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Opinion
In Heritage Month Let’s Honor Women
“Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now”
B ERNIE F OSTER
Founder/Publisher
B OBBIE D ORE F OSTER
Executive Editor
T ED B ANKS
Advertising Manager
J ERRY F OSTER
Account Executive
L ISA L OVING
News Editor
H ELEN S ILVIS
Multimedia Editor
B RUCE P OINSETTE
Reporter
D AVID K IDD
Graphic Designer
M ONICA J. F OSTER
Seattle Office Coordinator
J ULIE K EEFE
S USAN F RIED
Photographers
The Skanner Newspaper, established
in October 1975, is a weekly publica-
tion, published each Wednesday by
IMM Publications Inc.,
W
e joke — my best Viet
Kieu, Korean, and Cam-
bod buds and me do —
about Asian ladies. About finding
one of those submissive, slipper-
shuffling nonyas you see in
Hollywood movies. About taking
home one of those mousy women
playing that part at PJ Chang’s,
bowing and repeating “hai . . . hai
. . . hai” after every little thing I
say or do.
We joke about it, because you
know, I’ve got a kitchen table
crowded with women quite unlike
that. Unlike them. Take our
mom or elder aunties, take our
daughter or my wife. Please.
There’s not a mouse among
them.
And there’s a world of rea-
sons for this. Reasons for
women on both sides of our big
blue sea being as alert and adap-
tive as sparrows, as stubborn as
bamboo. For as long as any
grand elder’s memory: Cruel or
careless leaders have failed to
deliver dignifying work for our
boys and men; angry armies from
faraway places have warred over
our neighborhoods; awful famines
and hungry storms have devoured
our mothers’ households.
While a traditional man’s work
ends when I return to our family
wounded or worse, when I finish a
workday tired or fired, or both —
women’s work only accelerates.
These are our women’s unscripted
stories. No demure make-up, no
hot camera lights, no big-screen
special effects.
It’s the same unadorned narra-
tive in Southern Philippines as in
A SIAN P ACIFIC H ERITAGE
Ronault Catalani
North Portland. It’s the same story
in West Java as in Portland’s far
Eastside. Our women have had to
be adaptive and responsible and
persistent. Hard history have made
them so. And because May is
home to both Mother’s Day and
Asian Pacific Heritage Month,
here’s a chance to talk about that.
About them, our women.
ster, California before they moved
to Portland, Oregon. Meaning
also, she stood firm in that matri-
archal role back in the Republic of
South Viet Nam before their fami-
ly fled to the United States.
“I remember when I was grow-
ing in California and mom had to
go to work, second shift, to help
support our family. She would pre-
pare everything ahead of time for
us, so when we kids came home
from school and when our father
came home from work, all we had
to do was heat the dinner she
Sitting around Dr. Thuy’s kitchen table,
with her mom nodding at her side and
her daughter squirming in her lap,
the logical core of her question is clear.
Saigon to Westminster to Port-
land
Mdme. Han Tran is in her
kitchen when Vera-An Nguyen
comes home from Mrs.New-
comb’s second grade class at
Russell Academy, in far NE Port-
land’s Parkrose School District.
She’s always there, keeping her
household warm and fixing Vera
snacks fast. Same thing for older
brothers Lucas-Minh and Oscar-
Vinh Nguyen, when they come
home from school. “She’s always
been there for all of us,” says
Grandma Han’s eldest daughter
and Vera’s mom, Dr. Thuy Chu
Tran. Meaning, she was their
home’s center pillar in Westmin-
already laid out for us.”
Taking a blue collar job outside
of her household was new for Han
Tran. She was raising four kids
and pregnant with her fifth when
she and husband Diem Tran
shoved out to sea at Vung Tau, a
small fishing and harbor town a
couple hours east of Saigon, a
week before the Fall of the Repub-
lic to North Viet Nam’s
communist army in 1975.
With minimal English in a
bewildering new country, Mdme.
Han went to work to make house-
hold ends meet. “Five kids in a
2-bedroom apartment,” she says,
smiling at her memories. She did
assembly work at an aircraft com-
ponant subcontractor for the Boe-
ing Company. Her 3:00 pm to
midnight shift made home-life
more difficult, but frequent over-
time demands made it possible to
purchase their own home within
10 years of resettling in America.
Our women are responsible, and
adaptive.
According to grand daughter
Vera-An: “Grandma is a great
cook.” But – according to the
bright eight year-old – she’s pretty
strict. On the other hand, Grandpa
Dien Tran’s standards are a bit
more relaxed, and according to
both his retired wife and his doctor
daughter, like all traditional Asian
males, though he’s resourceful in
any number of ways, he’s not
much good in the kitchen. Our
women have had to be persistent.
