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
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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
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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.