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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (March 13, 2019)
March 13, 2019 The Skanner Portland & Seattle Page 3 cont’d from pg 1 tary School building, which Portland Public Schools closed the year before as part of a dis- trict-wide restructuring effort. Oregon Public Broad- casting reported last May that the school would be losing its lease – which had initially been writ- ten to last through 2026, with options for up to three extensions of up to 10 years. But officials said the school’s payments to PPS — of more than at St. Charles, we shared about each other’s pas- sions and each other’s ministry and we found we’re so alike, this will be a great partnership if it happens -- and thankful- ly it did happen,” Leong said. Both communities serve families of modest means, Leong said. De La Salle also has a higher proportion of minori- ty students than many other Portland schools, and a high percentage “ After exploring more than 40 sites over the past three years, we are thrilled to have found a new and permanent home for De La Salle North Catholic High School $33,00 a month — were too steep. In 2015 De La Sal- le North officials ap- proached PPS, offering to buy the building, ne- gotiate a 60-year lease extension or terminate the lease earlier than 2026. The district chose the third option, and three years later officials learned the school would be losing its lease. “After exploring more than 40 sites over the past three years, we are thrilled to have found a new and per- manent home for De La Salle North Catholic High School,” said Pat- ti O’Mara, chair of the board of trustees of De La Salle North in the school’s press release. “The first time I visited St. Charles Parish, I could envision our students filling the classrooms of this building. We are very grateful to establish this long-term partner- ship with St. Charles and to become a vital mem- ber of the Cully neigh- borhood.” By the time De La Salle North president Oscar Leong stepped into his role last July, the board’s search for a new school site was well underway. “I really give credit to board chair Patti O’Mara and the rest of the board members to opening their eyes about this op- portunity,” Leong told The Skanner. Many of the other sites officials looked at were not quite right in some way, Leong said: too large, too small or too far away. The new loca- tion in the Cully neigh- borhood is not far from Kenton, and felt “like a place where De La Salle students belong.” “The first time I actu- ally met Leif Kehrwald, the pastoral administra- tor of St. Charles Parish, of low-income students for a private school: ac- cording to demographic information released by the school, 33 percent of De La Salle students iden- tify as African American, 38 percent of students as Hispanic, 10 percent as Caucasian, 8 percent as multiracial, 3 percent as Asian and 8 percent as other or unknown. More than half qualify for free or reduced lunch. Eighty-nine percent of students receive a schol- arship to attend and 68 percent have full schol- arships, with no student being turned away for an inability to pay – and al- though students start on average a year and a half behind in reading and math, a full 100 percent are accepted to college on graduation. The school is also known for its replica- tion of the corporate work study program pio- neered by Chicago’s Cris- to Rey Jesuit High School, which allows students to work one day a week to partially finance the cost of their tuition while learning office skills and making connections. Leong said officials told students Tuesday during a senior ring ceremony that the current senior, junior and sophomore classes would be the last three to graduate out of the current building; in fall of 2021, De La Salle students who are fresh- men now will be seniors on the St. Charles cam- pus. “A big cheer went up, and it was really exciting to hear -- really exciting and humbling and emo- tional,” Leong said. The new facility will ac- commodate 350 students, and the school is current- ly accepting applications for the class of 2023. For more information, visit www.delasallenorth.org. Forest Service Celebrates Scholarship Recipients The USDA Forest Service held a reception for the recipients of The Skanner Foundation’s scholarship on March 12 in Portland. The Skanner Foundation, in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region, awards two scholarships of $1,500 each to an eligible graduating high school senior and/or an eligible college student in the Portland/Vancouver/Seattle areas. Normally these scholarships are awarded at The Skanner Foundation’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast, but