Portland school board Chair Sarah Lentz recently delivered the annual State of the Schools address to the City Council. In light of the district’s payroll fiasco, this was a challenge and I give her credit for addressing it.

However, as a former medical school department chair and associate dean for graduate studies, I was dismayed to read that the current strategic plan, with its emphasis on equity, would be “a guiding light” for improving Portland schools.

This plan was developed in 2017. Strategic plans should be reviewed and updated annually.

Indeed, the Portland Promise is failing its number one goal: academic excellence. Standardized test scores were on a downward slope before the pandemic, and now are falling even faster. Therefore, the Portland Promise should be updated to determine how to reverse this trend, including strategies to make up for learning loss and to determine why students who are disadvantaged and marginalized lag other students in achievement scores.

Teachers are best able to offer solutions because they interact with these students every day. A select group of teachers of classes ranging from STEM to humanities should advise the board.

Lentz also mentioned the small percentage of BIPOC staff compared to the student population and said eliminating these inequities is a school district priority. Recruiting BIPOC teachers will be quite difficult because other school systems around the U.S. are doing the same thing. New approaches should be tried, such as providing college scholarships for BIPOC students who major in education with a minor in STEM or humanities.

I assume the district would want to hire BIPOC teachers who can relate to equity issues, but also stress the importance of academics to success in life; or is equity the most important criteria, above academics?

In a farewell column in the Portland Forecaster (Jan. 17), former Superintendent Xavier Botana touted, deservedly so, significant funding for students in need, and a diversified curriculum that helps students see themselves in classrooms and in content. Botana was proud of the renovations of four new school buildings.

However, it is telling that there was no mention of how important academic achievement was, or what progress was made under his leadership.

Since Portland City residents pay a significant amount of the school budget, it would be helpful for school board members to communicate regularly with their constituents in the districts that they represent.

Let me finish by saying that as a parent of a child who has a disability and was subjected to bullying, I can very much relate to the equity issue; everyone should be treated with respect. However, as one who had an academic career, I know how important learning is and how one bank of knowledge builds on another.

Acquisition of this knowledge is critical for a successful life. Equity at this end of the spectrum is providing the tools and help for those who need it. It is then up to the students to demonstrate they have absorbed this knowledge. This learning should be priority No. 1 for our schools.

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