AVOIDING THE STRIKE

Last month, Grant teachers walked out of the front doors of the school with their personal belongings in preparation for a Portland Association of Teachers’ strike. With less than a week left to negotiate, students and staff alike prepared for the first strike in Portland Public Schools’ history.

But after a marathon 22-hour bargaining session that started on the morning of Feb. 17, the district and union representatives were able to reach a conceptual agreement. The next week, teachers ratified the agreement, avoiding the strike – or at least avoiding one for the next two and a half years of the contract.

Bill Wilson, a chemistry teacher at Grant who was selected as one of the six members of the bargaining team for the PAT, says that after 10 months the reaction is more relief than jubilance.

“I think there was that idea that there was a compromise that had to be reached to avert a strike,” he says. “I think overall, teachers recognize the improvements, but those came at a cost, too.”

The main component of the agreement was the district agreeing to hire 150 extra teachers to lower the workload and class sizes. (As of now, 50 teachers will go to high schools, 70 will go to K-8 schools and 30 to special education programs.) The new teachers will cost more than $11 million.

Teachers also will receive an annual cost-of-living raise of 2.3 percent for the next three years, which will cost around $26 million, and an additional two days will be placed in the school year. Teachers were also able to work out an early retirement deal.

“I’m glad that there wasn’t a strike,” says English teacher Russell Peterson. “I’m thinking it doesn’t do anybody any good. I’m glad that we were able to work out our differences. There are elements I’m not happy with, but that’s also the nature of a compromise. I’m sure there are things that the management doesn’t like about it either.”

While the agreement avoids the strike, the deal will only last about three years until a new contract has to be reached. But overall, teachers appear to be satisfied with the current outcome.

“The process was not going to be a walk in the park, and it was not going to be, ‘Oh, we have all these days off, hooray hooray!’” says math teacher Pardis Navi, one of the appointed strike captains had one occurred. “It was going to be a very difficult, stressful time, so I am glad to be avoiding it. It’s like we avoided the surgery. We avoided a very painful surgery.”

While the agreement successfully avoids the strike, the deal is only set to last three years until a new one has to be reached. For now, Principal Carol Campbell says, “I think teachers are relieved that we can get back to the business of teaching and learning.” ♦

– Koji Wieber and Zoey Neville

GRINDING OUT THE FACTS

Students who attended Grant’s Winter Formal this past Valentine’s Day felt a difference in the atmosphere the moment they stepped onto the dance floor.

Held in the Bossanova Ballroom instead of the Grant gym, this dance replaced the sexually charged air of Grant dances in the past with a much cleaner tone. No longer was the dance floor undulating with an impenetrable grinding mass of sweaty students. Instead, girls in high heels and boys in ties moved energetically to the beat of Hooked on Harmonic’s “Get Lucky,” with chaperones patrolling the dance floor perimeters to keep things in check.

Those who weren’t feeling the dancing love were covered, relaxing at the pool table, sipping spritzers from the bar or taking selfies in the photo booth.

Last month, a Grant Magazine story (Dirty Dancing, February 2014) detailed how administrators had reached the breaking point regarding school dances. “Grinding,” a type of sexually charged dance where boys rub up against girls that many parents and students found offensive, has been banned from all dances. In addition, students were required to turn in a signed permission slip when buying tickets.

Many students were less than thrilled about these new rules. According to a post-dance student government survey, about 38 percent of students who went to Winter Formal said they would not attend a similar event in the future. For many, the permission slips alone were a big turn off. “The fact that he had a permission slip made me feel like I was in eighth or seventh grade all over again. Like going on a field trip,” says junior Tori Sibley.

However, for some students the new reform came as a relief. Freshman Audrey Porter says that whereas she felt claustrophobic at Homecoming, walking in the door of Winter Formal was more welcoming. Part of this was thanks to the venue. “It wasn’t just mainly about the whole dance part – there were other things to do,” she says.

From an administrative standpoint, Winter Formal met the new reform goals imposed. It was safe. It was clean.

But recent statistics from the student government have raised the question: was it financially sustainable?

Winter Formal sold roughly 400 tickets in comparison to the 600 sold at Homecoming last fall. All told, Winter Formal raised around $4,000 – about $1,800 less than what came in for Homecoming, according to Grant’s activities director, John Eisemann.

However, he explains that though Winter Formal didn’t make money individually, we can’t determine whether money was made or lost until the end of the year, because it is the culmination of all the events’ revenue that must be considered.

In addition, the point isn’t to make a profit. “It’s not a business. We’re not here to make money, we’re here to make just enough and spend it all,” says Eisemann. “The whole point is for students to have a social experience, not to bank anything. So for the Winter Formal to come in $1,800 over budget from what we made in ticket sales is negligible, because we’re going to make $8700 on Prom.”

In short, Winter Formal can be looked at from a few different angles. It was an administrative success. The reform was upheld, the venue was a hit. But from a student standpoint, some felt less than satisfied. So the real question is: how will administration and the student body work together in the future to fashion a dance that is both safe and enjoyable enough by student standards to bring in revenue for the next event? ♦

– Eliza Kamerling-Brown and Sawyer Montgomery

MAKING IT TO GRADUATION

Fifth period in Room 202 is a picture of desolation. It houses Richard Brown’s Essential Skills writing class for seniors. Five students sit at computers, some typing, others writing vigorously. But that number is dwarfed in comparison to the 13 others who are supposed to be present.

The students in this class are at their last resort if they want to graduate. All have yet to demonstrate proficiency in either writing or reading. Typically, these subjects can be passed by taking standardized tests like OAKS and the SAT. Some have yet to pass both. Those two standards, along with one for math, are three requirements that students must pass before they can graduate from high school.

The Class of 2014 will be the first class needing to pass in all three disciplines – reading, writing and math. At the beginning of last summer, English teacher Therese Cooper and math teacher Pat Herrington – tasked with coordinating last-minute testing – were disturbed to see more than 100 seniors hadn’t fulfilled the graduation requirement in writing.

Throughout the year, around 30 qualified through taking the ACT or SAT. But a large group still needed to pass through work samples. For math, some students straggled, but the numbers were smaller.

Cooper points out that each of the kids’ empty seats in Brown’s class might be at the root of their chronic writing and reading deficits. “If you look at their attendance over the last four years, a lot of these kids just haven’t been present,” she says. “So they’ve missed a lot of instruction and now it’s coming back to haunt them.”

Senior Aki Kalamafoni says she prefers the “straight to the point” work sample format over the OAKS test, which she often came within a few points of passing. She’s now passed writing and is on her way to finishing reading with Brown’s guidance.

With the mid-May deadline fast approaching, Cooper and many other teachers are wondering how the students who need help are going to get it all done. One of her major concerns? The demographic of those who need help is primarily made up of minority students. “It doesn’t represent the percentages (of races)in the school. It’s way out of line,” she says. “It does represent, though, what our achievement gap looks like.”

Administrators moved to a new grading model that will go into full effect next year. It’s designed to limit behavioral grading, which puts at-risk students at a disadvantage. But, as Cooper points out, if students aren’t present, they’re destined to fail tests for proficiency.

She says she and others will continue to fight to get this batch of kids to walk the stage at their graduation. “There’s a lot of resources that are going in to try to get I would say, you know, 30 kids to…graduate. A lot of effort.” ♦

– Rennie Kendrick