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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 3, 2016)
FEBRUARY 3, 2016 Portland and Seattle Volume XXXVIII No. 18 25 CENTS News ..................................3,10 A & E .................................... 6-8 Opinion ...................................2 Recording Grand Juries 10 Calendars ........................... 4-5 Bids/Classifieds ...............10-11 CHALLENGING PEOPLE TO SHAPE A BETTER FUTURE NOW PHOTO VIA GOFUNDME ‘SUPER’ DAVE RETIRES Christopher Kalonji, 19, Oak Grove (at right), died Thursday after a standoff with law enforcement. Two Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office deputies are on paid leave after firing shots, but the exact manner of death has not been released. Deputies on Leave After Shooting C hristopher Kalonji, a 19-year-old Black man from Clackamas Coun- ty, died last week following what Clackamas County Sheriff ’s offi- cers described as an eight-hour stand- off that began as a mental health crisis intervention. According to a press release from the Clackamas County Sheriff ’s Office, two officers are on paid administrative leave after using force last Thursday against Kalonji. Sgt. Tony Killinger, who has been with the sheriff ’s office for 15 years, and Deputy Lon Steinhau- See SHOOTING on page 3 Kam Talks to Marlon Wayons His latest comedy is ‘Fifty Shades of Black’ page 7 Local Events for This Week page 4 Seattle Parks and Recreation Deputy Superintendent Christopher Williams gives “Super” Dave Gilbertson a hug when arrives at his retirement party on Friday January 29th at Meadowbrook Community Center. Mr. Gilbertson worked for over 30 years for the department and close to 100 people came to his retirement party to celebrate his service to the community. Jefferson and Roosevelt Make Highest Leaps School’s across Oregon see gains across the board in graduation rates By Donovan M. Smith Of The Skanner N ew numbers released by the Oregon De- partment of Educa- tion show that two of the state’s most historically underserved schools made the two greatest leaps in graduation rates. Jefferson and Roos- evelt High Schools came in at first and second, re- spectively, for best turn- arounds in the 2014-2015 school year, with Jefferson achieving a 25 percent in- crease from the year previ- ous, graduating 81 percent of its seniors on time, and Roosevelt making a 9 per- cent bump, sending 67 per- cent of its seniors across the stage. Leaders at Jefferson are crediting much of their success to an ongoing part- nership with Self Enhance- ment, Inc. that targets increasing the success of at-risk students, through its Whole School Model. “We believe education starts at home, well before you get into a classroom,” Tony Hopson Sr., presi- dent and CEO of Self En- hancement, Inc., told The Skanner before adding that Self Enhancement has offered the programming and had extended funding this year. “We can bridge [both]. Whether that’s get- ting people actual housing, providing support around food and shelter, heat, all those necessities in life that a family would want to have, we find that a lot of our kids just don’t have that.” When the Whole School Model was introduced to Jefferson High School just over 5 years ago, Jef- ferson’s graduation was under 44 percent. In the years since, the number of students that have en- rolled in the program and the outcomes for the North Portland school have in- creased each year. These gains match state trends, where graduation rates are up two percent. However despite those advances, Oregon contin- ues to report some of the worst graduation rates in the country--especially for African Americans. De- spite making up less than 3 percent of the state’s pu- pils, Oregon has the third- worst track-record of grad- uating Black students in the country. Jefferson — a school that, in recent years, was con- See GRADUATION on page 3 Culturally Relevant Education Know Your City, Teaching With Purpose push to include more diverse stories in education By Arashi Young Of The Skanner News W hen Katherine Quaid spoke to Portland City Commis- sioners, she wanted them to know what it was like to be a person of color seeing history through a White lens. A citizen of the confederated tribes of Umatilla, Quaid described a shal- low representation of indigenous peoples in history lessons. She said maybe students knew about the Trail of Tears or Wounded Knee, but they did not get a deep un- derstanding of indigenous culture. “What we do not learn is about the contemporary American Indian cul- tures, issues, policies … and how our history has been skewed by the pen of the colonizers, favoring those of European descent while shutting out See EDUCATION on page 3 PHOTO BY ARASHI YOUNG By Christen McCurdy Of The Skanner News PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED 19-year-old Christopher Kalonji is dead following a mental health crisis Brett Bigham, Katherine Quaid and Cameron Whitten testified at City Hall last week about the importance of culturally inclusive education.
