Jefferson Cluster school reps, NECN to address school boundary changes

Two meetings this week will delve into the long-term changes planned for the schools in North and Northeast Portland that lie within Portland Public Schools’ Jefferson Middle College dual-enrollment zones. Although Jefferson was converted from a neighborhood comprehensive to a middle college focus program in the high school redesign, PPS administers this area separately from the neighborhood high school areas.

At issue is the wide variance in enrollment between various K-5 and K-8 schools in this area. PPS has already closed Humboldt School and Tubman Young Women’s Learning Academy this spring. PPS seeks to resolve the issue of persistent low enrollment at King School and Ockley Green schools while possibly changing some school configurations from K-8 to K-5 and/or creating a new middle school. King’s enrollment of 285 is far short of the district’s goal of 500. PPS also does not project any growth in the PPS student population in King.

On Wednesday July 25th, from 6-8 pm at the King Neighborhood Facility will be thhe enrollment balancing planning meeting. Director of Enrollment and Transfer at PPS, Judy Brennan, will meet with school community members to discuss the public outreach process and identify stakeholder groups in the reconfiguration process. Light dinner and child care will be provided.

The purpose of the meeting is for District staff to share information about enrollment challenges and opportunities at schools in the Jefferson Cluster, and to receive advice from community members on conducting a respectful and productive community process around these issues/opportunities this fall. The overall goal is to have recommendations for School Board action by winter that will be implemented in September 2013.

More than 20 parents and community members representing numerous schools, partner agencies, and neighborhood representatives have been invited to participate.

On Thursday, July 26th, from 6:30-8pm, the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods’ Schools Committee will meet at the King Facility as well. This meeting will follow up on the discussion of the previous night. Special guests will include Rep. Lew Frederick and his staffer and former school board member, Sue Hagmeier, for a discussion about how to support inner North and Northeast Portland’s neighborhood schools.

Lew Frederick on the 1% and Martin Luther King Jr.

Listen carefully and you will hear the 1% taking power

The following is part of a speech made by Rep. Frederick at the 27th Keep Living the Dream Celebration for Dr. King at Highland Church.

Good afternoon, I’m Lew Frederick, State Representative from House District 43, North and Northeast Portland.

I think this holiday is one that many people think they understand very well, after all, it is of relatively recent origin. And Dr. King is a hero of my lifetime, not of the deep past. I grew up with him as the father of my playmates. But the holiday is also poorly understood, because the history of Dr. King’s legacy and that of the Civil Rights movement have been stripped of much of their nuance, sophistication and complication over the years.

Dr. King’s final book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? is not referenced very often when folks are finding meaningful quotes for our annual speeches. In it, we see how his ministry had expanded, how his leadership on civil rights, or let’s say “human” rights, though grounded in the racial struggles of the time, was clear in its purpose of addressing oppression in its many manifestations. He made a compelling argument, in 1967, for a guaranteed income. He wrote:

The contemporary tendency in our society is to base our distribution on scarcity, which has vanished, and to compress our abundance into the overfed mouths of the middle and upper classes until they gag with superfluity. If democracy is to have breadth of meaning, it is necessary to adjust this inequity. It is not only moral, but it is also intelligent. We are wasting and degrading human life by clinging to archaic thinking.

Read the rest at BlueOregon.

Second Saturday Chat–June 11th


From Representative Lew Frederick:

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

June’s Second Saturday Chat is this Saturday. The Session should be over by the time of the July gathering, but as I write this there is much still under way. Hope to see you at Reflections Coffee Shop, 446 NE Killingsworth, on Saturday, June 11 at 9:00 AM. As always, THANKS to Gloria for letting us, and other community groups, use this space. Please show her some love by buying coffee and goodies while you’re there.

As the session winds down…
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Chat with Lew Frederick

From Lew Frederick:

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Second Saturday Chat, May 14th

Our monthly Second Saturday get-together is coming up next week. We meet from 9:00 to 10:00 AM at Reflections Coffee Shop/Talking Drum Bookstore, 446 NE Killingsworth (just east of Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.)

Thanks again to Gloria for letting us, and other community groups, use this space. Please show her some love by buying some coffee and goodies while you’re there.

Important bills and issues continue to be debated and voted on in the Legislature. Next week we’ll see the May revenue forecast and work on the budget will intensify. Let’s talk about it. Hope to see you there.

There’s an election going on!

Please don’t forget to return your ballot by May 17th. There are two local tax measures on the ballot to support Portland schools. I support both of them. Important elections are also under way for School Board, Community College Board and Education Service District Board.

I believe that it is vital to reverse the disinvestment in education that has taken place over the past twenty years, because I simply refuse to give up on our future. Please vote YES on Measure #26-121, the Portland School Bond, and Measure 26-122, the Portland School Levy.

Frederick, Kotek, Shields Host Joint Town Hall

Town Hall Saturday, April 23rd

Representative Tina Kotek, House District 44, Representative Lew Frederick, House District 43 and Senator Chip Shields,Senate District 22 will host a joint Town Hall on Saturday, April 23rd.

Time: 10 AM – Noon.

Place: PCC Cascade Moriarty Arts and Humanities Building Auditorium
N. Killingsworth and Albina

Bring your questions; bring your answers.

Hope to see you there.

Representative Lew Frederick
rep.lewfrederick@state.or.us
House District 43
North and Northeast Portland