Dear Julia Brim-Edwards, 10/26/2019
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 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.
For these reasons, I am coming to you today to request answers about the absolute inequity in services and opportunities between West side and East side 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 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 West side and schools on the East side. I see children on the West side 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 East side (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 West side. 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.
Dear Julia Brim-EDWards
From Sheila Warren, Founder of Portland Parent Union: November 11, 2019
PPU stands in solidarity with Susan and her specific experiences, observations, asks and suggested actions for Equity/Equality. We represent the families that are historically part of those opportunity exclusions.
We are from the East side. There are no reasons to repeat the inequities Susan documented. It is truth and has been for a long long time.
You with other board members will claim to recognize the indicators of (racism, nepotism, fragility, partiality, inequality, bullying, push out, funding shortage, astute personalities and others). We argue that one cannot recognize any of it if one has not lived it or not had conversations with those who have!
Please recognize the best things you can do for us is to become steadfast, consistent and persistent with engaging the most impacted in conversations ongoing as well as bringing them in as your consultants in such matters! You can’t advocate for what you don’t know. You can only advocate for what you do know and that can only translate to limited knowledge (understandings)! It is impossible unless you do the work of gathering the essence of “ALL” children. Homework is necessary to be a leader who champions all families!
The idea of raising our voices became silenced over time, but we keep raising them and will never stop! We see the specific favors that are afforded to some who look more like you or of color who follow the “whiteness” script. There is no hate intended, but disdain for the act of temporarily listening, promising and appeasing us. We believe you are too fearful to give your whole self or the invested time to families who need you the most!
What is Fear (an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.)
Dr. Brene Brown says, “we’re all afraid, we just have to get to the point where we understand. It doesn’t mean that we can’t also be brave!”
We at PPU are weary of doing “restarts of hope” only for those who claim they are for all children are really not able to fulfill their promises. This is one of the issues that creates distrust!
The Power Paradox
True power requires modesty and empathy, not force and coercion, argues Dacher Keltner. But what people want from leaders—social intelligence—is what is damaged by the experience of power.
BY DACHER KELTNER | DECEMBER 1, 2007
A voice can be a metaphor for so many things. The voice, to PPU, is our right to speak, our claims of equal space, our being-ness, our individual way of letting you know the impact of the intentionally blocked silence and marginalization. It is our experiences and stories that we need to be seen as well as heard. We have the right to take up your space with our views, especially from our experienced cultural lens.
Our expectations are for you all to fight for “ALL” school children because this is the message one gives when running for school board. You all make us believe that this is the purpose?
The obligation is to find the knowledge you don’t know by building relationships, showing up socially or for dialogue when invited and being dogmatic about learning about all whom you claim to represent. You and others have been invited to our PPU Circles, Trust Circles, People Celebrating People and Restorative Listening dialogue over the years. We can name on three fingers who shows up. We keep inviting all to come to us to hear our stories. It’s a simple action! We can, then, answer the question school and board members often ask “Why is it families of color and poor white families do not show up to our meetings?”
When the opposite side, our side is acknowledged, you’ll then see the ones that have been invisible.
This happens specifically with intentional trainings culturally. We have seen PPS take the time to work with immigrant families. PPU was part of that pushing back for that to happen. Setting aside specific days and genres to intentionally educate families with many tools to help them be successful with their children's education. I asked at the time why can't this be done for black families.
Of course, we must care deeply about helping those who pull back, who don’t seem to have a voice or when the opportunity arises are not allowed to use their space for a dialogue/storytelling process. Listening instead of having the "knowing what's best attitude". We constantly, relentlessly strive for people to have a voice and we repeat again why does someone always seem to take it away.
Make sure that you encourage inclusive ongoing conversations. Always look to empower people in that way! Develop a team of the most affected/marginalized allies who can counsel you!
Susan is asking again, what we have asked for over and over since 1956. We love her tenacity, but our PPU Community believes the asks will never be honored.
We believe you are not brave enough! The Board is not brave enough. "We can measure how brave we are by how vulnerable we are willing to be." Brene Brown asserts vulnerability is the "birthplace" of things like love and joy. … Of joy, Brown said, "When we lose our capacity for vulnerability, joy becomes foreboding. It becomes scary to let ourselves feel it."
Organizing for school reform offers an urgently needed alternative to traditional approaches to school reform. While many current reforms are innovative, they often fail to thrive due to lack of trust, understanding, or cultural relevance to the community being targeted by the reform (Oakes & Rogers 2006; Payne 2008). The high turnover of reformers (superintendents, principals, or outside organizations) in high-need schools and districts is another major cause of school reform failure (Mintrop & Sunderman 2009). Finally, reforms also fail because they do not address extreme inequities in resources and empowerment between poor communities and their more privileged counterparts (Oakes & Rogers 2006; Renée, Welner & Oakes 2010).
Credits: Oakes and Rogers 2006; Renee, Welner & Oakes 2010, Sheila Washington Warren Portland Parent Union Founder and Director, BreneBrown, How to Raise Your Voice to Break Through Silence: Laura Sergy and Andrea Menard, Dave Beckwith, with Cristina Lopez -Center for Community Change
In Solidarity,
Susan Anglada Bartley and Sheila Warren
Ronald Warren and Pedro Cordero
oJulia
