'Woodburn School District Board - Racist' causes ire--Story by John Baker

A SUDDEN SURPRISE…I kept this article to remind me of how other people see the 97071 COMMUNITY-WOODBURN, OR. The copyright does not belong to me.

-Miguel

'Woodburn School District Board - Racist' causes ire
Story by: John Baker	Date Published to Web: 3/22/2006
I didn't start out to be a relic hunter, it just ended up that way. By the time you read this, I will be less than 24 hours from returning to work after a two-week hiatus. Vacation time, that splendid opportunity to travel, antique, work over the yard or simply plop a butt in a couch and watch TV, was mine to enjoy. I chose butt-in-couch mode most of the time. I'm good at it, man. I also discovered something. I discovered that you don't always have to dig in the ground to uncover a fossil. Sometimes they pop up in the strangest places. The Independent staff attended a National Writers Workshop over the weekend at Portland State University. Well over 400 journalists from all over the west, and even across the country, converged on Smith Memorial Student Union Saturday and Sunday. We talked about journalism, more journalism and journalistic things. Here's an interesting note: as a twice-weekly, having our own food columnist (Marguerite Garcia) was thought of as a boon by a group in one breakout session. The Independent, it seems, is incredibly lucky to have her. I've always thought so, too. But I digress. We're here to talk about fossils and the messages -- good or bad -- they give us. During the first session of the conference, Hometown editor Michelle Te and I were in the Multicultural Center at PSU when we noticed a colorful mural on the wall -- of Jesus Christ, I'm assuming. While wondering why the mural seemed to depict Jesus with women's breasts, I noticed a few large words situated on a white field just to the right of the depiction. I made out the word "Woodburn," then a little lower I made out "RACIST." I was stunned. Well, what it said in total was "Woodburn School District Board -- RACIST," and upon closer inspection it had apparently stemmed from the naming fiasco that went on during the building of Heritage and Valor schools. Michelle noted a letter to the editor dated for July of 1997 that ran in the WI. The brownish newspaper clip and stark words just kind of held me still for a moment as my mind struggled to get around what I was seeing. A 1997 letter and the five words next to it had evidently been on a wall at Portland State since 1997. No matter that the schools were named, that nearly 10 years had passed, that much of what Woodburn was has been replaced by what Woodburn is becoming. "Woodburn School District Board -- RACIST," just seemed silly. Then it seemed damaging. I realized it had been there for countless students to see, countless minds to reflect on, and countless opinions to be formed. Talk about the damage being done. Out of all the rooms in that building, in all the places this conference could be held, we stumbled on a nearly decade-old example of politicized garbage about this town. Nearly 10 years! It was an unfair and unfounded statement, one that has been repeatedly refuted by a school district that routinely pours more money into Latino and other minority programs than just about any school district in this state; a school district that, though slow to respond to the burgeoning minority population that was coming 10-15 years ago, has become a champion in terms of innovative programs for minorities, and has essentially changed the way the high school will work in the future. Why? Because of test scores from those same students. Small schools is a direct result of low test scores among a wide swath of Woodburn's high school student population, and the threat of action from the Oregon Department of Education because of those scores. There's nothing racist about that. The scores tell the story and Woodburn High School is responding -- as they continually do. "Woodburn School District Board -- RACIST?" I think not. Woodburn has fought so many negatives the last 10-15 years, battled through rumor and innuendo, fear and trepidation, and negative reputations that it had, in some ways, brought on itself. But that was then, this was now. Things have changed -- for the better. On the campus of Portland State University, in their Multicultural Center, I had unearthed a dinosaur without trowel, pick or hand-broom. It was a relic of a long-gone past, an antique of a misguided mission, a lie, a fraud, and a phony. And it really pissed me off. After all, I was on vacation.