November 6, 2020
To: Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero
Deputy Superintendent Claire Hertz
Regional Superintendent Dr. Esther Omogbehin,
Enrollment and Program Balancing Project Manager Megan Salvador
PPS Board of Education
Re: Enrollment & Program Balancing project scenarios for Chinese Dual Language Immersion (DLI)
Shu Ren of Portland is a community organization that supports students and families in the Mandarin Immersion Program (MIP) at Woodstock Elementary School, Hosford Middle School, and Cleveland High School. On behalf of our MIP families, we are writing to express our deep concerns around the Enrollment and Program Balancing project’s scenarios to move the MIP from our schools. These changes would decimate one of PPS’s original language immersion programs—a program that is one of the district’s most successful and one that has served as a model for Mandarin immersion programs around the country.
There are several clear flaws in the purported “strengths” and outcome goals in the scenarios that would uproot the MIP from the Cleveland cluster and relocate it farther east—at either Clark Elementary (the current home of Creative Science School) or at Bridger Elementary School, Harrison Park Middle School, and Madison High School. But three of these flaws are most troubling:
PPS’s perpetuation of systemic racism and segregation. Consolidating Southeast schools’ Chinese DLI program in the far-east area of Southeast Portland very much appears to be an attempt to push Chinese students in the MIP to one part of town and to discourage diversity, integration, and equitable opportunities for these students of color. Despite PPS and its Department of Dual Language’s (DDL) reasoning that locating the Chinese DLI “closer to where Chinese-speaking families live” would remove the transportation barrier, the optics of such a plan are damning. These scenarios imply that PPS is motivated to cluster Chinese-speaking students to isolate them and keep them in an often-neglected section of the city.
PPS and DDL’s failure to communicate with Chinese-speaking families they purport to serve. According to PPS’s commitment to the Racial Equity and Social Justice Lens, among the questions PPS must consider when making decisions and contemplating its strategies are, “How have you intentionally involved stakeholders who are also members of the communities affected by this policy, program, practice or decision? Is there stakeholder support or opposition to the proposal? Why?”
Shu Ren has spoken to families of Chinese-speaking students in the MIP and learned that they have not received communication from PPS or DDL regarding these scenarios, nor have they been asked where they would actually like Chinese DLI programs to be located. If PPS and DDL had done their outreach work, they would have learned—as we have—that the majority of these families oppose these scenarios and are incredibly offended by PPS’s assumptions and presumptive proposals. What PPS is doing (and not doing) goes against its commitment to support all PPS families.
Shu Ren has also reached out to DDL Director Michael Bacon to discuss these scenarios and our concerns. DDL has not committed to meeting with us and instead has directed us to attend the SE Guiding Coalition’s virtual open house, where DDL will answer our questions. We are mystified as to why PPS and DDL are not working to engage with us on this matter that greatly affects all the families we serve.
PPS’s lack of engagement with non-English-speaking families. The Enrollment and Program Balancing project materials and coalition workshops are presented in English only, which greatly limits outreach to families whose primary home language is not English. Coupled with the lack of direct community engagement, this means that the Chinese-speaking families that will be affected are not being informed of these proposed changes. It is unfathomable that PPS—with its equity goals to break down barriers—has neglected to remove the language barrier in this process.
On behalf of our MIP families, Shu Ren urges PPS administration, the Board of Education, the Enrollment and Program Balancing Advisory Committee, and the Southeast Guiding Coalition to remove from the Enrollment and Program Balancing project the scenarios of relocating and consolidating the Chinese DLIs in Southeast Portland. We implore you to examine these racist and biased assumptions and practices, and insist that you engage with Chinese-speaking families before moving forward with these scenarios (and/or refining them) that will greatly impact and ultimately dismantle one of PPS’s most successful programs.
