June 21, 2017 The Skanner Page 3
News
cont’d from pg 1
nity Partnerships. He
also co-chaired the Ur-
ban League of Portland
Board of Directors.
From 2002 to 2005, he
sat on the board at PPS,
before beginning his
career there some four
years later.
Lolenzo Poe
When Poe joined PPS
as Director of Strate-
gic Partnerships, he
launched partnerships
that supported the edu-
cational mission of the
district, raised money
from the corporate sec-
tor, and built a network
of community based
programs – particular-
ly with people of color,
“
on the achievement gap
between white students
and those of color.
With a mission to
help minority students
achieve their academ-
ic potential, the plan
worked to boost PPS’s
plundering high school
graduation rates, curb
its exclusionary disci-
pline, improve access to
high level courses, and
encourage a culturally
responsive workforce,
along with family and
community engagement.
The results have been
staggeringly effective.
In 2016, 84 percent of
Jefferson High School’s
123 seniors received di-
plomas, a giant leap from
a 58 percent graduation
rate back in 2012. More-
over, all Black students
enrolled in Jefferson’s
SEI Whole School Model
graduated at an 88 per-
cent rate, outpacing Or-
egon’s 76 percent grad-
uation rate for White
students.
While the plan’s trajec-
tory is targeted for suc-
cess, Poe explained that
it’s difficult to talk about
growth when you have
I came though this system,
and I understand what it
feels like when you tell kids
they can’t achieve
which had historically
lacked access to the dis-
trict’s decision-makers.
His work ignited cou-
rageous conversations
about
race,
helping
connect those isolat-
ed communities to the
school district. By the
end of his first year at
PPS, Poe joined forces
with
then-superinten-
dent Carole Smith to
move the discussions
into verifiable change
for the district – one that
was more equitable.
The result was the
five-year Racial Equity
Plan, passed by the PPS
board in the 2010-2011
school year. It called out
race-based disparities in
schools – among policies,
practices and person-
nel – and tackled head-
Memory
a long way to go from
where you started.
“I’m not going to undo
educational and insti-
tutional racism in five
years,” he said. “But we
are headed in the right
direction and our data
shows us that.”
From 2010 – 2016,
graduation rates for
male students of color
increased from 45 to 60
percent. The percent of
students experiencing
exclusionary discipline
decreased from 5.7 to 2.6
percent, while the per-
cent of students enrolled
in advanced courses in-
creased from 27.8 to 44.7
percent – that’s an addi-
tional 2,114 students.
Read the rest of this story at
TheSkanner.com
Tracy K. Smith
Becomes Poet
Laureate
Tracy K. Smith, 45, was named the country’s new poet
laureate last week by the Library of Congress. Smith won
the Pulitzer in 2012 for her poetry collection “Life on Mars”
and was a National Book Award finalist for nonfiction three
years later for her memoir “Ordinary Light.” The job’s official
title is the lofty “Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry,” and the
recipient also gets a stipend of $35,000. The laureate “serves
as the nation’s official lightning rod for the poetic impulse
of Americans,” according to the library, and “seeks to raise
the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the
reading and writing of poetry.” Smith is also the organizer
of a “Resistance” poetry series in conjunction with Mother
Jones. Smith received her bachelor’s degree at Harvard and
her master of fine arts at Columbia; she is now a professor of
creative writing at Princeton.
Settlement
PHOTO BY RACHEL ELIZA GRIFFITHS
Poe
cont’d from pg 1
of the Clark County corrections
department was fired from his
job in June 2009. The termination
came after a female employee
of Pennsylvania-based Wexford
Health Solutions Inc. — which
was contracted by the Sheriff ’s
Department in 2007 to provide
medical services to inmates —
filed a complaint that Evelyn
had made “lewd, inappropriate,
and discriminatory” remarks to-
wards her, prompting an investi-
gation into the allegations.
According to court records, pri-
or to terminating the command-
er, “the county offered him the
opportunity to voluntarily sepa-
rate from service via a retirement
agreement. Evelyn declined the
offer.”
The reason, said Evelyn, is that
he’s innocent. He asserts that the
evidence against him was the
product of a number of biased in-
terviews with both Wexford and
sheriff ’s department employees.
Moreover, Evelyn believes that
“there was a coordinated effort to
get rid of me” due to his potential-
ly damaging findings on Wexford
Health Solutions Inc.
Wexford violations
For two years, the Commander
Evelyn had been detailing a laun-
dry list of violations on the part of
Wexford, including inadequate
staffing, medical supplies, train-
ing and oversight for medical
employees; delays in providing
medicine and services to chron-
ically-ill inmates; and the pro-
motion of workers into positions
where they were not properly li-
censed.
