[mcullen3212002]

Visit our new website and blog: www.neigbhorhoodschoolsalliance.org


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 7, 2006

Church-sponsored school to be housed at Jefferson

“Academy of Character and Ethics” resurfaces at Jeff, despite Board’s recent rejection of this church-sponsored charter.

·CONTACTS: Anne Trudeau, 503-228-6384; Julie Poust, 503-235-2968; Cindy Young, 503-232-6559

Portland, OR Four new small schools at the reorganized Jefferson High were approved by the School Board at the March 1st School Board meeting. What could have gone by unnoticed, were it not for Board member Sonja Henning, is the addition of a fifth school at Jefferson, the Academy of Character and Ethics. ACE, a program sponsored by Mount Olivet Baptist Church, will operate as an alternative school.

In response to Director Henning’s questions about the approval process for alternative schools, Superintendent Phillips said it was a “miscommunication.” She thought the Board wanted the rejected charters to be considered for alternative schools, and that Mt. Olivet was the only rejected charter applicant that took the opportunity to be considered. But as Director Henning continued to point out, there was no miscommunication, but a clear lack of communication. The issue of establishing ACE as an alternative school was not brought before the Board or the Educational Options Committee that reviews proposals for new schools until the March 1 meeting. Director Henning stated that she should have known this prior to voting on the Design Team’s recommendations in January.

Why is ACE resurfacing at Jefferson, relabeled as an “alternative program,” when its charter school application was unanimously rejected by the Board in November 2005? It appears that Supt. Phillips made a decision to approve ACE without going through the alternative school approval process as detailed on the PPS site. http://www.pps.k12.o...b_section_1.pdf

The Portland community looks to the Superintendent to lead with openness and democracy. Yet ACE was not brought up to the Jefferson Design Team that met in 2005 and now the Jefferson Implementation team that was formed in February includes the Mt. Olivet pastor. There are no independent Jefferson parents, no members of Site Council, or Jefferson PTSA on the Implementation team. The only Jefferson parent on the team is also a PPS employee.

How can the existence of a church sponsored academy in a PUBLIC school be justified? Mt. Olivet includes ACE on the list of ministries on their website www.mtolivet.com and also states: “We are a church that unapologetically stands on God’s word as absolute truth.” The site's 'What we believe and teach' page includes this quote: “There is eternal punishment for all who refuse to receive the Lord, Jesus Christ, as their personal Savior during this life.” Mt. Olivet was a major contributor to the Yes on 36 campaign, donating $15,000 to the 2004 measure that opposed gay marriage.

If ACE is allowed to open its doors at Jefferson it would violate PPS's own anti-discrimination policy and the principle of separation of church and state, the foundation of religious liberty in our country.

###

The Neighborhood Schools Alliance is a diverse group of parents, teachers, and community members from all areas of Portland working together to support and strengthen our neighborhood schools.

[Dallas]

Why is ACE resurfacing at Jefferson, relabeled as an “alternative program,” when its charter school application was unanimously rejected by the Board in November 2005? It appears that Supt. Phillips made a decision to approve ACE without going through the alternative school approval process as detailed on the PPS site.

That's good old Vicki once again. sneaky, sneaky, sneaky

[Robotspyder]

I remember that Witch!!! (Should have spelled that with a capital
Stole Lancaster's tax dollars, handed the money to her Brethern at 'Shalom Partnership', where they took their cut right off the top.
It's called stealing folks!!!
The elect got her out of town as fast as they could, only to set her up to do her dirty dealings somewhere else. In this case the west coast. (That's simply not far enough away)
Maybe we should feel bad that we didn't warn the folks out west as to her foulness and her theiving ways!!!
I guess no one told her that stealing is wrong, but for her .... She has it down to an art!!
Vicki Phillips in one word .... EVIL!!!
To bad they out-lawed stoning!!




[/b]

This post has been edited by Robotspyder: 09 March 2006 - 11:27 AM

[Utalkin2Me?]

Tsk...tsk....Mrs Phillips! At least she is out of our school district!

[dc]

DIDN'T SHE GO WORK FOR THE GOVERNOR AFTER SHE LEFT LANCASTER?

[mcullen3212002]

Believe me, many of us warned the people out in Portland over and over again. We all wrote to the members of the school board in Portland and sent them copies of the PA Auditor General's report. However, apparently Vicki Phillips had most of them believing it was all a "vendetta" and she was the "victim" of Ricardo Curry's deception. She deluded them into believing she raised the test scores here in the SdoL. However, any gains were temporary and due solely to the fact she had the teachers "teach to the test" to make it "look" like progress was made.
A TV crew came to Lancaster last year from Portland and interviewed me and members of the school board. I again warned the people in Portland to be vigilant and not to be taken in by her smooth talking. Thank goodness they have a citizens group that is monitoring her every step! Unfortunately, the damage she wreaked on Lancaster will take years to undo.
Adios Miss Vicki!!!(and good riddance!)