Respectfully,
Shu Ren of Portland Board of Directors
Maggie Berg (Leung) 梁珮軒 Kim McCarty Audrey Wang 王安 Kelli George
Phil Liu 劉明立 Delsin Ho Jacque Leong
cc: Michael Bacon, Director, Department of Dual Language Judy Brennan, Director, Enrollment and Transfer Center Seth Johnson, Principal, Woodstock Elementary Caitlin Klenz, Principal, Hosford Middle School Jo Ann Wadkins, Principal, Cleveland High School Tyler Vick, Managing Director, FLO Analytics Jed Roberts, Senior Analyst, FLO Analytics
2020年11月6日
致： 总监Guadalupe Guerrero
副总监Claire Hertz
地区总监Dr. Esther Omogbehin
招生和计划平衡项目经理Megan Salvador
以及PPS教育委员会
Re: 中文双语言沉浸式教育项目的招生和课程平衡方案
波特兰树人是一个非营利性的社区组织，为伍德斯托克(Woodstock)小学、霍斯福德(Hosford)中学和克利夫兰 (Cleveland) 高中的普通话浸入式项目（MIP）的学生和家庭提供支持和服务。我们代表我们的MIP家庭，写这封信来表达我们对PPS招生和课程平衡计划中，将MIP从我们目前所在学校迁出的方案的深切关注与不满。这些变化将使作为PPS最初，最成功的普通话浸入式项目课程之一，全国各地普通话沉浸式课程典范的名誉遭到诋毁。
在所谓的 "优势 "和结果目标中，有几个明显的缺陷，缺陷一：这将破坏MIP克利夫兰社区的对接学校组合，并把他们搬到更东边的地方—在克拉克(Clark)小学（创意科学[Creative Science]学校目前的所在地）或在布里奇(Bridger)小学、哈里森公园(Harrison Park)中学和麦迪逊(Madison)高中。但其中有三个缺陷是最令人不安的：
这是PPS的系统性种族主义和种族隔离的展示。将东南学校的华裔学生DLI项目合并到波特兰东南部的较远东部地区，在很大程度上似乎是试图将MIP中的华裔学生集中到一个地方，但事实上是阻止这些有色人种学生接收多样性、融合和公平的教育机会。尽管PPS和其双语部 (DDL)的理由是，将中文DLI设在 "更接近华语家庭居住的地方"，以消除交通障碍。但这样的计划是很危险的。这意味着PPS有动机地要把华语学生集中在一起，把他们孤立起来，使他们所处在市内一个经常被忽略的地区。
PPS及其DDL违背了他们所谓的声称对种族公平和社会公义的承诺。在整个平衡方案计划执行过程中PPS没有履行与华裔家庭的及时沟通。根据 PPS 的承诺: 学区在作出任何决定和考虑其策略时，一定会考虑的问题包括："你如何有意地让受此政策、计划、或决定影响的社区成员的利益相关者参与？利益相关者是否支持或反对该提案？为什么？"
树人与MIP中的华裔家庭进行了联络，了解到他们并没有收到PPS或DDL关于这些方案的任何信息，以及他们真正希望中文DLI项目设在哪里。如果PPS和DDL做了听取学生和家长的意见的工作，他们就会像我们一样，了解到大多数家庭都反对这些方案，并对PPS的假设和推测的建议感到不满。PPS所做的（和不做的）违背了其支持所有PPS家庭的承诺。
树人也已经联系了DDL主任Michael Bacon，希望表达我们对这些方案的真实看法和我们的关注。DDL没有承诺与我们见面，而是引导我们参加东南指导联盟的网上虚拟开放日，在那里DDL将回答我们的问题。我们很疑惑，为什么PPS和DDL不愿意与我们家长直接沟通，而这件事对我们每个人的家庭影响很大。
PPS缺乏与非英语家庭的沟通。招生和计划平衡项目材料和联盟会议完全只以英语提供，这大大限制了对非英语家庭的参与。再加上PPS缺乏直接的社区沟通，这意味着这将受影响的华语家庭没有被告知中文双语项目的改变。最令人难以理解的是，PPS的公平招生平衡项目的目标是打破障碍，但却忽略了在整个提案过程中完全没有消除与家长沟通的语言障碍。
树人谨代表我们的MIP家庭，敦促PPS管理部门、教育委员会、入学和计划平衡咨询委员会以及东南指导联盟，从入学和计划平衡项目中取消迁移合并波特兰东南地区的华人DLI项目的方案。我们恳请您重新审视这些带有极端种族歧视和偏见的假设和做法，并坚持要求您在推行这些方案（和/或完善这些方案）之前，先与MIP家长们沟通，因为这些方案将大大影响并最终毁坏作为PPS最成功的双语项目之一。
此致，
波特兰树人董事会
Maggie Berg (Leung) 梁珮軒 Kim McCarty Audrey Wang 王安 Kelli George
Phil Liu 劉明立 Delsin Ho Jacque Leong
cc: Michael Bacon, 双语系主任 Judy Brennan, 主任, 招生与转学中心 Seth Johnson, 校长, Woodstock Elementary School Caitlin Klenz, 校长, Hosford Middle School Jo Ann Wadkins, 校长, Cleveland High School Tyler Vick, 总经理, FLO公司分析 Jed Roberts, 高级分析师, FLO公司分析