Steve's blog

The following is a letter from Lynn Schore to Jefferson High School principal Cynthia Harris regarding their exchange at an Oregon Assembly for Black Affairs meeting Saturday.

September 17, 2007

Dear Dr. Harris:

I attended the public Oregon Assembly for Black Affairs (OABA) meeting on 9/15/07 at AME Zion Church. I have been an OABA member, as well as a Jefferson High School PTSA member and volunteer, for three years. The Saturday OABA meeting was described as a chance to get to hear the opinions of key PPS administrators on schools issues, and to ask questions.

The meeting was attended by PPS administrators Leslie Rennie-Hill, Willie Poinsette, Judy Elliott, Cynthia Harris, and Barbara Adams. Other people present included OABA president Calvin Henry, Ms. M. Henry, Ms. Lulu R. Stroud-Johnson, Mr. Sam Jackson, Ms. Loretta Smith, Mr. Robert Phillips, Ms. Nicole Breedlove, "in-house Oregonian reporter on contract at Jefferson High School" Kimberly Melton, myself and others. Arriving later were Sheila Warren and Colleen Davis.
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(This commentary originally appeared on my own blog yesterday.)

I'm struggling to figure out why it is, and when it became so, that open transfers are sacrosanct in Portland Public Schools. Even after Multnomah County Auditor Suzanne Flynn and Portland City Auditor Gary Blackmer condemned the PPS policy in June of 2006, noting that "the transfer policy competes with other Board policies such as strong neighborhood schools and investing in poor performing schools," Portland's school leaders are still loathe to even discuss curtailing the open transfer policy.
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I've written before about how Portland Public Schools' open transfer policy causes segregation and divestment of state tax revenue from poor neighborhoods and funnels it to wealthier neighborhoods. I've called for a New Deal for PPS that will and redirect state funding to reinvest in these neighborhoods.

My harping on these points has caused some confusion. After all, doesn't PPS actually spend more per student in the poorer schools? Yes, of course they do. But the point is that as families take advantage of PPS's open transfer policy, millions of dollars follow them out of poorer neighborhoods, landing in the wealthier, whiter neighborhoods. Left in their wake are segregated schools with fewer "specials", electives and extra-curricular activities, and under constant threat of closure, No Child Left Behind sanctions, and "reorganization" (read charter schools, alternative schools, and ill-advised grant-funded experiments).
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Steve Brand's Op-Ed in the Oregonian last week (covered on my blog, on Terry Olson's blog and on Amanda Fritz' blog) spurred quite a bit of community discussion on the issue of segregation in our Portland Public Schools. But why aren't our civic leaders weighing in on this critical issue of Portland's future?

I explore this issue more in-dept
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Portland Public Schools are at a turning point. In many ways, the Portland District seems near collapse. Glaring funding inequities plague the poorest neighborhoods of Portland, with public schools closed and merged and buildings leased out to the highest parochial school bidder. Schools are segregated economically and racially — especially in middle and high schools — to a degree disproportionate to neighborhood populations.

We need a New Deal for PPS. I have more exploration of the problem and suggestions for a solution on my
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Renee Mitchell's column in the O today has nothing but praise for Connie Van Brunt (and a lame brush-off of Terry Olson's concerns). I wrote a little response on my blog.

I posted the other day about the school board "survey". I've thought about this a little bit, and written some analysis of it on my blog.

Basically, the board is not seeking public involvement here, but engaging in marketing. It's essentially a push poll, in which market-based reform buzzwords are dangled as bait to solicit "support" for an agenda in a scientifically meaningless arena. I urge you to take the survey with a sharp eye out for their code words and agenda.