PDX PPS Slick SE Community Discussion Tonight.."BAAAA...BAAA"

First PPS Professionally Facilitated SE Community Discussion a success? "BAAA...BAAAA"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Portland, OR
CONTACT: Jim Dow, 503-502-0113

A little background on the Portland Public School District Conversations (partial re-print of the news release):

NEWS ADVISORY - May 24, 2006
Contact: Sarah Carlin Ames, 503-916-3212, sames@pps.k12.or.us

The Board also voted to set in place community conversations to develop plans by October to: Improve student achievement, consider reconfiguration options and close one school building among six: Sellwood Middle School, the surrounding elementary schools (Duniway, Grout, Lewis and Llewellyn), and the Winterhaven K-8 focus option school, which is also in the area. (4 to 3) "More.....

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My First Community Conversation (observer)

Tonight, I attended the first of several "community conversations" for the SE Portland Public School District. Wished I would have taken pictures with my little camera hidden in my Pocket PC; better still, I should have done a PodCast from the Sellwood gymnasium.

It's 9:30pm after leaving the meeting. I'm exhausted or I would blog like a bat out of PPS hell on this.

Sanitized Summary of My Derailed Thoughts:

• All attendees were polite.
• Professionally run by a PPS facilitator:skillful control was maintained at all times.
• Community encouraged to be proud that no schools were considered for closured because of academic performance: but one school building must close.
• Agenda moved quickly to consider all the wonderful options the community should take responsibility for reaching consensus.

(this entire scenario is crafted to keep the 7 schools from uniting -- I wanted to hear, "hell no....no school will go!!! We don't want our children left behind!!! ---One must be careful about appearing too radical and we must save our school first.)

• Keeping all the school buildings open: not one of the options - "Mandated by the School District Superintendent and School Board".
• 100 plus observers: gagged and polite community members in attendance.
• Recess: attendees asked to segregate to different locations in the Gymnasium to ask their community school representatives questions(mission accomplished -- block any unified front of to reject the options presented).
• Recess timed carefully: about 15 minutes left when recess was over.

HAVING FUN AT RECESS

During the recess, I trotted over to one of the other corralled school groups, "Hey, mind if I infiltrate? I was just reminding the people in my school representation that if each school goes back into that meeting into a discussion of the options offered to us, it is over...they win".

They were friendly about it. Maybe because I was one of the few guys around and they were 12 women -- I could not be too dangerous, "No, we don't mind. But what do you mean?". This comment came from the obvious "alpha-female" (huh...is there an alpha-female -- anyway, a leader).

"I mean, does it not bother you that we have not been allowed to participate in the discussion about whether or not to close a school building was the only solution to a financial problem?".
Alpha-woman gives me a very scary look. It was that sorry, we protect our own herd and may the richest herd win.

What she said was, "As middle-class people we need to understand the financial crisis that the Portland Public School District is in. It is a very difficult situation and we must help, sacrifice and work together for a solution.".

I kept the carefree, casual look going, but I could tell my voice was getting higher and quivery - I was not trying to be an alpha-female, "You mean you don't feel insulted that the SE community was not included in this process earlier? Don't you think we should have been part of that process to decide if a school should even close? You just accept the financial data they have without questioning all of the different reasons why a school must close and the affect it might have on the neighborhood?.

Her eyes glazed over...she walked past me back towards the meeting. "You are part of the problem...", I keep that thought to myself.

Another women walked over to me from the same shepherded flock. She understood what I was saying. She told me stories about her experiences at this same school with being stereotyped and labeled as less desirable to hang around with.

(Both women from XXXXXXXXX, a school divided and part of the very complex reason the SE community is split up over neighborhood schools. I was not going to name schools. It does not matter....they won...or Vicky Phillips wins her K-8 or some Land Trust is prepared to save the schools from bankruptcy one more year while the real problem is at the state and federal funding level is ignored: what do I know -- I'm ranting here.)

PLAY TIME IS OVER..COUNTING SHEEP..READY FOR SLEEP

Recess was over. One of our school representatives did speak up for me and others and questioned moving forward as a group without still considering why keeping all schools open was not an option.

The facilitator tried to nip it in the bud, Keeping all the school buildings open: not one of the options - "Mandated by the School District Superintendent and School Board".

I could not take it anymore. There were about 15 minutes left in the meeting. I walked to the front of the room (that's where the exit door was), observers can't say anything so I took my name badge off and stuck it on the gymnasium wall close to the facilitator, flip chart of options --made my futile statement about the missing option and walked out.

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COUNTING SHEEP..READY FOR SLEEP

Maybe it was my Tinnitus, but as I was walking away from the Sellwood Gymnasium I heard:

"BAAAAA...we must not question why...BAAAA....we must not demand to see the facts and figures....BAAAA....we are not insulted that keeping all school buildings open was not an option....BAAAAA...thank you for putting all this added stress and responsibility on us for making this decision as to which school we should close...BAAAAA...thank you".

I'm exhausted. I'll find out out those last 15 minutes played out. I'm counting sheep, they are friendly but very dangerous -- it's hard to sleep when I feel I have to keep an eye on them.