In Portland, Ore., school officials are struggling with a disconnect between how the city sees itself (very livable and very special) and the poor performance of its public schools (almost half of high school students don’t graduate in four years).
Fifth-year seniors are becoming a trend.
“The stigma of a fifth year is not what it once was,” Charles Rynerson told a group of roughly 39 parents and community members who have been asked to help the Portland Public School District plan for its future – and for a new bond measure. (The group goes by the name, Long-Range Facilities Plan Advisory Committee, which won’t be repeated here again. Just call it “the committee.”)
Rynerson, who is with the Population Research Center at Portland State University, said at the committee’s first meeting that fifth-year seniors have been increasing in the district for the past seven years.
Nobody questioned whether it was good or bad that five years of high school were becoming accepted.
In Oregon there is no shortage of blue ribbon committees or commissions. They allow government agencies and politicians to appear interested in what the public thinks. In this case, the committee will give the Portland Public School District something to point to as a public endorsement when it designs its next bond measure.
Last May, voters rejected a $548 million bond measure that would have rebuilt eight schools. C.J. Sylvester, the district’s chief operating officer, explained the loss in The Oregonian this way: “People didn’t feel involved in the work effort leading up to the development of the bond.”
The committee, though, is as unwieldy as its name. At its first meeting in December at the district’s offices, it took 45 minutes for everyone to introduce themselves — and not all members were there. Those who were couldn’t always hear one another because there was no microphone, and they were situated around tables forming one huge circle.
“I want to make sure voices of low-income, African-Americans are heard,” said one mother.
“I’m representing special ed interests,” said another woman.
A mother of two said she had been asked to “bring a neighborhood perspective.”
An architect who opposed the last bond and did a lot of analysis for it, said he was concerned about class size and teacher workload.
Kate Willis, a Nike executive and parent of a senior said she was interested in using the committee as an opportunity “to innovate … pick the best things from other countries.” (This was one of the smartest things anybody said.)
By the second meeting on Jan. 10 at Jefferson High’s cafeteria, there were microphones, but some members from the first meeting were already skipping, while those who missed the first meeting had to introduce themselves.
School board member Bobbie Regan urged everyone to “think outside the box.”
Thinking outside the box is so ubiquitous it is now inside the box.
One of the student representatives on the committee, Patrick Stupfel, gave it a try, anyway. He suggested selling advertising on school property, envisioning Franz Bakery ads on lockers and soliciting revenue from Dick’s Sports.
“Businesses would dog-fight to advertise,” he said.
The school district officials who hover over this committee want ideas on how to get voters to approve a school bond.
At a “Buildings and Learning 101” session at Benson High last month, Sylvester and Director of Facilities Tony Magliano went back and forth with a slide show on how decrepit the schools were.
“Hammering in the steam system impairs students’ ability to learn,” said Magliano.
“We have made some ADA improvements. … We want all students to be able to attend — and their parents to attend — all performances,” said Sylvester.
They listed some of the problems: They have to ask custodial staff to maintain systems that are not worth maintaining … They had to send memos to teachers telling them they couldn’t have personal electrical items such as heaters and refrigerators in their classrooms because of inadequate electrical outlets … Studies show that students perform better with the quality of lighting, particularly with natural light … Many Portland schools were built before earthquake risk was known, and the 1995 seismic bond didn’t do all the work.
On and on it went. The same complaints are recycled at other meetings. There’s no doubt the schools are in sad shape, but really now: Hammering in the steam system impairs students’ ability to learn? (It always helped keep me awake.) Seriously, though, students are going to live and work in a world that is not always shiny and new.
The schools need improvements, and parents at “Buildings and Learning 101” seemed interested in restoring the substance of education – not just school appearances.
More than one person asked about shop classes shutting down. “When I grew up, kids waited to get into shop. … This is probably the only building with shop. Why can’t we open up shop?” a man asked.
Sylvester provided a bureaucratic reply: “That is part of the overall educational program … which ones can be supported and which ones cannot.”
“I would like to add to that,” another parent said, who then talked about how a lot of young men like auto shop. “What about a business partnership? Bring back auto shop. … Businesses that would employ these young people could help pay for the classes and train them.”
Perhaps through no fault but heredity, Sylvester’s face often wears an expression of placid resignation – as if to say, “We’ve done all we can.” She looked particularly helpless when the talk turned to shop classes.
“I think there are a number of partnerships in process at this moment in time,” she said. “I don’t yet know what the outcome of that process is going to be.”