this year the Forest Service -- the only federal partner with The Skanner Foundation – was not able to attend. This year’s winners were Ganiyat Karimu and Nikki Nguyen, seniors at De La Salle North Catholic High School. Pictured here are Glenn Casamassa, Regional Forester, PNW Region (left); scholarship recipient Ganiyat Karimu; Shoni Pilip-Florea, director, office of communications and community engagement, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region; scholarship recipient Nikki Nguyen; and Shandra L. Terry, regional community engagement and inclusion programs coordinator for the USDA Forest Service. Wade cont’d from pg 1 ‘not compliant’ with the terms of probation, this is a space that someone could go instead of get- ting sanctioned to jail,” Stamp said. “Instead of ‘Go do five days in “ At the Diane Wade House, she said, ‘The women get to be themselves’ jail because you’re screwing up,’ the response could be, ‘I have a resource for you that could help you get more stability and head on the road towards wellness.’” The house is largely staffed by peers — women who have them- selves been involved in the justice system. Sonja Freeman, a certi- fied recovery mentor at the Diane Wade House, said her experience with incarceration and in tran- sitional housing has given her insight into how a more cultur- ally specific program can benefit women of color. “I talk loud,” Freeman said. “I talk with my hands. I was known as aggressive or threaten- Arrest cont’d from pg 1 bic slurs at him. The other Proud Boys member hasn’t yet been ar- rested. A request for comment Tuesday evening from police about the timing of Flippo’s arrest wasn’t immediately answered. On Monday, Wheeler called for “ ing when culturally it’s different. I’m just passionate. That’s how we communi- cate. At the Diane Wade House, we un- derstand that. We’re not intimidated by that. We can read the body language, we know the tone.” Freeman told The Skanner about her Diane Wade House staff embrace a tearful client at a Feb. own interactions 23 community gathering for the grand opening of the Diane with the justice sys- Wade House, a new transitional facility offering Afrocentric tem: Separated from services for women transitioning out of the criminal justice her family at an ear- system. ly age, she turned to a shared kitchen. At the Diane drugs and alcohol to cope with Wade House, she said, “The wom- trauma. Being biracial proved to en get to be themselves.” be a social barrier, and she found Freeman herself is in recovery, that she was most accepted in cir- and explained that her work at cles where substance abuse was Diane Wade House, specifically prevalent. under the mentorship of Bridg- “I did do county time,” Freeman es to Change program manag- said. “I was on probation one time er O’Nesha Cochran, has been for 10 years. I had 15 convictions life-altering for her. that I got expunged, that are now It is also a fitting homage to the completely off my record” as of facility’s namesake, who served last week. as a parole and probation officer She recalled living in a tran- for more than a decade until her sition home where she didn’t death in 2010. feel comfortable enough to cook Read more at TheSkanner.com her favorite comfort foods in PHOTO BY De La Salle PHOTO BY JERRY FOSTER News In what city is it legal to en- gage in a street brawl? a change to laws if they don’t allow police officers to arrest brawlers and vowed that anyone fighting will not go unpunished. Wheeler also said prosecutors were being too timid and not en- forcing existing law. Wheeler mentioned an Oct. 13 fight outside a downtown bar in which members of the right- wing group Patriot Prayer and left-wing Antifa used fists, batons and even bear mace. Police were present but did not attempt any arrests. Wheeler said officials in Mult- nomah County District Attorney Rod Underhill’s office told may- oral aides that prosecutors could do nothing because the law allows for “mutual combat” between people fighting. “That was an unacceptable answer for me,” Wheeler said. “C’mon folks, we’re overcompli- cating this. You’re not allowed to fight on the streets of the city.” The police department is under scrutiny after it was revealed last month that a lieutenant in charge of containing protests texted re- peatedly with the leader of Patri- ot Prayer, detailing the movement of a rival protest group. Brent Weisberg, a spokesman for Underhill, said prosecutions are “incredibly complex” and some elements have been over- simplified “by individuals other than prosecutors.” Sometimes prosecutors cannot determine the initial aggressor, he said, making it legally and eth- ically questionable to file charges.
