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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (April 26, 2017)
April 26, 2017 The Skanner Page 3 News the largest employer. Currently, 350 of its graduates are working as administrators in 96 Ore- gon school districts. Lynn spoke with The Skanner over the phone from his current home in South Bend, where he is a professor and the dean of the School of Education at Indiana University. He the very bottom of that. I’ve seen that in every place I’ve worked, and I’ve worked in a num- ber of states at public institutions of higher education. So wherever I go, it’s always part of my mission to try to ad- dress that issue; because I feel that public institu- tions of higher education ‘You’ve got to really deal with America’s racial his- tory if you’re going to talk about the origin of the N-word… and it’s a racial his- tory lesson. Teachers have to be prepared to do that’ relocates to Portland this summer to begin his new leadership role at PSU. The Skanner News: How would you like to see the outcomes for stu- dents of color in Oregon improve? Marvin Lynn: Unfor- tunately we have a situa- tion in the United States where there are educa- tion disparities across the board — whether that’s Oregon, Indiana, Illinois or New York. We see these disparities be- tween differently situat- ed groups. For example, poor and working class kids don’t achieve at the same level as kids that are more well off. We also see that dis- parity between African American, Latino, White and Asian American students, where White and Asian American students perform at the bottom level in terms of academic achievement, and Latino and African American students often times performing at the bottom levels. In many cases, African Ameri- can male students are at Doulas should be engaged in these larger questions of education disparity – or as some would refer to as achievement gaps – because it leads to other kinds of disparities later on, such as income, em- ployment, degree attain- ment. As a dean of the Gradu- ate School of Education, I feel very strongly about the role of teacher edu- cation and educational leadership, and being invested in solving that challenge. We (need) to direct our instruction- al effort — in terms of what we do with our stu- dents who are going to be working in these schools and communities — and shape our curriculum in a way that is designed to really transform that problem into a positive. That’s a big goal any- where I go, and Oregon will be no different. I have colleagues at Port- land State that are abso- lutely committed to that as well, and are looking to doing that work at a higher level. Read the full story at TheSkanner.com Science March An estimated 20,000 people showed up for the Science March, on Earth Day April 22 at Cal Anderson park. After listening to Washington Governor Jay Inslee, Congresswoman Suzan Del Bene and other speakers representing the scientific and environmental communities the marchers made their way to the Seattle Center. The Seattle Science March was one of hundreds held across the country in response to the Trump administration’s plans to defund the Environmental Protection Agency and cut billions of dollars from scientific research. Smith cont’d from pg 1 “We continue to have ongoing concerns over the disparate treat- ment provided by the county in personnel matters involving Af- rican Americans, whether those persons are the subjects of an HR investigation or are accused of some kind of misconduct,” reads the tort, filed by Smith’s lawyer, Craig Crispin. The notice comes on the heels of a settlement agreement that was reached with Smith’s policy advi- sor, MeeSeon Kwon, two months after she made potentially damag- ing allegations against her boss. On April 5, the county agreed to pay Kwon $23,820, which in- cludes attorney fees, plus six months’ administrative leave. Her resignation is expected on or before Sept. 8, 2017, as stated in the agreement. The settlement was the result of Kwon’s Jan. 22 email, published by Willamette Week in Febru- ary, in which she claimed Smith had used county resources for her personal campaign events, and then asked staffers to sign non-disclosure agreements. For a public official, it’s a move that raises ethical and legal questions. A week later, Saba Saleem, who worked for Smith in 2014 and 2015, came forward with her own letter backing Kwon’s story of “ should have ended with the settle- ment. “Generally, once we sign a settlement, everybody goes their own way and gets back to work,” Commissioner Smith said, on the phone with The Skanner. “I didn’t agree with the settlement, but I ‘I think this is politically and racially motivated’ —Commissioner Smith the commissioner’s mistreatment of staff, Smith’s cycling through seven chiefs of staff in six years, and her use of public resources for personal gain. Yet despite the recent settle- ment, the employee’s accusations continue to bear weight on Smith, who is only the second African American to serve as a Mult- nomah County commissioner. “A human resources investi- gation into (Kwon’s) claims is ongoing,” Julie Sullivan-Spring- hetti, communications director for Multnomah County, told The Skanner last week. But Smith said suspicions had no power to stop it.” She asserted that Kwon’s claims have not been substantiated by the County Attorney’s Office. According to Smith and Crisp- in, the external investigation currently being carried out is a tactic by County Chair Deborah Kafoury to undermine the com- missioner politically and malign her reputation. “(Kafoury) thinks I’m going to run against her,” said Smith, re- ferring to the 2018 primary elec- tion when the Chair seat will be on the ballot. Read more at TheSkanner.com cont’d from pg 1 land area — using culturally compe- tent doulas in the Sacred Roots Doula Program. In Oregon and nationwide, Black and African American families experience wide disparities in birth outcomes com- pared to White families and to other minority groups. According to 2014’s Maternal, Child and Family Health Data Book compiled by Multnomah County, mothers identifying as Black or African American were 1.7 times more likely than non-Latina White women to experience an unintended pregnancy, 1.2 times more likely not to access prenatal care at all or to access it too late in pregnancy, 2.1 times more likely to give birth to a child with low birthweight and 2.3 times more likely to experience postnatal depression. Nationally, African American fam- ilies are 1.5 times more likely to expe- rience preterm birth, and the Centers for Disease control records an infant mortality rate that’s 2.4 times higher for African American families than for White families. “Initially, doulas were for upper mid- dle class White women,” said Porter, who also serves as the diverse commu- nities chair of the Oregon Doula Asso- ciation. In addition to working with African American women, the program will “ ‘Initially, doulas were for upper middle class White women’ serve homeless mothers and teenagers, and Family Care will track outcomes — including the rate of natural (rather than Caesarian) birth and success with breastfeeding. Porter wants to ensure everyone who wants to work with a doula can access doula services. Porter received doula training her- self in 2014, and BPI works with five other doulas, all of whom are African American and will be paired with Af- rican Americans in need of prenatal care. “Most doulas work with families later in their pregnancy, at 35 weeks and up,” Porter said. “Our communit- based doulas are considered full-circle doulas.” They start working with families ear- lier in pregnancy, and typically visit homes two or three times after a child is born. BPI contracts with Family Care, which has provided some grant funding for the project, said Oscar Clark, vice pres- ident of integrated services at Family Care. “It’s really someone from the commu- nity, walking with them hand in hand through their pregnancy and someone just to be there when you have a lot of unknowns,” Clark told The Skanner. Clark also said Family Care will use the project as an opportunity to track outcomes — including any change in PUBLIC DOMAIN PHOTO “ cont’d from pg 1 PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED PSU Dean FamilyCare has partnered with Black Parent Initiative to provide doula support to African American women in FamilyCare’s network in order to improve birth outcomes. the rate of Caesarian versus natural de- liveries as well as success with breast- feeding. Once the CCO’s two-year con- tract is up, the CCO will evaluate the data it’s gathered to see what worked and what didn’t, with the goal of help- ing build a doula program that is sus- tainable over the long term.