Anne Trudeau's blog

Dear Editor:

"Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me."

The racial slurring of the Roosevelt students was just that--"words".

Roosevelt High's bones are being broken by the white adults who run the schools. It no longer has a librarian and four teaching positions are to be eliminated. That is breaking bones.

The bones of Roosevelt are being broken by Vicki Phillips and the Business Alliance. They can't win an election but those that do win march to their tune. What does Roosevelt get in return: Four, yes four principals for a 700-student school. How many administrators does it take to change a light bulb?
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Jefferson High students protest closed-campus policy
Teens say embattled principal Leon Dudley hasn't kept promises
By Jennifer Anderson

The Portland Tribune, Apr 5, 2007 (7 Reader comments)

Dozens of students walked off the Jefferson High School campus in North Portland at lunchtime Thursday to protest the administration’s closed-campus policy – the latest assault on Principal Leon Dudley’s leadership since his arrival last fall from Dallas.

Leon Dudley, recruited by a national search to reform the struggling school, had implemented the policy upon his arrival to cut back on truant and tardy students. He said having students eat lunch in the cafeteria rather than leave campus was a reasonable policy that would be bolstered by different menu options and activities during the lunch hour.
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March 31, 2007
Group judging reading program set it up
Houston Chronicle

By NANCY ZUCKERBROD AP Education Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A billion-dollar-a-year federal reading program that ran into scathing criticism over conflicts of interest now has a new one: The government contractor that set up the program for the Education Department is also part of the team hired to evaluate it.

Reading First — part of President Bush's signature No Child Left Behind education law — has been under scrutiny following a string of federal reports that found it rife with conflicts of interest and mismanagement. The program provides intense reading help to low-income children in the early elementary grades.
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http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1174620326...

Kellogg parents dismayed with district
Schools - Portland administrators admit communication with parents has been poor Friday, March 23, 2007PAIGE PARKER
Wounds that opened last year when the Portland School Board voted to close Kellogg Middle School have yet to heal for some parents, who say the district seems to have forgotten about their children.

Kellogg, along with Clarendon and Rose City Park elementaries, will close at the end of this year as the district converts ailing middle schools into K-8s.
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http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1173408908...

Click on this link to read the Oregonian story about Da Vinci students walking out in protest of staff cuts.

Then click on the link below to read Steve Duin's March 11 column about PPS's abrupt removal of the night school program from Grant High School.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/steve_duin/index.ssf?/base/news...

On February 21, Ruth Adkins, a founder of Neighborhood Schools Alliance, made it official: she is running for school board!
Ruth is challenging incumbent Doug Morgan for the Zone 1 Seat which covers SW Portland around Wilson High School and on the East side Sellwood and Brooklyn areas. But anyone in Portland can vote for her, so get ready.

You can learn more about Ruth's campaign, including how you can volunteer to help out at:
www.voteruthadkins.com

Teachers and parents who are scrutinizing the curriculum reform need to ask some tough, uncomfortable questions:

Who are the people that are promoting this?
What is their relationship to the district?
Are they consultants?
How much do they get paid?
Who benefits if certain curriculum get adopted?
What curriculum companies or curriculum advisory companies did Vicki Phillips, Cathy Mincberg and other PPS administrators work for before they came to PPS?
Are the decisions being made democratically? Do teachers and parents have meaningful input?
What checks and balances are in place to make sure there are no PPS employee conflicts of interest regarding curriculum development and reform.
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