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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (April 4, 2018)
April 4, 2018 The Skanner Page 3 News vestigation by the Orego- nian alleging he had lied on his resume and omit- ted from background check forms a criminal history that includes convictions for theft, forgery and a gun-relat- ed crime. Following the publica- tion of the Oregonian’s story, Collins took a tem- “ Youth Job Fair cont’d from pg 1 ate and a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and Polit- ical Science, and that he had a master’s degree in divinity, were false. Emmanuel Community Services, which aimed to aimed to help women, children and domestic violence victims, filed articles of dissolution in Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and civic leaders, including PPS Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero, Mount Hood Community College President Debra Derr, and Worksystems Executive Director Andrew McGough, called for regional employers and volunteers to support an April 13 Job Fair aimed at providing job resources for the region’s unemployed young people. The Opportunity Youth Job Fair, co-hosted by Worksystems, Gateway to College National Network, the national 100,000 Opportunities Initiative, will be held April 13 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Oregon Convention Center. Individuals will be able to interview for immediate job openings, and register for Summerworks and Worksystems’ new Connect2Careers initiative. Connect2Careers is a systemic approach to organize jobs and training for young people to certify skills, giving them a leg up in the labor market and enhancing the quality of our local labor pool. For more information, including registration for employers, job seekers, and volunteers, visit http://www.gatewaytocollege. org/pdx-job-fair.html. For more information about Summerworks and Connect2Careers, visit https://www.worksystems.org/summerworks. He had lied on his resume and omitted from back- ground check forms a crimi- nal history porary leave of absence from his position at the helm of the organization. Collins served three years of probation, end- ing in 2000, after a 1997 theft, forgery and weap- ons conviction, and faced charges of domestic vi- olence, two of which re- sulted in women obtain- ing a restraining order against him. The newspa- per also reported Collins owed more than $170,000 in penalties, interest and back taxes to the state of Oregon and the Internal Revenue Service. The story also says Collins’ claims he had a doctor- Teacher cont’d from pg 3 COURTESY OF NORMAN SYLVESTER Festival February, public records show. A reporter’s call to the phone number list- ed on the organization’s website was met with a busy signal. According to documents filed with the Oregon Secretary of State’s office, the organi- zation incorporated as a nonprofit in 1990. In addition to his role as CEO of the nonprofit, Collins’ LinkedIn page lists Collins’ current po- sitions as a corporate consultant (beginning in June 2017) and as an ex- ecutive administrator of Emmanuel Church, dat- ing back to June 2004. Bluesman Norman Sylvester performing at the Nehalem Bay Winery, March 2018. music to relay that.” The festival’s per- formers should know, as many have experienced first-hand the plight of accessing and affording healthcare – in particu- lar, Oregon blues legend Norman Sylvester, who has been a festival main- stay from the start. “I have played too many benefits for mu- sicians who fell ill or, more tragically, played at their (tributes). They didn’t have preventative care because of years of not being able to af- ford healthcare,” Sylves- ter said in the festival’s press release. But as the state of the nation’s health care sys- tem continues to hang in the balance, Health Care for All Oregon falls in line with many local vi- sions of an agreeable and equitable model. On Feb. 1, Multnomah County’s board of com- missioners passed a res- olution supporting leg- islative action towards universal health care access. In the letter, the commissioners urged “the Governor and the Legislature to continue working to develop a comprehensive, equita- ble, and high-quality sys- tem of health care that is accessible to all, without discrimination, and that is affordable for families, businesses, and society.” The North Portland Ea- gles Lodge is located at 7611 N Exeter Avenue in Portland, Oregon, 97203. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. and performances will run until midnight. Tickets can be pur- chased for $20 online at Ticket Tomato, or at Music Millennium (3158 E Burnside), Geneva’s Shear Perfection (5601 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd), Peninsula Sta- tion (8316 N. Lombard), and Musician’s Union Hall (325 NE 20th Ave). Tickets are $25 at the door. PHOTO COURTESY OF WORKSYSTEMS Collins cont’d from pg 1 Rogers, chief HR officer for PPS, in a Tuesday-afternoon email to local press. “Our review conclud- ed that there were serious safety risks posed to students during the unplanned walkout on Feb- ruary 9. Based on those findings, I recommended initiating the termination process for an Ock- ley Green educator. In ongoing conversations with Ockley Green leadership, and in response to the school community’s feedback to the district, I now have a broad understanding of the historical failure of the district to consis- tently support the Ockley Green community. Since we cannot be certain of the role that our sys- temic failings played in this in- cident, I no longer believe that termination is an appropriate recommendation.” That message, timestamped at 5:04 p.m. Tuesday, immediately followed a parent-led demonstra- tion planned at 4:30 p.m. outside school district headquarters. Par- ents and students also rallied at the school on Monday morning – some staying all day until classes were over. And an online petition to reinstate Riser had more than 4,000 signatures as of Tuesday afternoon. Kiante Griffin-Holmes, whose son attends Ockley Green, told The Skanner Riser is one of a small number of teachers at the school who she trusts to advocate for students without bias. “We don’t need less Mr. Risers. We need way more like him,” Ock- ley Green parent Jeffrey Johnson said. Griffin-Holmes’ son is part of the school’s Black Student Union, and parents and students say it was the BSU – not Riser nor activ- ist Teressa Raiford, who had come to speak to students – who started the walkout. Riser had invited activist Teres- sa Raiford to speak at the school on the morning of Feb. 9 as part of a week of Black history events. Feb. 9 was also the first anniversa- ry of the death of Quanice Hayes, a 17-year-old Black Portlander who was shot and killed by Port- land police. Students then walked through North and Northeast Portland – to the North Police precinct, to Jefferson High School and Portland Community Col- lege’s Cascade Campus. Community members said Ris- er was singled out and that the district’s response to the Feb. 9 demonstration, compared to walkout, was not consistent. Ac- cording to Griffin-Holmes and Johnson, several teachers and “ Community members said Riser was sin- gled out and that the dis- trict’s response to the Feb. 9 demonstration, compared to walkout, was not consistent administrators enthusiastically joined the march. PPS spokes- person David Northfield said it’s true there were other teachers involved in the walkout, but his narrative differed from the par- ents’. “There were a few staff mem- bers including a vice principal who when they saw the students were leaving were alarmed and went along with them since there was no plan in place. I would hes- itate to describe those people as participants since it would make it sound like they were participat- ing in the organizing of it, which is not the case,” Northfield told The Skanner. An email sent the afternoon of Feb. 9 to Ockley Green parents and signed by principal Paula McCullough and obtained by The Skanner describes the walkout this way: “The activist then walked out- side and asked students to follow, and many of them did. Teachers and one administrator followed to help ensure student safety. The group then marched to Portland Police Bureau’s North Precinct. The march proceeded to Jeffer- son High School, past Portland Community College and back to Ockley Green. Portland Police officers sent officers and patrol cars to escort the students, block streets, and keep everyone safe. “The protest was not organized or condoned by Ockley Green ad- ministrators or Portland Public Schools. “We are proud of our students for taking an interest in current events involving the communi- ty as well as our larger society. However, we want students and staff to know that there are more appropriate ways to organize an event. If we work together, we can ensure student safety and min- imize disruption to the school while still honoring students’ voices.” Riser’s suspension garnered na- tional attention, perhaps due to increased attention paid to youth- led social movements in the wake of the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland, Florida. In March stu- dents across the country held two events – one on March 14, a Wednesday, and one on March 26, a Saturday – to call for reformed gun laws. Students in Portland, includ- ing a small group from Ockley Green, were among them. PPS sent a press release to local media March 14 announcing several me- dia-friendly, district-sanctioned events, and according to North- field, the district did not sanction any walkouts. Here’s how an email sent to Ock- ley Green parents by principal Paula McCullough on the morn- ing March 14 described the event: “We want you to know that the school sponsored event was suc- cessful and all students returned to class at its conclusion. About five minutes into class a group of about 75 students chose to stage a walkout. This group of about [sic] currently is at Jefferson HS,” McCullough wrote. The March 14 email goes on to name four teachers who were then with the students; Riser was not among them.