A sense of helplessness settles over discussions about the sorry state of Portland schools. At one point in the “Buildings and Learning 101” slide show, Sylvester and Magliano featured a photo of Franklin High School, where wheelchair ramps had been installed with speed bumps to prevent skateboarding.
“They came along and broke them off,” said Magliano, adding another item to his maintenance list.
Who is “they?” And what is to stop “them” from breaking off new speed bumps if a school bond is passed?
In his “State of the State” message Jan. 13, Gov. John Kitzhaber displayed another kind of helplessness.
He promoted his own answers to school reform and, not surprisingly, they revolve around the same solution that Portland Public Schools are seeking: more money. Schools already take a large chunk out of the general fund, but Kitzhaber believes they are underfunded.
“I am suggesting that there is a lot more risk in the status quo; that the riskiest thing we can do right now is to continue to cling to what we are doing today – because we know where that is taking us and it is not to a good place.”
There is nothing more status quo than a politician asking for money. Kitzhaber’s ideas are, in fact, clinging to what has been tried.
What wouldn’t be status quo?
Looking back and asking, “What used to work that we abandoned and shouldn’t have?”
Things like shop class, which were dropped in favor of pushing all students towards college.
When the Portland Tribune ran a story on the school district’s efforts to woo voters, it included photos of repairs needed at Portland schools that would have been fixed had the May bond been approved. Some of the problems – broken windows, frayed carpet – could be fixed by students studying basic carpentry. If such a thing were taught.
A small effort by school officials to show that they can do something besides ask for more money might persuade voters that the district is capable of change.
Nothing, however, would challenge the status quo more than a biology lesson.
Kitzhaber made reference to “the 18,000 at-risk kids born every year” who often encounter problems in school. He’s a physician. He has to know that the stork isn’t responsible for creating these at-risk children.
If he wanted to, Kitzhaber could look at policies in the Dept. of Human Services that encourage males and females who cannot take care of themselves, to create little ones they can’t take care of, either.
That would be thinking outside the status quo.
– Pamela Fitzsimmons
Related: More Kids Left Behind
I hope many people take the time to read this posting and really think about it.
Underfunding of schools is not the problem. It is the misuse of the limited funds available. The funds are limited because that is all we can afford.
Another great post on this subject can be found at http://bojack.org/2011/05/to_all_the_bummedout_portland.html
Thank you for that link.
Here’s where Jack nails it: “They’ll tell you it’s impossible, that there are different colors of money, that light rail money can’t be spent on schools, yada yada. Hey — it’s all taxes. The colors of money game was invented by the politicians, and it can be undone by the politicians.”
That game has been played for years by politicians at all levels. When I was a reporter in California, city councils (which also served as “Redevelopment Agencies”) and school boards were always complaining about how available funds could only be spent in certain ways and, therefore, they needed more money. If you asked them why they didn’t pursue changes in the laws so they could free up available funds to spend where needed, they would act like changing a law was impossible. Laws are changed all the time. (Last year, Redevelopment Agencies in California were eliminated.)
This speaks to the learned “helplessness” on display at the three school committee and “Buildings and Learning 101” meetings I’ve been to.
On Jack’s blog post, there was a comment from somebody called lw, who noted several issues that should be raised if/when Portland Public Schools offers another bond. Based on the three recent meetings I attended, those issues are still valid.
Pamela
Do you have kids in the Portland school system? I’d bet not.
How did you vote on the last bond?
I have no children — period.
I do have seven nieces and nephews who run the gamut: The oldest is a public school teacher, and the youngest is being home-schooled.
Since I had an excellent public school education while growing up in Oregon, I have always voted for school bonds. My first exception was last year; I did not vote for the Portland school bond.
Since returning to Oregon, I’ve been trying to figure out what’s happened to the schools. The answer is complicated, and Portland certainly isn’t alone in having its public education deterioriate, but one symptom of what’s wrong was last year’s approval of the “hip-hop” high school. Twenty years ago that might have been an interesting, cutting-edge experiment. In the 21st Century, Portland should have known better.
When the school failed to open, some supporters seemed to shrug it off as if the half-million dollars wasted didn’t matter because it was a federal grant. Money is money. It made the school district look irresponsible.
Pamela
One point, one question. First, the “hip-hop” high school was a charter school. PPS had no say in the federal grant or how the money was (mis)spent. The school was a nonprofit, its spending controlled by a board of directors. Why do you blame PPS?
The question: what exactly are the DHS policies “that encourage males and females who cannot take care of themselves, to create little ones they can’t take care of, either”?
