February 20, 2019 The Skanner Portland & Seattle Page 3
News
the Vancouver, Wash.-
based leader of Patriot
Prayer, a group whose
demonstrations
have
often descended into
bloody clashes with an-
tifascist demonstrators.
The stories drew nation-
al attention and criticism
from the named com-
missioners,
prompted
the mayor to call for an
investigation of the texts
and to ask Niiya to cease
communication
with
Gibson.
The Portland Police
Bureau announced there
would be an internal re-
view, released additional
texts and the city sched-
uled a listening session,
which will take place
from 6 to 8 p.m. Feb. 21at
the Maranatha Church,
4222 NE 12th Ave.
Wheeler has stood by
his call for an indepen-
dent investigation into
the text exchanges and
his comments that the
text exchanges appear to
“unnecessarily encour-
age” Gibson.
In a statement, Wheel-
er said police must re-
main objective and that
the texts appear to “cross
several boundaries.”
“They also raise ques-
tions about whether war-
rants are being enforced
consistently and what
information is being
shared with individuals
who may be subject to ar-
rest,” he said.
In one text, Niiya tells
Gibson he does not see a
need to arrest Gibson’s
assistant, Tusitala “Tiny”
Toese, who often brawls
with anti-fascist protest-
ers, even if he was the
target of a warrant, un-
less Toese committed a
new crime.
On Wednesday Willa-
mette Week reported that
the Multnomah County
District Attorney’s office
built a convincing case
for prosecuting Toese
but have so far failed to
do so, in part because
they’ve asked the police
for more evidence and
PPB has not provided it.
“Just make sure he
doesn’t do anything
which may draw our at-
tention,” Niiya texted
Gibson on Dec. 9, 2017.
“If he still has the war-
rant in the system (I don’t
run you guys so I don’t
personally know) the of-
ficers could arrest him. I
don’t see a need to arrest
“
Just make
sure he
doesn’t do
anything
which may
draw our
attention
on the warrant unless
there is a reason.”
“This story, like many
that have come before
it, simply confirms what
many in the communi-
ty have already known
— there are members of
the Portland police force
who work in collusion
with right-wing extrem-
ists,” wrote city commis-
sioner Jo Ann Hardesty
after the stories were re-
leased.
Eudaly joined Hardes-
ty and Wheeler in call-
ing for an investigation,
writing, “This revela-
tion has only served to
confirm suspicions and
deepen the divide be-
tween the PPB and the
community. All mem-
bers of our police bureau
must follow our rules
and uphold our progres-
sive values, not aid and
abet groups and individ-
uals bent on doing harm
to our communities and
responsible for terroriz-
ing our city.”
PPCOA’s
pending
grievance alleges that
these comments vio-
late a clause in its labor
agreement with the city,
saying if it has reason to
reprimand or disclipline
a commanding officer, “it
shall be done in a man-
ner that is least likely to
embarrass the command-
ing officer before other
employees or the public.”
Heidi Beirich at the
Southern Poverty Law
Center, said the texts did
seem “odd for their chat-
tiness” and warrant an
investigation.
Read the rest of this story at
TheSkanner.com
Oregon Children’s
Theatre Presents
“The Legend
of Rock, Paper,
Scissors!”
Oregon Children’s Theatre will present “The Legend of
Rock, Paper, Scissors!”, a world premiere musical by
John Maclay with music by Eric Nordin, directed by
Stan Foote, based on the best-selling children’s book
by Drew Daywalt, March 2 through April 14, 2 p.m.
and 5 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Sundays
at Winningstad Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway. For more
information, visit www.octc.org or call (503) 228-
9571. The ensemble cast features Janelle Rae Davis,
Alex Lankford, Alec Cameron Lugo, Rob Lauta, and
Tara Velarde.
Rosa Parks
cont’d from pg 1
ed by the Oregon School Report
Card – and according to text from
school board meeting minutes,
Portland Public Schools consid-
ered those gains insufficient. Last
May, the Portland Public Schools
board voted to keep Rosa Parks
on a year-round schedule for one
more school year, then transition
back to a year-round schedule.
As Oregon Public Broadcasting
reported Monday, teachers say
despite repeated efforts to con-
tact the school district to confirm
the change and offer input, they
didn’t receive direct confirmation
— or any direct communication
from the school district about
the school’s schedule -- until this
month.
