PPS Watch

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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See Beth Slovik's article in the Willamette Week at:
http://www.wweek.com/wwire/?p=8298

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.

or Neoliberalism, Portland Public Schools, and the Commodification of Human Life

(I've posted the uncensored version of this essay on my blog.)

It's been nearly four months since I wrote Part 1 of this essay, so I figured it's time to let Part 2 out of my brain.

In Part 1 I focussed on Oregon's revenue crisis, the result of a libertarian assault on the state's ability to raise revenue in the '90s. When discussing the state of education in Portland, one cannot overemphasize the dire effect revenue loss has had on our schools. Portland went from 15th in the nation in spending per pupil in the early '90s to 31st in '04-'05. We now have the fourth-worst student-teacher ratio in the nation.
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Have you read the Gates grants awarded to PPS for transforming the district's high schools? You might want to get informed about what Bill, Vicki, and their friends at the Portland Schools Foundation have planned for Portland's public schools. The Gates grant application submitted by PPS and the Portland Schools Foundation in Fall 2005 indicates that PPS plans to actively support a wide array of partner-operated (charter) schools and school leadership models within the district, such as community governance models.

Watch what's happening at the pilot school (Jefferson) to understand what might be spreading to other schools.
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PUBLIC SCHOOLS DIVIDED BY RACE
By Raymond Rendleman/The Portland Observer
March 2007

High school students make their way to classes at Trillium, a public charter school that attracts a far higher percentage of non-minority students than its close by neighbor Jefferson. Trillium also allows students a greater control over curriculum and projects that include the hallway mural. Photo by Raymond Rendleman/The Portland Observer

Charter schools add to equation

Jefferson High School's majority-black demographics are not the result of majority-black populations in its north and northeast Portland territory. Even as gentrification whitens its surrounding neighborhoods, Jefferson's percentage of black students increased 14 percent in the past 14 years. At 68 percent black, Jefferson now has more than two African American students for every student of other ethnicities.
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Hi, I've just posted this on on my blog, and thought I might share it here. My apologies in advance if this is not appropriate for posting here.

Portland was once admired among cities for the fact that the middle classes had not yet given up on its public schools. But after a series of ballot measures in the '90s requiring severe property tax limitations, a major economic downturn, and a complete lack of leadership from two Democratic governors (not to mention a Republican state house with a strong libertarian bias against public anything), Portland's public schools seem to be throwing in the towel.

Today, in part one, I focus on the funding crisis.
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