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Writing Rules. The Subject must be about Equity, Equality, and Inclusion. Your experienced story is welcomed. Must be at least a large paragraph (300 words). You may write up to two pages? If you need more space let us know? We need to hear your thoughts 

 

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Insrtructions

GO TO Presentations and Outlines Clues  PPS Equity Vision gives the reference to inside information that can help you to write your letter. 

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Excerpt from Letter: make sure that you encourage inclusive ongoing conversations. Always look to empower people especially the ones who need it the most. PPU Community believes the asks will never be honored. You are not brave enough!

Write With Confidence

and Conviction. 

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The Letter Writing MOVEMENT (write your experience, concerns, story, observations, suggestions, recommendations, etc. This is a progressive letter that asks all, if you want to, to write, contribute and add your own letter to our Letter to the PPS School Board.

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Read it,  Write it, Add It

 

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 We Launched our Letter at Race Talks with a (PPU) Portland Parent Union (PCP) Listeningdialogue (all one word) Model. 

“I want to be in the arena. I want to be brave in my life. And when we make the choice to dare greatly, we sign up to get our asses kicked. We can choose courage or we can choose comfort, but we can’t have both. Not at the same time.” Brene Brown

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True belonging is not passive. It’s not the belonging that comes with just joining a group. It’s not fitting in or pretending or selling out because it’s safer. It’s a practice that requires us to be vulnerable, get uncomfortable, and learn how to be present with people without sacrificing who we are. If we are going to change what is happening in a meaningful way we’re going to need to intentionally be with people who are different from us. We’re going to have to sign up and join, and take a seat at the table. We’re going to have to learn how to listen, have hard conversations, look for joy, share the pain, and be more curious than defensive, all while seeking moments of togetherness.  Brene Brown

​Go to the PowerPoint

Dots  It can be used to show beginning, middle and end, heaven, earth and the waters, or body, soul and spirit. 

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Butterflies are symbols of life, endurance, change, and hope. In many cultures, people associate butterflies with souls. 

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Shapes  The arc (think: circle) is the strongest structural shape, and in nature, the sphere is the strongest 3-d shape. The reason being is that stress is distributed equally along the arc instead of concentrating at any one point.

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Tell Your Story

The Letter

The Letter  

Dear Julia Brim-Edwards, 10/26/2019

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Note: While this letter is directed toward Julia Brim-Edwards, based on the area she represents, the entire PPS School Board is accountable for the inequities we address herein. We implore all board members to read this and respond publicly. We ask anyone in Oregon who cares about public education to join us in support of our children and our schools by raising a voice about the inequities you see in your community!

 

I write to you today as a Mother in the South East Portland community, a veteran educator with more than 20 years in public education, and as a member of the resistance community who has at times confronted you or organizations that you are affiliated with. I also write as a member of the working class and as one who has been involved in organizing mutual aid efforts in the Portland Metro Area for people who are living outside in the SE 82nd corridor and in North East Portland since 2007. I write as a member of Portland’s recovery community. I write as a member of Portland Parent Union, a group founded by Portland Activist and Organizer Sheila Warren, whose soul and sole mission is to provide networks of support for parents of children of color who face institutional barriers in educational settings. My membership in these groups means that I will automatically have knowledge of a set of circumstances and lived experiences that you are not privy to based on your membership in Portland’s wealthy, political elite, a group that upholds institutional and state power.  

 

If I am fully honest, though, as I intend to be based on my membership in a program of recovery and based on my faith, I also write as one who has witnessed the power of the Nike School Innovation Fund, founded by you, to provide resources to underserved youth, within the context of a system of education that continues to discriminate against children of color and children living in poverty. When I led the Franklin High School Advanced Scholar Program, under the leadership of Principal Shay James, we achieved the highest graduation rate for Black students in the State of Oregon for two years in a row. When our successful program ran out of federal grant funds, you, through Nike School Innovation Fund, stepped up with a financial contribution so that we could continue the work. As an activist who is involved in protesting Nike’s resistance to paying taxes in Oregon, I cannot deny the contributions of the Nike School Innovation Fund to this community any more than I can deny that these contributions occur within the context of racism and white supremacy. 

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For these reasons, I am coming to you today to request answers about the absolute inequity in services and opportunities between Westside and Eastside schools. Having served, at length, as an educator in South East Portland and North East Portland, and as one who wrote a book on educational inequities, which required years of research into records and data, it is clear that students on the East Side of the city have significant barriers as compared to students just across the river. From my perspective as a mother of a child at a 

 

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school that held classes in the gym last year due to lack of space, it feels like the West Side of the city is in a constant state of class warfare against those of us who are neither monied or politically connected to historic families and wealthy elites, the landed gentry who have legacies of state power. Because of your status as an elected PPS board member, I am reaching out to ask what specific steps you plan to take to combat the historic inequities and provide equal access to resources and educational opportunities for children on the East side of the Willamette River, especially in schools that serve our most historically marginalized populations which are students of Black, Native, Pacific Islander, and Latin American heritage, as well as white and multi-racial students who are living in poverty, have families suffering from addiction, or have another marked barrier like illiteracy, being in foster care, or who qualify as homeless youth. 

 

The good news is that we, the working class, the historically disenfranchised, the people of the 82nd corridor from Johnson Creek to Columbia Blvd., do not walk alone. In writing this article, I am asking Sheila Warren to join me in raising a voice about the aspects of this dynamic that most concern her and the community that she has served for more than 40 years. While Sheila, myself, and others have raised our voices, at length, in many protests and actions on this exact issue of racism and classism in our public system for years, I am writing today in faith that you also see these inequities and will willingly act to change this for the schools that you represent in South East Portland. I write with the hope that your fellow board members will also desire the opportunity to hear about the impact of these inequities and take action now to ameliorate these historic barriers and ensure that historic class and race warfare is replaced by equitable distribution of funds and resources for all children in Portland Public Schools. 

 

I write with the hope that this letter, including Sheila's, and your response, can be published as an open dialogue that kindles a conversation about equity that is open to the public, especially those who are most impacted by the decisions you and other board members make.

 

From my vantage point, I see deep inequity in course offerings and enrichment opportunities between schools on the Westside and schools on the Eastside. I see children on the Westside receiving more opportunities to engage in learning about art, theater, music, and technology, as well as more opportunities for advancement in mathematics starting in middle school. I see schools with greater needs for mental health services on the Eastside (due to youth who have experienced trauma inside of the system of education or in relation to outside circumstances) receiving less support in the shape of counselors, social workers, and enrichment opportunities than schools on the Westside. At this time, I would like to invite in the perspective of Sheila Warren, as I recognize her longevity and deep understanding of these issues over time.

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When we leave a circle of trust, we return to the workplace — or any other arena of life — better able to engage it in life-giving ways. The inner work we have done in that circle reminds us that we are constantly co-creating the world, so we need not be victims of it.” ~ Parker Palmer a paragraph. 

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“Our letter is a good sample of how and what you could write,” We ask: no profanity, name-calling.   Write your letter Here

 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qPMbocqehs3H-DExgRkbn3JVvxOqW_gjHDksHDo2krE/edit?ts=5e50ad94 

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You remember how Pharrell Williams spread happiness for 24 hours and continued all over the world. The progressive Letter represents that kind of movement. Let us keep it going with our writings advocating for equity/equality. Bringing the truth of change everywhere!

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