Portland

http://www.nwlaborpress.org/2008/7-4-08SEIU.html
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6/24/08
LYNN SCHORE AND SHEI'MEKA NEWMANN OF JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL PTSA /
STATEMENT TO PLANNING COMM RE DRAFT WORK PLAN
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Here is a letter to the Oregonian editor we sent today:

Portland Public Schools' plan to demolish 10 historic elementary schools ("District marks 10 for scrap," 2/28/08) focuses on the poor condition of these schools, creating a false impression that all these schools are in bad condition.  In truth, some of these schools, like Rieke and Winterhaven, are in good condition.  Other schools, such as Sitton, Chief Joseph, and Markham, urgently need replacement. And the new Whitaker Middle School has been promised for years.
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School Board Testimony 11/5/07

Hello: My name is Nancy Smith. I have children at Woodlawn and Jefferson, and am President of the Jefferson PTSA:

Parents want skilled, experienced food service workers and custodians, and want them paid appropriately. The District’s proposed pay cut is anti-worker, and would damage the effort to keep living wage jobs in Portland. Lower wages mean higher turnover, resulting in custodians who don't develop relationships with students, teachers and staff. There is no conflict between paying a solid living wage and having an effective operation -- in fact, those go hand in hand.
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One of the agenda items at the 11/5/07 PPS School Board meeting was to address the audit of the PPS Transfer Policy, a full seventeen months after the audit was published by City of Portland Auditor Gary Blackmer and Multnomah County Auditor Suzanne Flynn.

A link to that audit, entitled "PPS STUDENT TRANSFER SYSTEM: DISTRICT OBJECTIVES NOT MET" can be found here: http://www.co.multnomah.or.us/auditor/PPS%20Student%20Transfer%20Audit.p....

Presentations made 11/5/07 by Judy Brennan, head of the PPS Enrollment and Transfer Office, and Adam Davis of the "research" firm Hibbits, were thin, inaccurate, unscientific, cherry-picked, and so utterly lacking that the Board should be ashamed.
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Choice may not improve schools, study says / Report on MPS comes from longtime supporter of plan

By ALAN J. BORSUK

Posted: Oct. 23, 2007

Link: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=678202&format=print

Some quotes:

"A study being released today suggests that school choice isn't a powerful tool for driving educational improvement in Milwaukee Public Schools.

But more surprising than the conclusion is the organization issuing the study: the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, a conservative think tank that has supported school choice for almost two decades, when Milwaukee became the nation's premier center for trying the idea. The institute is funded in large part by the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, an advocate of school choice.
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PPS is hateful. It has immoral, dishonest, racist, classist, hypcritical leadership running an immoral, dishonest, racist, classist, hypocritical district.

They don't give a crap about our city's children, unless they're their own. They don't even pretend to value every child equally or even make an attempt to provide each an equitable shot for a decent future.

PPS leadership is ethically bankrupt. How dare they say they serve our CHILDREN!! What a boil on our beloved city.