MaryAnne Motter Cullen

[mcullen3212002]

Here 's a partial e-mail from a poor parent in Portland, Oregon:

"....thought you would be interested in knowing what Vicki Phillips is up to here in Portland. And it ain't good! She is destroying and privatizing our schools and we are trying to bring her down. We are hoping this might be the chink in her armor if we can get the press to pick it up. We are also persuing legal avenues but we are just getting started. We are desperate to get her out of here. If you can think of anyone in Lancaster who would be interested in picking up her trail to give this more media exposure, please pass this press release on. I lie in bed every night unable to sleep with the disbelief that she could sneak a conservative Baptist charter school in through the back door as an "alternative" program. " Thank You,~Mary

--
Mary Krummel
email:maryandrichard@gmail.com

[Dallas]

http://www.neighborh.../112#comment-55

Here's a link to the script from their board meeting.

[mcullen3212002]

Vicki Phillips is doing even more havoc in Portland with closing 12 schools and lots more. read about it at:
http://www.neighborh...iance.org/node/


as well as:http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/114473671880790.xml&coll=7&thispage=2

MAMC

[mcullen3212002]

For Immediate Release ---- April 13, 2006
>
> Jefferson High School Does Not Exist!
> Portland Public Schools hid the official closure of Jefferson High
> School and failed to inform Jefferson Cluster families that the
School
> of Pride and the School of Champions have not been accredited for
> nearly two years.
>
> CONTACTS, Byrd lilblackbyrd@yahoo.com Nancy Smith 503 285-0500 Glenda
> Walker 503 285-5686
>
> Portland, Ore-On January 23rd, 2006 Portland Public Schools Board of
> Directors voted to reconstruct Jefferson High School into four
> academies focused on technology, single sex academies, vertical
> schools, etc. Vicki Phillips, Superintendent of Portland Public
> Schools, comprised a Design Team made up of Jefferson Cluster
> community leaders to create the structures and programs for Jefferson
> cluster middle and high schools during the summer of last year.
> Somehow Vicki Phillips and the Board of Directors neglected to inform
> Jefferson families that technically and officially Jefferson High,
> according to the State Department of Education, closed on June 30,
> 2004. Furthermore, the two schools currently occupying the Jefferson
> building, School of Pride and School of Champions are not accredited.
> The closure of Jefferson High School and the non-accreditation of the
> School of Pride and the School of Champions leads to many unanswered
> questions including: If Jefferson closed in 2004, how did Vicki
> Phillips and Cynthia Guyer of the Portland Schools Foundation secure
a
> multi-million dollar grant in 2005 for Jefferson High School? Many
> questions arise including issues concerning fraud, collusion, race
> discrimination and possible legalities; who will be held responsible?
>
> In June 2004, Portland Public Schools approved resolution 3019 to
> convert Jefferson into horizontal academies, the School of Pride and
> the School of Champions. In order for this reconfiguration to take
> place, Jefferson High School was closed and replaced with the new
> horizontal academies. The general public was led to believe that the
> School of Pride and the School of Champions were HOUSED inside
> Jefferson High School and that Jefferson High School did in fact
> exist. Portland Public Schools did nothing to correct public
> perception. The closure of Jefferson High School was not mentioned in
> resolution 3019 and Portland Public Schools continues to identify the
> converted school as Jefferson. Until recently, Jefferson High School
> is now known as Jefferson High School Campus.
>
> During this time, someone neglected to apply for accreditation
> membership for the School of Pride and the School of Champions. The
> current listings for accredited schools according to the local and
> regional offices of Northwest Association of Accredited Schools,
NAAS,
> do not list either school as being accredited. Both Marshall and
> Roosevelt High Schools were converted into smaller academies the same
> time as Jefferson. Ironically, all of Marshall’s small academies are
> accredited but Jefferson and Roosevelt are not. Some are considering
> what role race played into this ‘oversight.’
>
> Accreditation plays a significant role for students with aspirations
> beyond high school. Most public and private colleges and
> universities require that students come from an accredited school as
> does the United States military and most foreign exchange student
> programs. Accreditation sets standards for schools in terms of course
> offerings, it allows policymakers, parents and the general public to
> demand results, facilitates the transfer of students from one school
> to another and provides oversight to ensure schools are constantly
> improving.
>


Part II of the article:

