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A majority of Portland School Board members support closing North Portland's Jefferson High School as part of its oft-modified high school redesign plan, and its vote on June 28 will seal the school's fate. But many community members have made impassioned pleas to the board to keep Jefferson open, citing its historical and cultural importance as a community cornerstone and the state's only majority African American high school. Others - including parents of students in the Jefferson cluster - contend that the school's lackluster academic performance, limited course offerings and low enrollment make a strong case for its closure by the board. The case of Jefferson illustrates the challenge facing Portland Public Schools: how to balance history and cultural diversity with sound fiscal policy.
Do you live in North Portland? What does Jefferson mean to you? To your community? What questions do you have for the school district?
GUESTS:
- Anna Kullgren, North Portland resident with children in Jefferson cluster
- Lennie Edwards, Digital media and video production teacher at Jefferson
- Tim McLaughlin, North Portland resident and former Jefferson volunteer
- Lakeitha Elliot, Jefferson Class of 1994, SUN Program Coordinator in Gresham-Barlow School District
- Erica Marinowski, senior at Jefferson
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
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Jacob, you write: "Here exist the worst abuses of affirmative action. Underachieving black teachers who cannot maintain credentials elsewhere, are presumed competent and more importantly black role models. But they are incompetent teachers and are kept in by union rules."
I'm curious: has this been your experience at Jefferson? What experience have you had with the school?
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Jacob:
How is Jefferson 'self segregated'? The majority of students in the Jefferson area are European-American and choose not to go there (although significant numbers of African-American students also choose not to go there). The students of Jeff choose only to attend Jefferson, they do not choose who does not go there.
I have just completed my 23rd year teaching at Jefferson. At no time in those 23 years have there been more than 10% of the teaching staff that are African-American. In fact, this year I was the only full time Jefferson High School teacher who is African-American. Thus Jeff's problem CANNOT be one of incompetent Black role models. Your remarks reveal what the real problem is at Jefferson- ignorance in the guise of knowledge by the outside community.
You are, however, quite correct that what we have been doing for the past 50 years is not working and it is time to do something different.
Perhaps one thing that could be done differently is that realities could be recognized and the city could live up to its liberal self image and forthrightly address this horrible blight on the city. For once again you are right. African-American students throughout Portland are at a lower level of academic achievement. The finger gets pointed at Jeff as it is the place were PPS's failure is most concentrated and evident. But it needs to be recognized as a system failure and we should not blame the victims.
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There also may be lack of moral instruction. Students are more likely to go to prison than complete a BA degree. And in a rowdy classroom, it is a small minority of 2-3 disobedient students than can disrupt the instruction, flow and progression for the entire class. Students learn to make excuses and rationalizations. I did not get my girlfriend pregnant. We were intimate. that baby belongs just to her.
We need to concentrate on basic curriculum of Reading, Writing and Maths. We need to extinguish moral relativism. Cheating is not good because 15 students are partaking. Stealing is not good because I was raised in a a deprived enviorment.
Remarkable progress is with Catholic Inner City schools in NYC, Chicago, New Orleans and Los Angeles who are seem to connect particularly with black inner city children. Uniforms, discipline, timeliness, attention to handwriting, and low tolerance for distractions and inappropriate talking. Moral and Social Education accompanies a firm grounding in basic literacy.
Jefferson High is a monument to the decline of American education we have witnessed in our lifetimes. Loss of Science and Math Literacy. Moral Relativism. Failing to take responsibility for life. Learning to run the excuse machine in overdrive.
Black students are best served when they are allowed to compete with the best in the city. And just as importantly be allowed to fail, learn and overcome. We have to treat them with the highest standards and expectations. The Kid gloves of Affirmative Action, White Guilt and low expectations have only worsened a weak system. What will the next 50 years bring?
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I have children in 2nd and 3rd grade at the Beach Spanish Immersion School, Jefferson is our neighborhood school and I WANT my children to go to Jeff. It is close enough for my children to ride bikes, has the population base to support a strong academic institution, is across the street from PCC, is easily accessible and is a vital part of the community. It seems that the Portland Public Schools is practicing a form of discrimination by not demanding, offering and paying for the highest academic level. How can we possibly close the achievement gap with such low expectations for Jeff. ENOUGH ALREADY, I am willing to make a commitment to the school, it's time for Portland Public Schools to do the same.
