Outrages (Susan Ohanian Speaks Out)

Outrages

9486 in the collection

Save Dave: Madison High Students Protest Forced Departure of Esteemed Counselor

Ohanian Comment: For a variety of reasons, mainly having to do with time, I don't often post "local" disputes. But the ongoing saga of corporate "reform" in Portland is of vital interest to anybody who cares about education. And when there are parents who see beneath the surface hype and are willing to peel the money onion, then, I have to get involved too.

Lynn Schore and Anne Trudeau explain why we all must watch Portland: It is Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine in Portland: Create confusion and misinformation with false data, then come in and steal the public institutions, public lands and resources. . . .

Pay attention, America! Your neighborhood school is next.

Comment by Lynn Schore and Anne Trudeau of Portland's Neighborhood Schools Alliance and Jefferson High School PTSA:

Portland Teachers and Students revolt against racist, inequitable "small schools" reforms.

Portland Public School system is careening from crisis to crisis almost weekly. Inequity has been institutionalized in the name of "small schools reforms". Funded by mega-corporation Gates Foundation, these reforms have created small schools with no curriculum, no academics, and a lack of teachers and programs. These small schools are always instituted for our majority non-white high schools, never for our majority white high schools.

In May, students at Jefferson High School, the district's only majority Black school, walked out in protest of the disorganization,constant change in administrators, inequitable offerings, and lack of academic rigor. The PTSA at Jefferson has been speaking out about this for over three years. The response of administration has been to ignore, slander, and lie to anyone who speaks out.

At Madison High School, a multi-racial and low income school in outer NE Portland there have been repeated actions to protest inequity. These are detailed here.

Students at Portland Public Schools' Madison High staged a walk
out to protest the departure/forced transfer of their beloved guidance
counselor, Mr. David Colton. Colton is also well respected by
teachers and parents. Colton has been one of the district's most important critics
against small schools -- Per the article, Colton was one of the "most vocal
critics of the recent changes at Madison."

If administrators have their way,
this could be his last year at Madison. "I think I'm being scapegoated for a lot of the problems that exist in the building." (See #1 below.)

Teachers then took the unusual move of a vote of "no confidence" in their Madison principal (article 2 below).

Now Colton has filed a tort claim against Portland Public Schools
for defamation and invasion of privacy. We have been told that the principal
publicly defamed Colton in front of 200 students and 20 staff
(articles 3 and 4 below).

The superintendent who initiated these reforms, Vicki Phillips, left to work at the Gates Foundation. Our new superintendent Carole Smith was Phillips' chief of staff, so it still looks like Phillips is both running the PPS district and doing the Gates job. We expect another big round of traumatic and unnecessary school closures
with the new Superintendent Carole Smith, in January 2009. This is despite predictions of a million
more people living here in Portland in the next 20 years -- who is coming to
town, only the elderly and childless? But to counter critics who say this is poor planning, PPS administration has also initiated plans for the building of new schools (never mind that there is a shameful neglect for maintenance of our existing buildings). PPS school board has floated the idea of a bond to fund the new buildings, touting them as "green" projects. Schools activists see all this as a plan to line the pockets of consultants and developers and shunt resources to richer parts of town. This parallels the role of Halliburton in Iraq, first destroying the country and profiting off that, then rebuilding it and profiting, all the while claiming to be a savior for the poor and down trodden.

It is Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine in Portland: Create confusion and misinformation with false data, then come in and steal the public institutions, public lands and resources -- ensuring that the pockets of the rich are lined while racist inequities continue to increase.

We are heartened by the teachers, students and parents who continue to stand up to the insane policies here.

Save Dave: Madison High Students Protest Forced Departure of Esteemed Counselor
June 3, 2008
Wilamette Week
by Beth Slovic

A long-time and beloved guidance counselor at Madison High School in Northeast Portland is facing the threat of "involuntary transfer" to a different Portland Public School, but students at Madison aren't taking the news lying down. This afternoon, about 50 students staged a walkout to protest the counselor's possible departure.

Turmoil isn't new to Madison this year. Earlier this spring, teachers at the 820-student school were reeling over cuts to the teaching staff. They were also voicing increasingly harsh assessments of Madison's administration and the school district's plans to keep Madison students divided into three "small schools."

That discontent was a factor in the students' protest this afternoon because their guidance counselor, David Colton, is one of the most vocal critics of the recent changes at Madison. If administrators have their way, this could be his last year at Madison. "I think I'm being scapegoated for a lot of the problems that exist in the building," Colton, who's worked at Madison for 10 years, says. [For details on those problems, please read the link in the second paragraph.]

Here's what the students have to say about why Colton should stay at Madison:

• "I don't know if I'll trust another counselor," says Samantha Mathews, a 15-year-old freshman.