The Jefferson community wants to know what is going on and rightfully
> so. Students are asking why should they attend school if they aren’t
> receiving any credits. Portland Public Schools has yet to address
this
> issue. The Jefferson Design Team is now aware of the official closure
> of Jefferson High School and the issues surrounding accreditation. In
> an email dated March 27th, 2006 Vanessa Gaston President and CEO of
> Portland’s Urban League wrote,” Since Jefferson High School does not
> currently exist according to the Oregon Department of Education, the
> JDT needs to reconsider its proposal to create 4 new separate
> schools. Based on this new information the JDT might want to
consider
> the option of returning to a single high school, Jefferson and
> implement the separate program options for students as recommended by
> the JDT. *Dr. Phillips has agreed to create one single high school at
> Jefferson with separate academies inside the high school. The
District
> needs to inform the community at large of the fact that Jefferson
High
> School does not exist anymore. We believe that the use of Jefferson
> High School and Jefferson Campus is misleading. *The subcommittee
> consisting of Committee Chairs from the Jefferson Design Team will
> work with the District staff to determine when, how and where to hold
> community meetings for the Jefferson community. Jefferson High
School
> was separated into two schools 2 year ago. Vanessa Gaston as well as
> Dr. Phillips will find out how to turn Jefferson back into one high
> school.”
> Portland Public Schools has yet to address these issues. The only
> quasi-public response was directed towards the Design Team, whose
> charge officially ended on January 23rd, 2006 when the school board
> voted to approve the restructure. On April 4th, 2006 Vicki Phillips
> submitted an email to the Design Team. The email was sent nearly an
> hour before her recent school restructure proposal press conference
in
> it she states,
> “… I wanted to provide some information and updates re: the
> status of Jefferson as a high school, the proposal to merge Humboldt
> and Ockley Green.
> 1. Before I came to the district, Jefferson was organized into
> two
> horizontal schools (School of Pride, School of Champions). At that
> time, the district applied to the state for separate status for each
> school (as they did with Marshall, etc.). In our conversations with
> the Jefferson Design Team, I came away with a clear understanding
that
> we
> wanted one high school with small vertical schools within it. Our
> general counsel is taking steps with the state to return Jefferson to
> single high school status. We will keep you posted on the progress.
> We will also let you know shortly about the current status of the two
> schools since questions have risen regarding accreditation, etc…”
> It is rumored that in an effort to quail public outcry, Portland
> Public Schools recently filed for accreditation for the School of
> Pride and the School of Champions. However, in their effort to
correct
> this mistake PPS filled out an annual report form instead of a
> membership form. As it stands, both schools are not currently
> accredited, Jefferson High School does not exist and a
disenfranchised
> community is left out of the loop.
>
>

[LicenseForMayhem]

MaryAnne, does the fact that the school is not accredited affect the kids who are graduating or have graduated from it?

[mcullen3212002]

The article hintst that if you don't graduate from an accredited school, it affects college admission etc. Maybe they can get a retroactive accreditation. However, this would be like someone saying they are a minister but their divinity degree is bogus. Does that mean if he married you, you aren't really married? I guess not! What a mess! Thank God Vicki Phillips left the SdoL !!!!

MaryAnne

[Daisy Lee Myers]

read this already. this is all covered in TIME.COM

"DROPOUT NATION." WORTH GETTING A COPY!!!

[mcullen3212002]

More problems in Portland:

http://www.oregonliv...3740.xml&coll=7

[mcullen3212002]

<H1 class=red>Concerned about school plan</H1>Saturday, April 15, 2006 The Oregonian I am a parent of two children in Portland public schools and I'm very concerned about the short time frame Superintendent Vicki Phillips has given the community and the school board to consider her proposals. I am not against a K-8 model and in some ways prefer it. However, the current middle school in my neighborhood would require quite a bit of renovation in order to house even third- and fourth-graders. I am not convinced that converting our current middle school to a K-8 school would save much, if any, money.

We should not allow ourselves to be bullied into a massive upheaval without more information. Are these changes worth the cost savings? They may be, but please give us time and the supporting information to consider them.

STACY CHREST DELAHANTY, Northeast Portland



The Kellogg Middle School "meeting" on April 11 was, for practical purposes, simply the school district's attempt to allow the community and parents to vent their frustrations. It was not designed to take any real input.

The second- and third-level administrators running the event could barely respond to the concerns of the audience, if at all. Where was the superintendent? Where were the school board members?

The superintendent's plan is critically flawed. Closing neighborhood schools will devastate the lower-income and poorer neighborhoods and reduce the chances for those students to break out of the poverty cycle. Neighborhood schools are the foundation of the communities they serve. Remove the school and the neighborhood will decay.

The district is taking a very short-term approach, and [its] choices will have monumental and extremely negative long-term effects.

RICHARD DONIN, Southwest Portland



The school district's latest proposal spreads the process of reorganizing and closing schools over several years, which is an improvement. But the basic problem is still that district leaders seem to think they've completed the necessary fact-gathering, evaluation and decision-making and now need only spend a few weeks communicating the plan and getting public feedback before voting on May 1.

Real communications would have required bringing the public into the fact-gathering, evaluation and decision-making processes.

Obviously, the district is under political pressure to adopt changes quickly in order to get increased state funding. But maybe it's better to suffer through another year of cutbacks in order to spend more time developing a plan that has the public support it will need to achieve its goals of stabilizing and improving Portland schools.

SYLVIA LURIE, Northeast Portland