Suzanne
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Jefferson is 100 years old. It plays a historic and current role for the African American community of Portland. It also is of historic signifigance as the largest high school in the west when it was built. When the population was predominantly the"European Melting Pot" that settled in that neighborhood it also stood out as a champion of schools. The neighborhood around Jefferson is changing. It is becoming wonderfully diverse. If Jefferson was the center of a high school capture area that included between 1300 and 1500 students it would still be majority kids of color (like how most of our cities will be in the near future) but it would also be full of the kids of the recent families that have moved to the neighborhood...the cultural creatives of the next generation. What a great place that would be to go to school!!! I think the Board needs to look hard at the work of the staff and their consultants of the last 18 months and think about the criteria they established for making this decision. It is about using the budget we have to offer an equitable education to all the kids in Portland. There is not a criteria that says if a school is stuggling now we should close it. The whole point is to re design the system so that there will be 6 or 7 great high schools that are easily accessible for the maximum number of kids. This is about change and the future and the future looks like a high school in the middle of a neighborhood like the one surrounding Jefferson. Please leave the white politics out of it.
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I am a mother of 2 small children who attend Beach School in the immersion program. There is a discussion going on among that community in which there is STRONG support to have immersion students feed into Jefferson along with the rest of Beach students. (Currently they feed into a different high school.) I am among those who whole-heartedly support this move. I grew up in Idaho, and, although I don't want to be an Idaho-basher, I have no illusions about the gap in my "culttural" education - if you aren't exposed to a diverse, colorful community as a young child, it is very difficult to quiet the voices in your head of mis-trust, confusion and general lack of understanding of other cultures - as hard as you try, as an adult. Almost more than strong academics, I wish for my children what I didn't get - an education in tolerance, in celebration of differences, and an understanding of all kinds of people and their various cultural perspectives. If Jefferson is closed, the message to the community is that Portland does not favor this kind of education; that it doesn't value the diversity that this neighborhood brings, and the strengths that lie within that diversity. I think it would be a disasterous thing - and a pointed, ugly message to the community - to close Jefferson High School. - Tristan Trotter, speeech-language pathologist, PPS
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You may be hoping for too much racial harmony and togetherness by sending your presumably white children to a very diverse school. I grew up as a white minority in Oakland Ca. and went to public school all the way. In my huge high school it was probably 35% white, 40% black and the rest asian/hispanic. The groups did not mix. Period. Did I have tons of exposure to people from every shade of brown in my childhood? Yes, but that was the city, not that my friendships broached racial lines. What I missed was a rigorous education. AS an adult talking to friends who went to schools elsewhere in the US its clear they had a much better liberal arts education than I. I have had to do a lot of self education as an adult to become a literate, educated person.
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It's time to stop talking about the racial card in the whole Jefferson closure debate. The neighborhood has changed, plain and simple, and it's been gentrified. The capture rate for PPS high schools is 85% per David Woods (PPS HS curriculum director), it's 21% or so for Jefferson. The graduation rate for PPS high schools is a miserable 56% or so, I'm sure Jefferson is far worse.
Tuesday night at the Overlook Neighborhood Association meeting everyone present had sent their kids somewhere else because Jefferson is such a miserable wreck of a school. I am white and single, but if I had children I would surely send them elsewhere. In a room of 50 people Tuesday night, there was not a single one of color or diversity to hear about the proposed changes (granted, Overlook is not considered a diverse neighborhood). David Wood had suggested that possibly the redistricting could send people from the neighborhood to Lincoln, which I think would be a good thing. Feeding people into mediocrity does nothing to better their situation, that is just what PPS has done for years by keeping Jefferson open.
Neighborhoods change, have changed and are still changing. Let's get over the whole race thing here and focus on educating our children. Let's dispense with the diversity card and focus on achievement. Close the wreck down. Get the parents involved. When parents EXPECT their children to achieve, they will, no matter what their race, income or background.
LM
Overlook, N. Pdx
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I think it's easier to educate youself as an adult in the liberal arts than it is to reverse years of bias and monochromatic perspective. I get that you're calling me out on some perhaps Pollyanna-esque, idealistic hopes about diversity and tolerance, but I would like to think that the situation you describe in your own childhood education could be different, if the community wanted and worked for it to be so.