Scott:
The Portland School Board approved the charter for that “hip-hop” high school. (Here’s a link to The Oregonian’s coverage of the board’s 6-0 vote.)
Although they operate under different regulations, charter schools are part of the state school system. Like I said, even though that particular school was funded with federal dollars, money is money.
As for DHS, among the worst policies of state social services is the unwillingness to promote birth control. Social workers will tell you they don’t set policy, that politicians do. I don’t see many social workers (even retired ones) sticking their necks out and speaking truth to power. Republican and Democratic politicians alike are given a pass by the voters (and the media) on this issue.
As I stated in this op-ed that appeared in The Oregonian a few years ago, the message sent to young women is that getting pregnant gets you stuff. (Note: The link will take you to the op-ed, but for some reason OregonLive’s archives credited Galen Barnett. The tagline has the correct byline.)
When I was a court-appointed special advocate, I sat in “wrap-around meetings” at DSHS and watched women (and sometimes their boyfriends) swaddled with services to help them get on their feet and get off drugs. It’s all well-intentioned. If it were working, would we be where we are now?
Pamela
“…policies in the Dept. of Human Services that encourage males and females who cannot take care of themselves, to create little ones they can’t take care of, either.”
Perhaps what we are looking at here is not a social problem but a evolutionary solution. See this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brood_parasite
I love your writing. Thank you.
Tom:
Thank you for that link. That is fascinating. You can’t avoid seeing the analogies. Too bad politicians and the serious news media won’t delve into this subject. “The best defense for hosts is avoiding parasitism in the first place.” I’ll remember that next time Gov. Kitzhaber (a physician, no less) talks about the 18,000 babies who are born at-risk every year.
Pamela
I think that advertizing in schools is not a bad idea at all. Businesses do it all over the world and they make tons of money. If someone were to manage the proposal correctly, you could fund the whole school district on just advertizing alone. I think it is unwise to discredit the student representatives, after all, they will be the ones making society work one day.
Josh:
If it appeared that I was discrediting the student representative, I wasn’t. At least he tossed out an idea. (So did the other student representative, Kevin Truong, who is a very active participant on this committee.)
I have doubts about relying on advertising based on personal experience. I used to work in newspapers, an advertising-dependent business. At one time, not too long ago, many newspapers were cash cows. When the ad revenue moved to the Web, newspapers lost a lot of money (the advertising generated by their Web sites isn’t comparable to what they used to make from their print editions). Being dependent on advertising these days is a risky proposition.
Another lesson learned from newspapers is that some advertisers think that because they have given you money, they can tell you what to write. Newspaper managers always say there is a wall between news and advertising. The truth is more complicated; that wall has a lot of battle scars.
If schools started accepting advertising, would the advertisers think they could dictate what should be taught and how it should be taught? How would school administrators handle that? Like you point out in your comment, it would have to be managed correctly. But “correctly” would be open to interpretation.
Finally, and this is something that the students’ generation will determine, what is the future of advertising? If we don’t have a thriving middle class, who is going to buy? What are they going to buy?
Thanks for writing. The next meeting of this schools committee is 5:30 p.m. Feb. 28 at Hosford Middle School. I hope it’s more productive than the one last week at Rosa Parks Elementary. The school district staff spent too much time lecturing.
Pamela
[…] Helplessness and the Status Quo March 3, 2012 – 3:25 am | By admin | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0) ← Gay Bullies: It Gets Worse […]
Thank you for your thoughtful article, Pamela. However, in regards to “in the box thinking”: clearly you greatly underestimate Patrick…. he is actually part of the solution, not an idea-tossing co-signer of the problem. if you want some HOPE, have a conversation over coffee with Patrick and see who he was and is now…..
Kelly:
It was school board member Bobbie Regan who urged the committee to “think outside the box.” Patrick was only responding to her suggestion, and at least he had some ideas (I explain in my answer to Josh’s comment the concerns I had about Patrick’s suggestion to sell advertising on school property.)
I don’t underestimate either Patrick or the other student representative, Kevin Truong. They are active participants on this committee, and both seem bright. I was disappointed in a school board member asking for ideas “outside the box.” That was a cliche 10 years ago. People who ask for ideas “outside the box” often just want to move the boundaries of the box, while they stay comfortably inside. That doesn’t sound like Patrick.
Thanks for the comment and suggestion.
Pamela
[…] Helplessness and the Status Quo May 16, 2012 – 12:31 am | By admin | Posted in Crime, Education, Portland, Truth in Sentencing | Comments (0) ← Rosenblum fails ‘the vulnerable’ […]