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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (July 20, 2016)
July 20, 2016 The Skanner Page 3 News On June 2, the Portland Public Schools Board announced an investigation into the lead water testing program in the district. PPS hired the law irm Stoll Berne to conduct the in- vestigation and to issue a report within 30 days. The analysis reviewed the systems and procedures for wa- ter testing, evaluated the management of information and identiied operational or personnel breakdowns. Here are some of the most important takeaways from that report: • The report identiied inconsistent policies and practices within every part of the lead testing program, from in- consistent testing itself to lawed internal information management to misleading communication with parents, teachers and media. • Measures to restrict access to drinking water after high lead test levels were inefective or inconsistent — knowing- ly exposing people to leaded water while waiting to make repairs. • The lead testing activities were primarily reactive, instead of preventative, and did not follow EPA guidelines for re- testing. • The entire responsibility for the district lead testing pro- gram fell to one individual within the system. Until 2014, that was Patrick Wolfe, who then retired and was replaced by Andy Fridley, who was given no training for lead testing. • There were serious internal communication gaps between the lead testing program and PPS executives. Stoll Berne cited a lack of institutional knowledge on the part of execu- tives and an absence of diligent inquiry by administrators. • The only record that kept track of lead testing and remedi- ation was a database that was inconsistently updated and never audited or veriied. • Stoll Berne described PPS communication as inaccurate and misleading. PPS website information was presented in a way that implied that after the 2001- 2002 testing that all drinking fountains were safe when they were not. The text also implied that retesting was unnecessary when that is an EPA best practice. • In one case, the investigation cited PPS communication as inaccurate when the former Chief of Communications & Public Afairs Jon Isaacs knowingly provided incomplete excerpts of the water testing database to the Willamette Week. • PPS set a policy that people should drink only from water fountains and not sink faucets. This was not well communi- cated. The information was found online, in an email news- letter and in a handbook, but the Wolfe and Chief Operating Oicer Tony Magliano decided against district-wide labeling of sinks. • The board and executive leadership cited budget concerns and said they had prioritizing education over infrastructure or repair issues. When they did address repair issues, PPS focused on the health and safety issues that are regulated by law. —Arashi Young ture and undertaking appropri- ate health and safety eforts — as the primary reason the district’s lead issues remained unad- dressed for so many years. Smith’s letter acknowledged that the report was the catalyst for her decision to change the date of her retirement. “Several weeks ago I airmed for the board my intent to retire, and my willingness to honor the board’s request to work through the end of my contract in June, 2017 to allow the board to conduct a superintendent search, support a smooth leadership transition, and continue our work on imme- diate health and safety issues,” Smith wrote. “Having seen the district through the conclusion of the Stoll Berne investigation report and providing the board with a management response, I have reached the decision that I need to move up the date of my departure.” Smith said she will remain in her position for 90 days, and that she has accumulated extensive leave time which she will use during that time. She also encour- aged the board to ind an interim superintendent as soon as possi- ble. When Smith irst announced her retirement, she said her de- cision was not related to the lead issues and that it followed dis- cussions with the board about a succession plan. Board member Paul Anthony told The Skanner News in June that those discus- sions hadn’t taken place, and that “ Dragon Fest A student from the Northwest Wushu school performs July 16 at Dragon Fest. The Northwest Wushu school was just one of the live performances at the 41st Annual Dragon Fest. The two-day festival included dragon dances, martial arts groups, and lots of activities for children and families like a dumpling eating contest for adults and an egg tart eating contest for kids. leadership this summer before the beginning of school, as we continue a national search for a permanent Superintendent,” said Portland Public Schools’ Board Having seen the district through the conclusion of the Stoll Berne investi- gation report...I have reached the deci- sion that I need to move up the date of my departure her announcement — released just prior to a school board meet- ing — was a surprise to the board. Anthony has also iled a federal complaint against the district al- leging patterns of discrimination against African American, Latino and Native American students. “This timing gives the Board the opportunity to bring in interim of Education chair Tom Koehler in a statement following Smith’s announcement. “The Board will double down on its focus to lead the District and make decisions in the best interest of the 48,000 kids we serve and the taxpayers and voters to whom we are ac- countable.” “I believe it is in the best inter- ests of the children and the Dis- trict,” said Anthony in an emailed statement to The Skanner in ref- erence to Smith’s retirement. “I wish Superintendent Smith good luck as she moves forward.” Four of the six people work- ing for Portland Public Schools communication team have also jumped ship in recent months, and two employees, including chief operating oicer Tony Magliano, have been placed on leave. Lead testing results re- leased last week showed sourc- es of more than 5,000 parts per billion – a level that classiies as hazardous waste according to the Environmental Protection Agen- cy. Those schools were Jeferson High School, King Elementary School, Meek High School and Chapman Elementary School all classiied with high levels. cont’d from pg 1 This national movement has roots in Portland. The Enlace alliance started as a bi-national organization founded by low-wage workers in the United States and Mexico to promote racial and eco- nomic justice. The group works out of “ cont’d from pg 1 Customs Enforcement are most oten sent to the NW Detention Center in Tacoma, Wash., a GEO group facility. In 2014, more than 750 immigration detainees went on a hunger strike to protest poor quality food, negligent As part of rethinking our criminal justice sys- tem, … the tax rules … must be changed so we are not encouraging companies to unjustly proit from prison detention services oices in New York, Los Angeles and Portland. Amanda Aguilar Shank, the senior campaign organizer for Enlace, said that Oregonians are lucky because there are no for-proit prisons oper- ating within the state, but the private prison industry deeply afects the im- migrant communities here. Shank said immigrants who have been picked up by Immigration and healthcare and Patriot Act detention policies that allow holding non-citizens for indeinite periods of time. “There’s a lot of people walking around the streets here in Portland and a lot of people in our organizations that have been sent up there, both Latino and Black immigrants,” Shank said. Another way that the private prison industry afects Oregon is the lobbying for increased incarceration rates in all states. The push for mandatory mini- mum sentences was heavily lobbied for by the industry, according to Shank. “Their role in shaping overall incar- ceration policy in the last couple of de- cades has come home even if they are not actively incarcerating within the borders here in Oregon,” Shank said. Enlace started the campaign to revoke these tax breaks in 2015. The group has also been advocating for prison divest- ment both locally and nationally for the last ive years. Divestment would call on people, companies and governments to get rid of investments that are considered un- ethical. Locally the group has been pushing for the City of Portland to divest in- vestments in Wells Fargo and the Bank of New York Mellon, since both invest in the private prison industry. A 2012 report by the Public Accountability Ini- tiative in partnership with the National People’s Action group listed Wells Far- PHOTO BY DOUG YARROW Prisons Smith PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED Report Finds District Did Not Follow EPA Guidelines, Knowingly Exposing Children to Water With High Lead Levels The Portland Prison Divestment Coalition delivers more than 750 signatures to Senator Ron Wyden’s Portland oice in April. Wyden recently introduced legislation to revoke tax breaks from private prison companies. go as a major lender to CCA and a major investor in GEO. The Socially Responsible Invest- ments Committee, which is tasked with recommending to the City of Portland ethical corporate securities invest- ments, looked at both Wells Fargo and the Bank of New York Mellon.