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A student body of only 400 in such a large facility simply is not an efficient use of resources in a time of serious budget problems. It is analigious to owning a fancy sports car used very rarely, yet paying a great deal for storage, upkeep, insurance etc. when you just lost your job and you already have an economy car that will serve you well. Though painfull, we simply have to economize as everyone is these days. Out government, their workers as well as our school system must all learn to do with less as the rest of us are.
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agreed
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The current PPS High School Program was designed for the baby-boom era. Strictly looking at dropout rates and attendance as well as academic performance, Jefferson among performs the worse among the main high schools in the district.
Jefferson, as well as the other small schools in the PPS district are draining funding and electives from the other high schools and in turn fails to deliver good academic achievement and graduation rates. While Wilson, Franklin, Cleveland, and the other large schools have an 80-odd percent graduation rate, Jefferson, Roosevelt, Renaissance Arts, etc. have between upper 60 down to even 44% graduation rates.
Also, even though it is the only African American majority school, that does not in turn mean that it has the highest African American population. Therefore, it does not racist to close Jefferson. Closing Jefferson, while inconvenient, will deliver more funding to the other schools. History shouldn't play such a large role as much as the current reality of the situation.
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Three generations of my family grew up in the Jefferson neighborhood, going back to the 1920s. Years of neglect and experimentation at Jeff have cost the school dearly. It is now time to pay, and the options are two: do everything to make it a top flight high school, or take the cost out on the students, families, and neighbors of Jefferson by closing it. It's a decision made difficult by past inactions. And, really, the first option is the only fair one.
And if some linkage with Portland Community College is to be made, it better be a solid, clearly thought-out, heavily invested-in plan, not some nebulous good-feeling idea.
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I moved to Portland from the east coast, via Denver and Seattle, in 1985, and was immediately struck by how racist it still was - and that was before I learned about the Sundown laws, Vanport, and the then still extant real estate covenant regarding sales to minorities (I'm a middle aged white guy, btw).
Over the years, there has been some improvement, but to my pedestrian perspective, Jefferson High has often been the focal point for however subtly continuing a sotte voce racist agenda.
Yes, PPS badly require a revamping and upgrading. So does the racial environment; and maintaining Jefferson, and (finally) providing to it the level of resources and supports that have always been denied to it, would be an appropriate first step. It is far too central, both to Portland, and to the overall State community as a whole.
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As I listen to the discussion, know that it's easy to dismiss the unbridled passion of a parent who attacks the district's administration because of perceived ineptness. Data is tossed about like feathers in the wind, much of it unsubstantiated and critical (e.g., expensive laptops for teachers). If we start from the position that professional educators really do have everyone's best interests in mind, and they make decisions based on sound educational practice and pedagogy, then the discussion can look at the practical aspects of change without personal acrimony that point toward conspiracy and negligent mismanagement.
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Wow, this has to be the worst segment I've ever heard on TOL...
Lenny Edwards and Tim McLaughlin and the most evasive, poorly-spoken, clueless guests I've heard on this program. There was nothing resembling a clear, sensible answer between them. This discussion achieved NOTHING and informed NO ONE! Try again...
I wish I had a dollar for every "um," "uhhh" and verbal crutch I heard. I can't believe that these idiots are or were allowed to educate our children.
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Geocuse, I can't agree more! I had to call my wife to tell her how angry I was listening to this program.
To paraphrase;
'We didn't send our daughter away, we chose a different school.'
The most good I can see coming out of the closing of Jefferson is that all of the black students who white families tried to "protect" their children from will now be going to the schools the white kids fled to.
If this isn't a racially motivated action, then it is definitely a class motivated action. Middle class whites don't want their kids exposed to people of the working class, who, in the case of Jefferson, happen to be predominantly black.
Keep the school open, and don't allow people to "choose" to send the kids to another public school within the city.
As for contemporary white flight back into the city, just stay in the suburbs if you don't want your kids exposed to working people of color.
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Granted, a tad unused to this venue, I was on the vague side. It's delicate to talk about a subject that has been painted so racially, but (I believe) may not be as racial an issue as socioeconomic.
