gov. John Kitzhaber’s
– also controversial – new Oregon Educa-
tion Investment Board, coordinating a
redesign of public education throughout the
state.
Meanwhile, protesters with Oregon Save
Our Schools were frustrated Thursday
morning in their attempt to hold a picket
line at Parkrose High School, where the
OEIB held its morning vote to approve
Crew.
Susan Barrett and Steve Buel of Oregon
SOS said the OEIB changed its meeting site
at the last minute from Portland State Uni-
versity to Parkrose, where picketers were
outnumbered by Portland Police officers in
a steady drizzling rain.
“We really think it’s because of the rally,
and it’s ridiculous – we saw nine police cars
out here today,” Barrett said. “We’re just
parents and community members who want
to see our schools funded, and to waste tax-
payer dollars to put the police force out here
is just unbelievable.”
Barrett and Oregon SOS are critical of the
corporate-style approach they say is leading
the OEIB to play up educational initiatives
rather than stable school funding statewide.
How are Portland families getting by in the down economy? Emmy award-winning filmmakers Joe and Harry Gantz
have completed shooting for their newest documentary in Portland. Called “American Winter,” it profiles struggling
families including that of Dierdre, above. Also appearing are Bishop C.T. Wells of the Emmanuel Temple Church and
City Commissioner Nick Fish. Help the Gantz brothers finish the film by through www.IndieGoGo.com, where their
self-imposed deadline for “crowdfunding” is June 30.
Education: the Good, the Bad
Q&A: Kali Thorne Ladd on Portland’s civic responsibility to schools
By Helen Silvis
Of The Skanner News
K
ali Thorne Ladd is
Mayor Sam Adams’
Education
Strategy
Director. She recently had a
baby, her second, but has
returned to work through
Adams’ final months as mayor.
Thorne, who’s originally from
New England, is a graduate of
Boston College and got her
master’s degree in education
policy from Harvard.
She came to work for Mayor
Adams after working as a policy
analyst for Susan Castillo at the
Oregon Department of Educa-
tion. She’s also been a SUN Site
Manager at King Elementary
School, and a consultant for the
Portland Schools Foundation
(now called All Hands Raised)
and for the County Commission
on Children and Families.
Thorne also spent two years in
South Africa developing educa-
tional
curriculum,
and
managing community based
projects.
See CREW on page 3
INDEX
News ........2,3,6,7,8,12
Opinion ..................4,5
A & E ......................6,7
Bids/Classifieds ........10
Careers ...................11
The Skanner News: What do
you do for education in Port-
land?
Ladd: I work as the mayor’s
education strategies director,
leading a team of three plus
three Vista volunteers. So we
are six people and we are work-
ing on strategies to increase
graduation rates and access to
post-secondary
education,
trades, career schools and more.
TSN: The state and the school
district are responsible for edu-
cation. Why is the City getting
involved?
Ladd: The city needs to be
involved because education out-
comes affect our prosperity and
livability. It’s in the city’s inter-
est to have a strong education
system, where all the young
people have an equal education.
If we want to be this great city,
to be an international city, we
have to address inequity
because the quality of education
matters for people who move
and stay here.
TSN: What are you doing to
change that?
See LADD on page 3
Michelle Fine on ‘Policing and Testing’
Lewis & Clark keynote speaker lays out ways students used for profit
By Helen Silvis
Of The Skanner News
M
ichelle Fine wants to worry us. She
wants to worry us about high
stakes testing, and about closing
schools that serve communities of color.
She wants to worry us about the increasing
presence of police on school campuses,
about school pushout, ‘stop and frisk’ and
how policy decisions are creating problems
for our youth.
“I want to worry you about the industries
of policing and testing, that are making a
fortune right now and are not experiencing
budget cuts,” Fine said.
The Distinguished Professor of Psycholo-
gy at City University of New York was in
Portland to deliver the commencement
address at Lewis & Clark Graduate School
of Education and Counseling. Nationally
known for writings on race, sex and justice
in education, Fine made time in her sched-
ule to speak to teachers, counselors and
youth advocates at Self Enhancement Inc.
on Saturday, June 2.
“We have watched, over 30 years, money
flowing from education to prisons,” she
See FINE on page 8