Portland Public Schools Approve Public Funding For Anti-Gay, Church Sponsored School
[UPDATE: Make sure to read it. Click here.]
An alternative high school sponsored by a Portland church that was one of the primary backers of Ballot Measure 36 has received the approval of the Portland Public School Board to in the fall of 2006 with the support of public funds.
The so-called "Academy of Character and Ethics," or ACE, proposed by Mt. Olivet Baptist Church will open at Jefferson High School in North Portland in 2006 with about 50 students and grow to 200 students, according to the Oregonian .
Mt. Olivet was a major contributor to the Yes on 36 campaign, donating $15,000 to the 2004 measure that banned same-sex marriage.
While the school district says the school will operate independently of the church, Mt. Olivet Baptist Church states clearly on its own website that the school is their project, the school's board of directors has been assembled by the church and its principal is a member of Mt. Olivet Baptist Church.
Basic Rights Oregon supports religious liberty and the ability of churches to open their own private schools. But we have big concerns about a "values-based" public school led by a known anti-GLBT organization and what appears to be an enormous potential breach of the separation of church and state.
In response to this news, BRO requested a meeting with district administration this morning and within hours met with school board members, the Assistant Superintendent of Schools and the Director of Alternative Education Options.
Basic Rights Oregon has urged administrators to investigate our concerns and to put this school on hold until the many very important questions that are arising can be answered. A big thank you to Anne Trudeau and the Northeast Schools Alliance for bringing this to our attention!
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Tell Portland Public Schools what YOU think about its approval of the Mt. Olivet Baptist Church sponsored alternative school.
Demand that Portland Public Schools investigate this issue immediately, find out the facts, make a promise to uphold the separation of church and state and ensure that no group that is affiliated with any organization with a history of prejudice gets to use the financial or physical resources of Portland Public Schools open a school.
Send emails to:
Maxine Kilcrease, Assistant Superintendant of Schools
mkilcrease@pps.k12.or.us
An alternative high school sponsored by a Portland church that was one of the primary backers of Ballot Measure 36 has received the approval of the Portland Public School Board to in the fall of 2006 with the support of public funds.
The so-called "Academy of Character and Ethics," or ACE, proposed by Mt. Olivet Baptist Church will open at Jefferson High School in North Portland in 2006 with about 50 students and grow to 200 students, according to the Oregonian .
Mt. Olivet was a major contributor to the Yes on 36 campaign, donating $15,000 to the 2004 measure that banned same-sex marriage.
While the school district says the school will operate independently of the church, Mt. Olivet Baptist Church states clearly on its own website that the school is their project, the school's board of directors has been assembled by the church and its principal is a member of Mt. Olivet Baptist Church.
Basic Rights Oregon supports religious liberty and the ability of churches to open their own private schools. But we have big concerns about a "values-based" public school led by a known anti-GLBT organization and what appears to be an enormous potential breach of the separation of church and state.
In response to this news, BRO requested a meeting with district administration this morning and within hours met with school board members, the Assistant Superintendent of Schools and the Director of Alternative Education Options.
Basic Rights Oregon has urged administrators to investigate our concerns and to put this school on hold until the many very important questions that are arising can be answered. A big thank you to Anne Trudeau and the Northeast Schools Alliance for bringing this to our attention!
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Tell Portland Public Schools what YOU think about its approval of the Mt. Olivet Baptist Church sponsored alternative school.
Demand that Portland Public Schools investigate this issue immediately, find out the facts, make a promise to uphold the separation of church and state and ensure that no group that is affiliated with any organization with a history of prejudice gets to use the financial or physical resources of Portland Public Schools open a school.
Send emails to:
Maxine Kilcrease, Assistant Superintendant of Schools
mkilcrease@pps.k12.or.us
This entry was posted
on Friday, March 17, 2006 at 7:55 AM.
Want to discuss? Leave a comment below.
Byperhaps BRO could help put some one who will defend our values and ethics on PPS or better on the board of the new school. A lesbian or gay man on the board of the school of ethics would send a powerful message to the kids in the program.
By
Portland Public Schools needs to be educated about the insidious nature of discrimination, bigotry and potential abuse that will be further directed at LGBT youth under color of "religious belief and doctrine."
We (meaning LGBT folk) still have little power in this city, county, state, nation because we are seen as passively tolerant of the discrimination we are subjected to under the guise of "traditional values".
While the NAACP, C.O.R.E. and Martin Luther King made great and courageous strides forward in the quest for racial equality (not there yet!) they would not have done so without the counter-part more radical rights groups such as the Black Panthers and SNCC.
It's a sad commentary on America that racial problems between the police and the black community in LA weren't taken seriously until the LA riots in 1992. Nor were racial and antiwar issues taken seriously by the government in this country until the Watts, Detroit, Milwaukee & Newark riots in the 60's.
We need look no further re: one of the major turning points in our own LGBT history than to the Stonewall Riots in New York City back in 1971.
I would never advocate violent acts against either people, or property...but perhaps it is time to learn from our own history and that of other equality movements and see that, as long as we're willing to "get along", 'they', meaning the ignorant, self-rightous, hate-filled and politically opportunitic will be content for things to "go along" or worse still..."go backwards" as seems to be the current trend on far too many things in this country right now.
I'm mad as hell...and perhaps none of us should take it anymore.
Peace (if possible)
Jenn B.
Beaverton
By
This appears yet another attempt to bash at the separation between church and state, in both governments and schools. Privately funded schools can get by with curriculum like this but not a public school! If the local church-and affiliated school-in question desires to hold these vexing ideas and beliefs in their "christian hearts" - that is their business - and we will keep "them" in our prayers(!) but the Portland Public Schools has NO business approving public funding for this! And further, how can this church/school feel and act if this is a "done deal" (?!) unless of course, here in Portland, the public school systems have at last become fully "christian".
By
There IS a gay school board member.
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