• "Last year I failed four of my classes," says Rachael Rogers, a 16-year-old sophomore. "I wasn't thinking about dropping out, but I was discouraged." Colton, she says, brought her to his office, told her he would help her graduate from Madison and to go to college. "I'm passing all my classes now." She's also eligible to play basketball again.

• "It's hard to speak for everyone but most of the kids don't like the small communities," says Joe Scorse , who wants to study German, which is offered at Madison but not at the "small school" he attends. His "small school" offers only Spanish in its foreign language department. Yet Colton, Scorse says, has helped other students change "small schools" or take classes at different "small schools," even though that practice is not encouraged by administrators.

• "Colton's had our back now we've got his," says Saba Saleem, a 17-year-old junior.

• "Basically, Colton puts students before his own job by bypassing policies," says Ryan Boileau, one of the organizers with Heaven-Leigh Carey, a 16-year-old sophomore, who helped gather 300 signatures from students for a petition to "Save Dave."

• "Without him, the GSA [Madison's Gay-Straight Alliance] wouldn't exist," Heaven-Leigh Carey says.

Fun factoid: After students were told they could not put "Save Dave" posters on the walls and lockers at Madison, they taped the signs to their shirts, where free speech enjoys greater protections.

A spokesman for Portland Public Schools declined comment on Colton's fate, calling it a personnel issue.

Madison teachers side against principal
School reform - The Portland superintendent calls the action 'very disappointing'
June 13, 2008
The Oregonian
By Lisa Grace Lednicer

Teachers at Madison High, unhappy with the Portland school's plans to convert to small learning academies, have approved a "no confidence" vote in Principal Pat Thompson.

The results of the vote, which took place Monday, were relayed to teachers Wednesday. Teachers are unhappy at what they view as conflicting messages from administrators on small schools, said teachers union representative Glen Jacobs, who teaches theater and English at the school.

"We are kind of in that halfway step," he said. "Lots of people want to go one way, and some want to go another."

In a letter to district principals, Superintendent Carole Smith said the vote places no formal obligation on the district.

"I find the action taken at Madison very disappointing," she wrote. "Rather than identifying their concerns and trying to work them out through proper channels, the teachers have taken this discussion forward in a counterproductive way. Their vote serves only to polarize and personalize the issues at the high school."

Thompson said she'll be back at the school in fall. "It's a very unfortunate situation and I appreciate all of the support," she said.

Unlike Marshall and Roosevelt high schools, which have fully converted to small, autonomous academies, Madison is somewhat of a hybrid. Faculty members early this year expressed concerns that the outer Northeast school wasn't ready for the move. Two weeks ago, students staged a protest to prevent the transfer of counselor David Colton, an outspoken critic of small schools.

Jeff Miller, a spokesman for the Portland Association of Teachers, said no-confidence votes against principals were "extremely rare."

Meet The Press goes on. So do we.
Wilamette Weekly
June 18, 2008
Editorial

A FITTING SUIT: More fallout from this student protest.

• The popular Madison High counselor whose "involuntary transfer" to another school triggered a student walkout June 3 plans to sue Portland Public Schools and a Madison administrator, David Hamilton. Counselor David Colton’s tort claim notice alleges Hamilton told about 200 students and 20 teachers in a meeting two days after the walkout that "I can't tell you what Mr. Colton has done, but you need to know that there are things you don't know about Mr. Colton's actions." Colton's student supporters say their counselor was unfairly punished for helping them get around school policies that limit their course choices. PPS spokesman Matt Shelby said he could not comment on ongoing litigation.

Madison High Counselor Plans To Sue
Portland Mercury
Jun 17, 2008
Matt Davis

David Colton, a counselor at Madison High School, has filed a tort claim against Portland Public schools for defamation and invasion of privacy, after school administrator David Hamilton allegedly brought students together who had been protesting Colton's forced transfer to another school, and said this:
"There are two ways to get rid of a teacher. You can fire someone outright if they do something heinous or a teacher can be involuntarily transfered. I can't tell you what Mr.Colton has done, but you need to know that there are things you don't know about Mr.Colton's actions. There are things that only the four administrators know."

Ah. Trouble is, it's kind of illegal to discuss an employee's private employment details with the public. And it's pretty foolish to allegedly do so with a bunch of high school kids who loved the guy. Colton's attorney, Michael Schumann writes:

Mr. Hamilton made these remarks to discredit Mr. Colton because of his advocacy and practice of helping students take classes across the small school's boundaries, against the wishes of the Madison administration. Mr. Hamilton's remarks implied that Mr. Colton had committed some heinous act or some serious breach of his professional responsibilities. These remarks were untrue, defamatory, highly offensive, not of a legitimate concern to the public, and a breach of Mr. Colton’s rights to confidentiality of his personnel information.

— Beth Slovic
Wilamette Week & The Oregonian
2008-06-20
http://wweek.com/wwire/?p=12084

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