“During the pilot years of the
year-round calendar at Rosa
Parks School, some improve-
ments in student achievement
were shown. Unfortunately, not
enough growth was shown com-
pared to similar demographic
schools. Also, it is inconclusive
whether the gains are due to the
yearround calendar, or due to the
lack of comparable baseline data,”
reads a resolution in the school
board’s meeting minutes from the
May 8, 2018 PPS board meeting.
That resolution recommends
that the school continue with a
year-round schedule for 2018-
2019 and return to a traditional
schedule the following year.
Rosa Parks teachers who spoke
with The Skanner said there was
talk of a schedule shift in Novem-
ber 2017, and that at the time the
district was concerned about pay-
roll, curriculum rollout and pro-
fessional development.
A Feb. 12 email sent from Port-
land Public Schools to Rosa Parks
staff notes that because other
schools in the area — including
George Middle School and Roos-
“
gram, making year-over-year, ap-
ples-to-apples test score compari-
sons difficult. (PPS was not able to
confirm this in time for The Skan-
ner’s deadline.)
Nichole Watson, who teaches
fourth grade at the school, told
Originally, when the district had decid-
ed that we were going to pilot the year-
round program, that was supposed to
be offered to other cluster schools
evelt High School — are on tradi-
tional schedules, it was difficult
for families to juggle the schedule
of kids on different scheduled.
“Originally, when the district
had decided that we were going
to pilot the year-round program,
that was supposed to be offered
to other cluster schools,” which
would prevent precisely the fric-
tion the district described, said
Beyoung Yu, who teaches English
as a second language at Rosa
Parks.
Harry Esteve, a spokesperson
for Portland Public Schools, said
while the year-round pilot pre-
dates his hiring by PPS, he has
also heard that there was talk of
extending the schedule.
“My understanding was that
this was set up as a pilot program
with the idea that there were oth-
er schools that would go to it but
that didn’t happen,” Esteve said.
According to Yu, the school
has not used the same standard-
ized test every year since it has
been on the year-round pilot pro-
The Skanner that during her 2017
campaign, school board member
Rita Moore described standard-
ized tests as “fundamentally bi-
ased” and “not useful” for par-
ents, students or teachers – and
that the emphasis on test scores
was not the district’s original ar-
gument for the schedule change.
And while the May vote was
public, Watson said, it came at
the end of a meeting that had last-
ed more than five hours, with no
prior communication to teach-
ers or parents about when the
board would vote on the schedule
change.
“We just feel, as predominantly
a community of color, these are
the decisions that people in pow-
er make when they don’t really
work for equity,” Watson said.
The school adopted the year-
round pilot to help address “sum-
mer slide” — the phenomenon
where students lose ground over
the summer months.
Read more at TheSkanner.com
cont’d from pg 1
bers of the public to contact homicide
detective William Winters at (503) 823-
0466 if they have any information. The
state medical examiner will conduct
an autopsy to determine the cause and
manner of Goggans’ death.
Goggans’ family held a vigil for her
Saturday evening in East Portland and
a viewing Monday afternoon at the
Terry Family Funeral Home, and has
set up a GoFundMe to help with funer-
al expenses (https://www.gofundme.
com/in-the-loving-memory-of-jaquo-
na-lakaya-goggans?utm_source=face-
book&utm_medium=social&utm_cam-
paign=fb_co_shareflow_m).
Goggans’ death is not the first time
violence has been visited on Palmer’s
family. She had already been involved
“
The community
needs to stop being
silent on stuff like
this
in movements to prevent violence for
years when, in January 2015, her son,
Jazman A. Moore was shot four times
in an incident that was described as
gang-related and which he survived.
She formed an organization called the
Go Get Your Child Community Violence
Prevention Coalition to assist families
affected by gang violence and help gang
members turn their lives around.
“The community needs to stop being
silent on stuff like this,” Palmer told
The Skanner.
“That is the coldest thing that you can
do to a person, to kill them and put them
in the trunk of a car somewhere. I don’t
know who killed her. She belonged to
someone. She wasn’t a piece of trash.
All the families are being affected by
all this violence in the community and
it needs to stop and we need to stand up
and take a stand as a community.”
PHOTO BY
Goggans
cont’d from pg 1
PHOTO COURTESY OF OREGON CHILDREN’S THEATER
PPB Texts
Jaquonna Goggans