I didn't have the either the wits or the courage to say this: that what Lenny calls an energetic campus atmosphere, I (and my daughter) found chaotic. And I understand both perspectives are valid, depending so much on what one is used to, and what one is raised to expect.
Lenny, on the other hand, was the epitome of clarity. I will gladly share any category with him that you label us with.
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napper27:
Our decision wasn't racially motivated, it was educationally motivated. I relish mixing it up and being mixed up, for until we understand how other individuals and groups live and think and feel and eat and love and learn, we're never going anywhere as a culture.
I will--I have--thrown myself into what I can of helping Jefferson achieve its mission. But I won't sacrifice my daughter's education for that purpose. Call me a hypocrite, a realist, call me inconsistant, whatever--but not a escapist. I relish this neighborhood, and desperately want my neighborhood schools to thrive--Chief Joe, Beach, Ockley Green, Jeff, and the rest.
But I wasn't up for volunteering my daughter for my convictions. Besides, Grant HS was more diverse than Jefferson, and a good experience for her, socially and educationally.
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my son is to start as a freshman at Jefferson in the fall. We did not enter into this decision lightly. I approached the idea with the same assumptions and stereotypes about Jeff that I continue to hear articulated in the media and elsewhere.
And then we went to Jefferson.
I spent hours talking with staff, my son shadowed for a day, we met with his counselor, talked with students and emerged incredibly impressed. Jefferson is not without it problems--years of neglect, coupled with ongoing pedagogical and structural experiments, have been exacerbated by a school choice program that encourages families to move their children out of neighborhood schools. At the same time, however, there are amazing things going on at Jefferson. There are incredible teachers, doing great work, with students who are engaged, involved, and deeply committed to Jefferson. If you don't believe me, trying spending a day in the classroom.
But there are other, crucial reasons we cannot close Jefferson.
Jefferson is at the heart, geographically, of the North and NE neighborhoods it serves. Right now enrollment is low at Jefferson but this will hardly remain the case. The neighborhoods surrounding Jeff are awash in young children who, in a very short time, will need a vibrant community high school with all the offerings of the other Portland neighborhood schools. With the significant changes to the school choice transfer policy, should closing Jefferson happen now, these families (including us, with our now 3 year old) will be faced with being shuttled all over the district, or frantically searching for funding to open a new high school to accomodate their needs.It is crucial to realize that this is not about test scores and enrollment numbers right now. This is about looking down the road and considering how we will best meet the needs of all the families in Portland. We are faced with scarce resources and big problems. We cannot afford to make decisions based on conditions as they are, but instead must imagine how things must be. At the heart of this, are schools centered within the communities they serve.
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I hear lots about "equity" but what does that look like in the eyes of an person who has been in the mainsteam for the majority of their lives?
Can you give more details?
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My 12 year old goes to Harriet Tubman Leadership Academy For Young Women. It is attached to Jefferson High School and it is disheartening to constantly get letters from PPS that say that Jefferson is a failing school under No Child Left Behind. There is not enough money in this economy and budget crisis to throw at this problem to change the graduation rate. Something needs to be done to change it and I am not sure if the closure would be good or bad.
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Our visits to that area of the city bring us to believe that this is a valuable developers property. Are real estate interests involved.
duff
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Forcing people to go to a school they do not want to is not the question. The school with all the new supports and programs will be a school that people want to send their kids to
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I believe that Jefferson should be kept open and turned into a beacon of excellence. What is required is not sexy innovations, but creating an environment and culture and a sense of excitement that will attract the best and brightest of all PBS HS teachers.
I have seen it occur elsewhere. If Jeff was known as having the best faculty, the best facilities, and best programs in the district...the bright kids in the neighborhood will stay there and kids from advantagd neighborhoods were do whatever they can to get it in there. It is no secet why Lincoln and Wilson are as good as they are......those are the best places to teach in Portland. Teachers aren't attracted to teach kids because of the family's social class, rather they are attracted to take on meaningul challenges providing they have the support and comradarie to make it happen. The challenge to make Jeff as good as any private school in the area will not only serve the neighborhood's students well, but it will make Portland a national model of bringing excellence to disadvantaged communities.
PBS should commit itself to make Jefferson great (not with gimmicks, but with great teachers and great programs), not close it.
