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.