Okley Green parent letter
May 17, 2008 12:24 pm
The following is a letter sent from Ockley Green parent Sia to Superintendent Carole Smith. The letter referenced in the first paragraph decries cuts at Ockley for 08-09, including the digital media program, one P.E. teacher, and two of four eighth grade teachers. –ed.
Dear Superintendent Smith:
I have read the letter from Jamie Malloy. It’s ironic, because yesterday I was talking a Jefferson parent that was trying to convince us that we could stay in Portland Public Schools for high school. At great expense to our low-income family, my daughter will be attending a private Catholic high school.
It is clear to me and many other parents that the district plans to continue the benign neglect of Jefferson Cluster schools. It is also clear that District will continue to practice de facto segregation through the school transfer policy. I just learned that students who participate in the Jefferson Dancers will NOT be required to attend Jefferson high school in the 2008-09 school year, as had been previously reported. PPS continues to cater to families with the wherewithal to participate in the school choice program. Families that can afford to transport children across town and away from their neighborhood schools. The environmental impact of this policy on this city, with regard to traffic congestion, pollution is “not okay”. The pitting of families against one another for “lottery winnings” as one parenting blog calls it is “not okay”. Continuing to give children in schools that are primarily attended by children of color, the short end of the stick regarding resources and programming is unconscionable.
Finding a supportive learning environment for my bright, stubborn, talented Afro-Latina daughter, has been a challenge at Portland Public School since we moved here in 1st grade. We have tried the school choice policy, but found that the policy is inherently flawed. The school choice program has become about middle-class and upper class parents choosing to have more resources and less economic and/or ethnic “diversity” for their children. Children of color are not always welcomed and supported in these environments. Meanwhile, parents of children of color that are low-income are selecting to forego basic needs and paying for school. Holy Redeemer draws from the Jefferson cluster and one-third of its students are on free and reduced lunch. My daughter, attended HRCS for 4th and 5th grade until I could no longer afford it. After a disastrous year at a focus option middle school, we were blessed to find Ockley Green.
Mr. Malone, Dr. Matier and Ms. Scheetz before her, have created an environment for our children that is loving, supportive and holds them accountable. My daughter has blossomed at Ockley Green. She has been making sure that she will receive high school credit for the algebra class. She didn’t even like math before now. She believes in herself and so does her school. As the parent of a middle schooler, there are days where you’re not sure how it will turn-out. Mr. Malone and his staff have demonstrated confidence in these children, when we parents sometimes have had our doubts. As a parent, I do everything I can to make our support staff, teachers and administrators know how special and precious these past two years have been. Ockley Green is the best school we have attended in Portland Public Schools. We tried the Family Cooperative School, Beach Neighborhood School and daVinci Arts Middle. My daughter was treated so poorly at some of those schools that I worried that she would lose her love for school that she brought to Portland.
I can’t even list the wonderful ways that the many Ockley staff that have reached out to our family. It is so special and unusual in your school system. I am so bitter about the cuts.
I am angry, hurt and pretty despondent that you continue to decimate the only school that is actually trying to accomplish what the mission of the District is supposed to be. I wish I could properly articulate how horrible what you have decided to perpetuate is, but language fails me. Much like you and the School Board continue to fail our children.
Tearfully,
Sia
Sia is the parent of an Ockley Green graduate.
filed under: Equity, High Schools, Jefferson High, Ockley Green, Program cuts, Transfer Policy
May 17th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Don’t worry Sia, there will be no meaningful response. You hit the nail right on the head, the upper middle class families get a halfway decent education and everybody else gets test prep.
May 17th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
One more thing, are you kidding me???? The Jeff dancers are back to not being required to attend Jeff. Well, what a surprise.
May 20th, 2008 at 11:05 am
The struggling, madly inexperienced principal at Mt. Tabor Middle School just cut art, computers, drama, leadership and closed the library down for good.
So, we are left to ask WWJD?
What would her mentor, John Wilhelmi, do?
May 20th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Clyde,
After those cuts will Mt. Tabor still have PE, Spanish, Japanese, Band, and Yearbook? What about any other enrichments?
May 20th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
The only electives left standing at Tabor are Spanish and Band. Health class is in Oregon law, so it must be taught. Yearbook may be after-school. JMP still at Tabor.
