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Hundreds of Oregon middle school students staged a walkout after two Black educators were placed on administrative leave.
According to the Portland Mercury, the student-led demonstration ensued on Friday (April 14) over the alleged mistreatment of Black faculty members Damon Keller, a dance teacher, and Phyllis Harris, a librarian, at Ockley Green Middle School in Portland, Oregon.
The district said the staffers were put on leave due to a "personnel matter," but students condemned the move, marching around campus shouting "Black teachers matter!"
Chris Riser, a Black teacher who left his position at Ockley Green last year, suggested that the middle school has a pattern of mistreating its staffers of color. Before stepping down, Riser was put on leave in 2018 for assisting another student-led protest.
“The issues with administration go all the way back to the first year of consolidation (as a middle school),” Riser said. “At the same time the district is talking about retention, they’re actively hemorrhaging educators of color."
Ockley Green parent Shannon Shambaugh echoed Riser's sentiments.
“Students cannot learn in this environment,” Shambaugh said. “The principal does not seem to have experience with culturally responsive instruction or an understanding of how white supremacy culture operates and how it has caused great harm in North Portland. PPS has invested in at least 15 YEARS of racial equity training for district staff and THIS is the best they can do??!!”
The middle school has also come under scrutiny over a video that appears to show vice principal Spencer Crum entering a girls' bathroom and locker room. Students protested over the incident last month.
According to reports, Crum is also named in a federal Title IX complaint filed earlier this year that accuses a P.E. teacher of being unfair and dismissive of his female students.
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