According to Evelyn, when he
pushed the County to file a breach
of contract against Wexford, he
lost his job. He was 58-years-old
and it was the middle of a reces-
sion. “I didn’t go along with the
program, so I became the enemy,”
he said.
Evelyn’s allegations were, in
fact, backed by an outside audit
of Wexford, requested by Clark
County shortly before his termi-
nation. Conducted by the Insti-
tute for Law and Policy Planning,
the report found Wexford “has
systematically failed to comply
“
There was a co-
ordinated effort
to get rid of me
with the many complex undertak-
ings included in its contract with
the county.”
It its conclusion, ILPP wrote
“We find that Wexford is in
breach of contract, and its cur-
rent services saddle the County
with unacceptable costs and lia-
bility.”
Even so, Clark County did not
terminate its contact with Wex-
ford following the audit.
According to an article from
Modern Healthcare, between
2004 and 2009, 463 claims were
brought against Wexford nation-
wide. The healthcare provider
settled 38 of the claims, totaling
$3.1 million. Nine claims were
tried, with Wexford winning five.
Discrimination lawsuits
Six months after his termina-
tion, on Dec. 11, 2009, Evelyn filed
a suit against the Clark County
Sheriff ’s department. He alleged
that during the 20 years of his
employment, the department had
subjected him to both a hostile
work environment and disparate
treatment because of his race.
According to Evelyn, he was
subjected to racist and discrim-
inatory comments, notes and
emails over the course of two de-
cades – one email coming directly
from Sheriff Garry Lucas.
The trial court granted sum-
mary judgment in favor of the
County, ruling that Evelyn lacked
the evidence to go to trial. He
petitioned to the court of ap-
peals, which supported one of
his claims, but not the disparate
treatment, and remanded the
case.
The Skanner reached out to
Clark County for a comment
regarding Evelyn’s recent set-
tlement. Emily A. Sheldrick, at-
torney for the Clark County Pros-
ecutor’s Office, Civil Division,
sent the following statement via
email: “Clark County learned on
Monday, June 12 that Clark Coun-
ty’s liability carrier reached a
settlement with Clifford Evelyn
to resolve and dismiss his claims
against the County.”
Evelyn’s was one of three racial
discrimination tort claims filed
against the Sheriff ’s department
in 2009.
Former jail employee Britt East-
erly – who since found employ-
ment with the U.S. Secret Service
in Washington D.C – won his dis-
crimination suit in August 2016
and received $500,000 from Clark
County, reported The Columbian.
Read more at TheSkanner.com
cont’d from pg 1
light and work on projects together
that mattered,” Portland writer and
musician S. Renee Mitchell wrote on
Facebook Saturday night.
“He’s going to be very missed,” Port-
land restaurateur Frank Taylor told
The Skanner.
“Thara Memory was our 2012 Port-
land Jazz Master,” Don Lucoff, execu-
tive artistic director of the Portland
Jazz Festival, told The Skanner. “We
honored him for his service to the mu-
sic and what he’s brought to Portland in
particular.”
Lucoff said Memory “put Portland on
the map nationally from an education
standpoint,” with former students go-
ing on to study at The Julliard School
and Berklee College of Music. In 2015
Memory’s high school band won the
Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially El-
“
We honored him
for his service to the
music and what he’s
brought to Portland
in particular
lington competition in New York.
Memory was born in Tampa, Fla.,
raised in Eatonville and educated at
Alabama State University. He started
teaching at Portland State University
in 1971 and formed the university’s first
jazz band.
Memory played with Dizzie Gillespie,
James Brown, Stanley Turrentine, Ed-
die Henderson, Natalie Cole, The Four
Tops, Arturo Sandoval, Eddie Harris
and The Commodores. In 1991, Memo-
ry recorded his first CD, “Juke Music,”
following with a second, “Chronicle,” in
2006. He also played locally with Mel
Brown and the late Leroy Vinnegar and
led his own Thara Memory Superband.
Best known for his contributions
to the jazz scene, Memory also com-
posed and conducted classical music.
He also collaborated with Mitchell on
“Sherman,” a historical jazz operetta
based on the life of Sherman Thomas,
a saxophonist active in Northeast Port-
land active in the 1960s and ‘70s, when
Williams Avenue was known as “Black
Broadway.”
Members of Memory’s family could
not be reached for comment, and no
memorial service has yet been an-
nounced.
In February Memory was arraigned
on eight counts of third-degree sex
abuse, two of attempted sexual abuse
and one count of harassment, all stem-
ming from allegations made by former
students.