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Nineteen years as a photographer for the Skanner newspaper, and a white woman who has listened and documented the stories of my rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, I feel that once again Portland is considering the destruction of a part of it's history that will leave a scar too deep to erase.
I would like to put my emotions aside however, and address the equity issue. Too few have addressed it in the public forums, and I feel I need to list them.
First, the announcement that five board members were in favor of closing it came the night before finals began at Jefferson High School. Imagine the distress this caused in households across the city, both with the children who attend there, the teachers and staff who feared once again losing their jobs, and the community who immediately had to switch into defensive action.
Secondly the test scores and the concerns that Jefferson students don't meet standards or can't achieve in AP classes needs to be looked at in a way that few seem to address. For instance, are the students in the feeder elementary and middle schools in the district preparing these children for the rigor of high school? Program cuts have drastically depleted the resources of so many of these feeder schools that I believe the answer is-- probably not.
Thirdly, the Jefferson Dancers are a beloved asset at the school. Many people complain that the dancers come to the school, use it's resources and return to their home schools. Steve Duin sited in his column this morning, that only three of the full company members attend the school. Three out of twenty. What most people do not point out is that dance, as well as other electives that build and strengthen young dancers who often cannot afford instruction elsewhere (just as in other academic pursuits like science camps, etc.)has been completely cut in the community schools that feed into Jefferson. Fifteen years ago, this was not the case. Dancers flourished at the school because they came into 9th grade with years of training, often beginning in kindergarten. Students who attend the schools around the city do not have access to dance at the high school level and many of them, as well as their families make great sacrifices to get them to the school each day.
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Please, please, please press your adult guests for straight answers when they are blatantly evasive or horribly unclear!!! This show claims to have some connection to journalism doesn't it??? Sheesh...
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I attended Boise elementary, graduated from Benson, and I attended a historically black university before graduating from Oregon State.
My grade school education was negatively impacted by students who chronically disrupted class. Disruptive kids sought attention they were not receiving at home? That's my theory.
The pervasive mentality in grade school was that "being smart" was a liability not an asset. How does one overcome pervasive negative societal brainwashing? Thankfully my parents provided guidance to help me steer clear of the pitfalls of following the herd.
Has PPS (Portland Public Schools) considered implementing Geoffery Canada's system? At first encounter Canada's system seems severe, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense.
Canada's system pushes kids from kindergarten through college graduation by providing extensive life and education support. Parents are taught to be effective. Canada's system focuses on saving the next generation; it seeks to break the invisible mental chains that effectively enslave the poor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Canada
Closing Jefferson or re-jiggering Benson in the name of "balancing the budget" does not serve the best interest of educating students. Has excess fat been cut from the budget by PPS adminstration? I believe TOL guest, Anna, asked that excellent question.
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SEI provides assistance to Jefferson students and the Jefferson cluster schools. It is the closest model we have to Geoffrey Canada's model.
Tony Hopson, ex. director of SEI has pledged to offer it's services to every Jefferson student, should the school remain open.
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I think most would agree that we want PPS to be fiscally responsible. Maintaining 9 comprehensive high schools is not fiscally responsible. Two high school's have to close. I personally know some folks who live in the Jefferson cluster and are passionate about keeping Jefferson open. I also personally know folks who live in the Jefferson cluster who would never send their kids to Jefferson. Every high school has their supporters. If you were at the Marshall meeting a few weeks ago after the closure of their school was announced you would have seen hundreds of people passionate about maintaining Marshall as a comprehensive high school. If you were at the Franklin meeting back in April you would have seen the same.
As a Latina, an educator, and a parent, I don't think closing Jefferson or Marshall is about race. It's a difficult decision. I was surprised the Board was willing to take this stand. But it's one that needs to be made. If it was my neighborhood highschool (Franklin) I'd be sad, I'd be dissapointed, and I would take my energy and invest it into my newly defined comprehensive neighborhood school.
I'm disappointed that PPS hasn't reached the socieconomic parity amoung the high schools that they were aiming for. It still boils down to the same thing though, if the district is going to be fiscally responsible they need to close two high schools, period.
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Keeping Jefferson open because it is historically significant to a relatively small group might salve some emotions, but if Jefferson has lost its effectiveness wouldn't it be better to move to an improved solution?