But, the veteran, well-loved Spanish teacher has had enough of the rookie mistakes and the nastiness in the school’s administrative offices, so she’s retiring a few years early.
There is a new Spanish teacher, however, the principal actually told her staff she is not happy with the new Spanish teacher’s license and qualifications, but will make do.
The teachers at Tabor were stunned to hear the principal tear down her newest hire at a public staff meeting.
Simply stunned.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
That principal violated the teacher contract. The new Spanish teacher should file a grievance.
May 20th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
I called Mt. Tabor and asked about the cuts. They said the schedule was not out for this year yet and the library was not being shut down. So, what is the real info. I am particularly interested in the library situation.
May 20th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
The 2008-9 schedule is out and posted, with no librarians. The principal unassigned both of them, personally.
That’s a fact Tabor is not proud of, Steve, so I’m not surprised at the “disinformation” campaign.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:29 am
You know, it kind of sounds like what happened at the elementary school level 6 & 7 years ago. They unassigned most of the certified librarians and hired classified to run the libraries. No more instruction ocurred, but the libraries were kept open for teacher use and student check out of books. Some used a cross between parent volunteer and classified hires. I believe it would be very difficult to find a certified librarian in an elementary school. Maybe this is what is going on.
May 30th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
As Sia mentioned in her letter to Carole Smith, new Jefferson Dancers won’t be required to attend Jefferson this fall as previously promised by Vicki Phillips. The Jefferson Dancers continues to be the only magnet program in PPS that a student can participate in without attending the school. Superintendent Smith and the PPS school board members should be ashamed, but what else is new? Here’s an article about the latest broken promise from the Portland Tribune today:
Jefferson Dancers mandate will have to wait in the wings
Portland Public Schools officials are backing off a strategy to boost equity at Jefferson High School next year.
Since the Jefferson Dancers program is so popular citywide but the majority of the dancers come from other schools and neighboring districts, the district had been planning a new mandate for the program: Starting this fall, all Jefferson dancers actually would have to be enrolled at Jefferson.
District officials say the plan is off the table for now. The biggest concern? Questions over how many dancers would transfer to the school while Jefferson continues to struggle to attract students. If done too soon, the thinking goes, the change could make the dance program stumble.
– Tribune staff
Link to Tribune article:
http://portlandtribune.com/new.....9120560300
October 1st, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Well, speaking as a member of the Jefferson dancers and as an academic student of Cleveland high school(class of ‘09)- I would just like to say that as far as I can tell, the dance program wouldn’t be half as good if the students weren’t aloud to co-op. The co-op program allows great dancers from all over Portland (and even Beaverton+LO)to come together creating a very diverse and talented group of students-both financially AND ethnically diverse. I’ve spoken to many students about whether or not they would be willing/able to transfer to Jefferson as a full-time student, and so far I’d say almost all of them said no. Most don’t want to transfer because they’re offered higher classes and more programs/opportunities (i.e. international baccalaureate) at their home schools, some just feel more comfortable being with people they know and trust throughout the day at their neighborhood schools, another thing is we really like our off campus lunch and freedom- but whatever the reason(s) might be-the point is that little to no students would be willing to transfer, and i don’t mean to be negative but from my predictions i would assume that if all of the Jefferson dancers had to attend the high school, the program would crumble apart-at LEAST for quite a few years after the change. When i came to the co-op placement audition at the end of my 8th grade year, the studio was absolutely PACKED with dancers, we could hardly even move! Last year the da vinci dancers and other middle school kids were told that they might have to go to jefferson full-time if they want to participate in the program, and i don’t remember the exact number of students that showed up for the placement (thinking they might have to transfer into Jefferson full-time), but that day the studio was practically empty.
October 3rd, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Nate:
I am really okay with the dance program taking some hits while it re-establishes itself as the JEFFERSON dance program.
Schools like LaGuardia School of the Performing Arts (the FAME school) or School of the Arts in my hometown of San Francisco do not offer co-op programs. You’re either in or out. You make choices.
As the enrollment increases, so will the offerings. Also there’s nothing that says that Cleveland or Lincoln or Lake Oswego High can’t start their own dance programs for their students using their own resources.
I think we have sent really mixed messages about creating community, fairness, etc. when we allowed this co-op business.