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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 3, 2016)
February 3, 2016 The Skanner Page 3 News “ Crews told The Skanner News that current educa- tion equity policy needs to be put into practice. “There are tons of eq- uity policies we have in place at the state and at districts, but a lot of times the community doesn’t know about it,” Crews said. He said there are good equity laws in Advocates are pushing be- yond token policies and un- funded mandates and direct- ly asking legislators to fund underserved students region. The state of Black ed- ucation in Oregon is changing through multi- ple efforts to create cul- turally relevant curric- ulum and the passage of a new legislative bill to address the achievement gap for Black students. Advocates are pushing beyond token policies and unfunded mandates and directly asking leg- islators to fund under- served students. At City Hall, Know Your City Executive Di- rector Cameron Whitten asked for $35,000 to fund “Our Stories Matter.” Mike Rosen of the Port- land Public School Board also testified. Rosen said he would be asking PPS to financially contribute as well. Whitten told the coun- cil the state requires Or- egon Studies but doesn’t mandate it be culturally inclusive. In 2013 Senate Bill 739 urged the Department of Education to look at race specifically, but the law did not change Oregon Studies standards. Karanja Crews, the founder behind the Teaching With Purpose pedagogy has been ad- vocating for culturally inclusive curriculum for over 15 years. place about multicultur- al education and dispro- portionate discipline, but these laws have little effect if they aren’t en- forced. In January, Crews held a Teaching With Pur- pose town hall to con- nect these policies with community members. In June, Crews will host a culturally relevant curriculum boot camp to help educators craft their own diverse and responsive courses of study. The town hall was an opportunity to discuss House Bill 2016, passed by the Oregon State Leg- islature last year. The law directs the Oregon Department of Education to create a plan focused on closing the achievement gap for Black students. Charles McGee pre- sented the legislation at the Town Hall and has plans to travel through- out Oregon to reach out to the Black community. At the state level, House Bill 4033, proposed by Rep. Lew Frederick for this session, would fund culturally competent continuing education for teachers. Graduation Read the rest of this story at TheSkanner.com Friends of the Children With the opening of the new Friends of the Children [friendspdx.org] youth service and community center in Gresham, Jan. 21, professional youth mentors can continue to help children reach their full potential. Sited in the Rockwood neighborhood, the center features a full-size gym, teaching kitchen, media room, arts and science learning center and more. Shooting PHOTO COURTESY OF KELLY MOONEY PHOTOGRAPHY everyone else,” Quaid said. Quaid testified on be- half of the “Our Stories Matter” campaign from the non-profit Know Your City. The new initiative seeks to diversify Ore- gon Studies curriculum for students in grades 3 through 5 in the Portland cont’d from pg 1 cont’d from pg 1 er, a 21-year veteran of the de- partment, both apparently fired shots at the young man. The Or- egon State Medical Examiner’s Office has told The Oregonian the exact manner of death is still un- der investigation and it’s unclear whether either officer hit Kalonji, but has said he died due to bullet wounds in the chest. One officer, Oregon City police officer Dan Shockley, was injured during the incident due to a fall from a lad- der, but is expected to make a full recovery. The Sheriff ’s Office’s press re- lease about the incident says Ka- lonji was armed with a rifle and that deputies heard one shot fired after Kalonji retreated to a bed- room. The press release also states officers were called to the scene because Kalonji was threatening family members. Jennifer Se- menova, a family friend who cre- ated a fundraiser for Kalonji’s fu- neral expenses, told The Skanner News that isn’t true. “What I can tell you right now is that Chris did not threaten a single soul that day. In the articles about him it says he threatened family members. That is a lie,” Semenova told The Skanner via e-mail Tuesday. “Chris sat at his window unarmed, legs and arms out asking for everyone to get him help.” The standoff took place at an apartment complex in Oak Grove, “ there were six incidents involving use of force in Clackamas County, with five of those involving the Clackamas County Sheriff ’s Of- fice and one involving the Oregon City Police Department. In 2010, the county and a deputy reached a legal settlement in connection with the 2005 death of Fouad Kaady, a 27-year- old Sandy resident who was un- armed, naked, burned and bleed- ing when officers shot him to death. In 2000, Clackamas County Sgt. Daniel McLean was convicted of assault, harassment and offi- cial misconduct after using a Tas- er against a disabled inmate. According to Sgt. Nathan Thompson, public information officer for the Clackamas Coun- ty Sheriff ’s Office, the deputies involved in the shooting will re- main on leave until the investiga- tion is complete, and there isn’t a specific time line. What I can tell you right now is that Chris did not threaten a single soul that day an unincorporated community in Clackamas County with a popula- tion of 16,629 residents. According to U.S. Census data, in 2010, 1 percent of Oak Grove residents — 158 people — said they considered themselves Black or African American. In 2000, 0.6 percent of Oak Grove residents — 72 people — identified as Black or African American on Census sur- veys. In Clackamas County as a whole, eight-tenths of a percent of residents (158 people) considered themselves Black in 2010 versus 1,2 percent (149 people) in 2000. According to Portland Cop- watch, between 2010 and 2014 Read the rest of this story at TheSkanner.com cont’d from pg 1 sidered for closure -- is the last remain- ing majority African American public high school in the state. Roosevelt is one of the state’s most racially diverse schools and also the poorest. Oregon Department of Education’s Crystal Green says, while there are a lot of schools with high rates of pover- ty, there were tangible improvements among these populations in some of their data sets. “That’s one of the things we’ve been excited to see this year, is that some of our schools that have really made prog- ress and are closing, or have closed the graduation gap (for low-income students),” Greene said. She added that Neah-Kah-Nie High, located in the coastal town of Rockaway Beach, grad- uated 100 percent of its students, who have a high poverty rate, surpassing the overall rates. “Jefferson and Roo- sevelt also are examples of schools where they can really focus in on sup- porting all of their kids, and having in- terventions early, having the supports “ it graduated last year were Black. “The achievement gap is something that most folks talk about not just local- ly but across this nation,” Hopson says. “What we’ve been able to prove, is that with the right sup- port African Amer- ican students can learn at the same lev- el, if not higher, than anyone else whether we’re talking about Jefferson, Roosevelt, or any other schools, so this is huge giv- en all of the equity questions that we’re looking at in education.” While graduation rates in the coun- try are at an all-time high, America lags far behind a host of other developed countries for graduating its seniors on time. What we’ve been able to prove, is that with the right support African American students can learn at the same level, if not higher, than anyone else that they need, and really making sure that kids are on track throughout their time in high school. So they can gradu- ate on time, with a plan, and ready for whatever it is they want to do after high school.” Hopson tells The Skanner that at Jef- ferson over 80 percent of the students PHOTO BY DONOVAN M. SMITH Education Jefferson High School’s graduation rates showed the highest rate of improvement statewide last year, though overall graduation rates throughout the state remain low.