Hanging onto past indisgressions is a trap that will keep people fighting instead of solving the present issues.
Jefferson is a big enough facility to educate 2,000 plus students. It doesn't seem financially practical to keep it open for 300. Separate the emotional issues from the pragmatic. Turn the Jefferson building over to PCC and enhance PCC's ability to prepare students for education beyond high school.
PPS could merge the best of Jefferson into the best of Benson and create one really good high school. Provide Jefferben with the human, security and financial resources to make it exceed expectations. Upgrade all remaining Portland high schools similarly.
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A current Grant HS (and former Jefferson Summer School) teacher's perspective
Why don't parents want to send their kids to Jeff?
Parents know that deep, meaningful learning is not taking place in many classrooms at Jeff. Teachers at Jefferson, like all devoted educators (and like me), would LOVE to spend most of their time engaging students in meaningful discussions, developing critical thinking skills, and using students' perceived differences to manifest deep understanding. This is what learning is all about, and there are some extraordinary teachers at Jeff. However, the fact is that many teachers can't get into those discussions and engage in meaningful learning because they spend most of their time trying to manage poorly behaving (and, in turn, poorly achieving) students.
Is this Jefferson's fault?
No. Most of the poorly achieving students who are blamed for the current problem were also poorly achieving students in elementary and middle school. It’s hard to get a train to its destination if it starts out on the wrong track.
Should Jeff close right now?
Yes, and here's why. In my experience as a passionate and devoted teacher, when a few poorly achieving (or poorly behaving) students are added to a class of mostly higher achieving students, the most common result is that the higher achieving students set the norms of the classroom, and the poorly achieving students often adapt and latch on to the learning environment. Yes, it is more stressful and difficult to manage for teachers, but that is the challenge that exceptional teachers embrace and overcome.
As a district, this would happen on a larger scale. The Jefferson students, who are statistically low achievers, would become part of larger, higher achieving schools.
Is this the best quick fix for a systemic problem? Unfortunately, I think so. With the funds available is there a better option? No. Is closing Jeff the ideal solution? No. What is the true key to academic achievement? Parental Expectation. Will the current Jefferson HS situation affect my flourishing devotion to provide a meaningful, rigorous, and memorable education to any student who steps into my classroom. No.
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Jefferson is slated to have over 1000 students, presumably of all races, and ethnicities, this year and over 1500 students within the next five years due to the current redesign limiting transfers and lottery spots around the district. Where does PPS plan on putting all of these children when they close Jeff? Another completely unthought out PPS decision!
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My 2 older children went to Jeff in the mid-1980s and it was a nightmare dealing with the bad influences they were exposed to. Interaction with other students whose parents did not care, or were openly opposed to school ("hey, I never finished HS and I'm doing all right; so why do you need to go the school" - spoke by an unemployed father surviving on his wife's income). Other students encouraged my children to skip class, not do homework, talk back to teacher, etc, etc. When I discussed the situation with school administration their response was "we have kids who skip for weeks and don't have time to deal with your child skipping a day or two". These 2 kids are now adults, never went on to any post-HS schooling, have menial jobs and no real future. My older two attended Benson; both are college grads, one with a masters and one now in a PhD program. I sincerely don't care what excuse Jeff supporters have to say, my opinion is the sooner you close down that loser of school, the better for every student in the Jeff area.
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Comments are now closed.
Black Students have the worst academic performance of any sub group including SAT scores, Graduation Rates, College Attendance and Degree Completion. And this underachievement has persisted for generations despite school desegregation reform and unfortunately looks to continue for a long time. Unfortunately whatever we have been doing for the past 50 years has only worsened the race gap. It is time to do something different.
Jefferson High is a self segregated inner-city predominately black high school. This segregation is based on convenience and location. But Downtown PDX has the best Transit compared to any suburb or any county in the state. Distance and location should be less of a factor than quality of instruction.
Here exist the worst abuses of affirmative action. Underachieving black teachers who cannot maintain credentials elsewhere, are presumed competent and more importantly black role models. But they are incompetent teachers and are kept in by union rules. Keeping black students together and segregated only serves to propogate the underachieving mentality. The best teacher should teach biology, not just the best black teacher.