Leadership forged for these
times
Dr. Thuy Chu Tran is plainly her
mother’s daughter, responsible
and adaptive. And given her place
in the world of NE Portland busi-
ness as an optometry practice
owner; given her place in her kids’
universe as a Girl Scout troop
founder, math and reading class
volunteer, and a member of the
Parkrose School Board; and given
her place in Portland’s vigorous
civic life as a president of the
Lion’s Club and as a Lt. Colonel in
the Oregon Air National Guard –
she is every bit as persistent in her
commitments.
Dr Thuy is a leader. in the adap-
tive old-school style of her mom.
Read the rest online at
www.theskanner.com
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Telephone (503) 285-5555.
E-mail: info@theskanner.com
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Fax: (503) 285-2900
The Skanner is a member of the
National Newspaper Pub lishers Associ-
ation and West Coast Black Pub lishers
Association.
All photos submitted become the
property of The Skanner. We are not re -
spon sible for lost or damaged photos
either solicited or unsolicited.
© 2013 The Skanner. ALL RIGHTS RE SERVED.
REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART
WITHOUT PERMISSION PROHIBITED.
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Take a Recess from Closing Public Schools
C
hicago Public Schools
CEO Barbara Byrd-Ben-
nett has announced plans to
close at least 50 schools as a cost-
cutting measure. But before any
other urban school system follows
suit, it should take an extended
recess and reflect on what has
happened in the past that makes
this such a foolish idea.
We can start by looking at what
has happened in Chicago. A volun-
teer group called CREATE
–Chicagoland Researchers and
Advocates for Transformative
Education – has produced a brief-
ing paper on past school closings
that provides some interesting
insight.
First, there is the issue of trust.
Based on its past performance,
there is no reason to trust the
Chicago Board of Education’s
financial projections. The board
approved a budget with a $245
million deficit for the 2010-2011
school year. But instead of a
deficit, the board ended up with a
$328 million surplus.
There was a similar pattern for
the 2011-2012 school year. The
board budgeted for a $214 million
deficit. Instead, it had a surplus of
$328 million. In each year, the
board missed its target by $500
million.
And what about the students
who had to enroll in new schools
and students who had to receive
them? Bad news on both counts.
“A 2009 study by the University
Page 4 The Portland Skanner May 29, 2013
T HE C URRY
R EPORT
George E.
Curry
of Chicago Consortium on Chica-
go School Research (CCSR)
found that 82 percent of the stu-
dents from 18 elementary schools
closed in Chicago moved from
one underperforming school to
another underperforming school,
including schools already on pro-
bation,” said CREATE. “In a
graduating.”
The researcher stated, “School
closings will also negatively affect
the achievements for students in
the receiving schools… For one
thing, closings often lead to
increased class sizes and over-
crowding in receiving schools. As
a result, the pace of instruction is
slower and the test scores for both
mobile students and non-mobile
students tend to be lower in
schools with high student mobility
rates.”
When the Chicago School Board
announced its previous closings, it
figured it would sell, lease or
repurpose half of the schools.
However, a Pew study found that
of the buildings closed between
Based on its past, there is no reason to
trust Chicago Board of Education’s
financial projections.
follow up 2012 report, the CCSR
determined that 94 percent of stu-
dents from closed Chicago schools
did not go to ‘academically strong’
new schools.”
It cited another study that found
“students who transitioned into
new schools following closure
scored lower on tests one year
after closure; they were at an
increased risk of dropping out, as
well as an increased risk of not
2005 and 2012, only 17 schools
were either sold, leased or repur-
posed. Another 24 closed
properties remain on the market.
Surprisingly, of the 77 public
schools closed in the past decade,
80 percent now house other
schools.
Everyone realizes that with a
dwindling school-aged popula-
tion, not as many schools will be
needed in the future. And across
the country, we have seen how for-
mer schools have been converted
to community health centers,
churches, community centers and
other useful facilities.
But if they are simply becoming
schools again, what’s the point in
closing them in the first place?
Chicago is not the only major
city that has overpromised and
under delivered in public educa-
tion.
Administrators in Washington,
D.C. boasted about how much
money they would save by closing
a group of schools.
Pointing to a report by the Office
of the D.C. Auditor, CREATE
noted, “The audit determined that
instead of saving the district $30
million, as claimed by former
schools chancellor Michelle Rhee,
the closures actually cost the city
$40 million after factoring in the
expense of demolishing buildings,
removing furnishings, and trans-
porting students.
“Further, the district lost another
$5 million in federal and state
grants as students left the system,
many to charter schools being
built in tandem with the closings.”
With all the lip service paid to
public education by Chicago
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, he has not
been willing to put his money
where his mouth is.
Read the rest online at
www.theskanner.com