Portland Public Schools board director Rita Moore highlights the importance of a newly adopted conduct policy during a school board meeting Oct. 15. Shown to the right, Eilidh Lowery looks on.
Portland Public Schools board director Rita Moore highlights the importance of a newly adopted conduct policy during a school board meeting Oct. 15. Shown to the right, Eilidh Lowery looks on.
A policy that seeks to put clear boundaries in place for student-teacher interactions and to prevent future abuse within Portland's public schools was given unanimous final approval by Portland school board members Tuesday, Oct. 15.
"If you do nothing else, you protect children," school board director Rita Moore said after the board's unanimous vote. "It's essential that we have a common understanding throughout this district of expectations of adult behavior regarding children. My fervent hope is that this doesn't get relegated to a piece of paper, that this becomes part of the DNA of PPS going forward."
Among other things, the new policy seeks to prohibit adult staff's physical contact with students unless necessary for educational purposes like band instruction or assisting disabled students.
Other key takeaways from the policy:
• Teachers and staff may not use personal vehicles to transport students for any reason other than an emergency, and must notify the district and parents of travel itineraries for all field trips or athletic activities.
• All email communications from employees to students must be through a PPS-provided email address.
• One-on-one meetings with students should be in open, public spaces or rooms visible to others, with exceptions for sensitive issues and counseling.
Back in July, PPS directors reviewed a draft of the conduct policy leading up to the final vote.
The policy was the district's response to fallout from a , a veteran PPS teacher who kept his job and skirted discipline despite complaints from students of inappropriate behavior and misconduct by him.
Whitehurst resigned from PPS in 2015 following a 2014 incident in which he sexually harassed a male coworker at Faubion, a K-8 school in northeast Portland. He was later investigated by Oregon's Teacher Standards and Practices Commission following reporting in The Oregonian that uncovered serious complaints about the teacher's behavior dating back to the 1980s that were dismissed; not fully investigated by PPS lawyers; or purged from his employee file over time, in accordance with teacher union contract agreements.
State investigators learned that in 2008 and again in 2012, Whitehurst had been accused of inviting two high school seniors to his apartment in 1984 and soliciting oral sex from one of them. The complaints were never investigated.
The school district and Portland Association of Teachers have received criticism for what some say are union agreements that prioritize teachers' jobs over the safety of students.
Investigators in the Whitehurst case recommended changes to record-keeping practices regarding personnel files. After that, the union contract approved in late June was updated; the number of years before letters of expectation are purged from an educator's file went from three to six years.
Elizabeth Thiel, vice president of PAT, said letters of expectation are not usually tied to complaints of inappropriate behavior.
"It would be a way for the district to document minor things they did not find reason to discipline for," Thiel said. She said the main issues in the Whitehurst case stemmed from faulty follow-up and a lack of investigation into complaints, not union contract language.
"We share the interest of the district in keeping kids safe and making sure we thoroughly investigate things and make sure we act upon them," Thiel added.
PPS board director Julia Brim-Edwards called the new policy "groundbreaking.
Many of the subjects — such as social media and text messages —already are covered in other PPS policies for staff, but are reiterated or expanded with the new conduct policy.