‘Hip hop hooray’ for Portland?

UPDATE • Proposed new charter school goes to superintendent for a recommendation in December

By Jennifer Anderson

The Portland Tribune, Nov 2, 2009, Updated Nov 3, 2009 (16 Reader comments)

Tribune File Photo

A Portland Public Schools’ subcommittee hears a proposal Monday afternoon for a local hip hop charter school. The school would be for young performers, such as these beginning hip hop dancers at the Vega Dance Club.

A school of hip hop?

That's the focus of a potential charter school that – if approved – could be part of Portland Public Schools' offerings next fall.

The school board’s charter school committee held a public hearing Monday afternoon for the proposed High School for the Recording Arts Portland. Board members peppered the applicant with questions amid a roomful of supporters, including several potential students and hip hop entertainers who spoke to the need for more opportunities for young people. No one testified in opposition.

It’s now up to Superintendent Carole Smith to recommend approval of the charter — or not — to the full board, which is set to hold make the final decision at a Dec. 14 hearing.

A new journey

As proposed, the new school would be modeled after the High School for the Recording Arts in St. Paul, Minn. – a public charter school created in 1998 that serves a majority-black population.

In Portland, the aim is to reach out to black, Latino and other youth who are at-risk of dropping out, come from disadvantaged families or would benefit from small-group, individualized learning.

In addition to working with state-of-the-art computer labs and recording studios, students would learn their core curriculum – English, math, science and social studies – tailored around their love of music. They’d also pick up skills in equipment engineering, marketing, business and design along the way.

To academically struggling students – especially those not fluent in English – music could just be the hook that engages them in their education, says Erica Jayasuriya, 40, a longtime Waldorf school teacher in Portland who is leading the effort.

“I was a white L.A. girl, fell in love with Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison,” she says. “They were like my gateway drugs. I went do Reed (College) and heard Etta James, B.B. King, suddenly I was like, ‘Oh, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Eric Clapton are great but they’re not the ones who created this,’ ” she says.

“They sent me on a new journey in my 20s – African music, culture, dance, politics, history. I felt this music was speaking to me and I needed to understand how those messages came to be.”

Integrated in the music were themes of civil rights, slavery, world history and geography, she says. “When we say we’re a hip hop school, it’s a lot deeper than that.”

While the school would be public and open to anyone, the point is to truly reach out to the minority populations that aren’t being served by local charter schools, Jayasuriya says.

According to a March audit of the district’s charter system, charter schools generally have more white students and are more affluent than the district average.

Just two of the district’s charter schools – Leadership & Entrepreneurship Public High School and Self Enhancement Inc. – have two-thirds of their enrollment receiving free or reduced-price meals. The rest of the charters have fewer than a quarter eligible.

At those same two schools, more than 70 percent are students of color. One in five students from the other five charters combined are of color.

“Music – movement, oral language, poetry – is how you learn mother tongue,” Jayasuriya says of hoping to attract English language learners. “We’re really just trying to do the work of who isn’t getting served right now. … Portland doesn’t need another charter school that’s going to end up being 90 percent Caucasian.”

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