Jefferson High School (Portland, Oregon)
Jefferson High School is a public high school in central Portland, Oregon, USA, administered by Portland Public Schools. Jefferson was founded in 1909.
Jefferson has been reorganized several times in the last 15 years in an effort to boost test scores. In the summer of 2007 the school district created the most recent plan for Jefferson without due process and without input from students, teachers and the community.[citation needed]
The current configuration is 4 different Academies
- Academy of Arts And Technology,
- Academy of Science And Technology
- Young Men's Leadership Academy, an academy for boys only, set to begin in Fall 2007
- Young Women's Academy, an all girls academy, not located in the Jefferson buildings, but a few blocks away. This is set to begin in Fall 2007
Reflecting its urban location, the school's demographic distribution of the students is 66% black, 13% white. The data for the entire State of Oregon is almost the opposite. (80% white, 3% black).
The school previously hosted a color television studio. The most recent plan made both political and financial cuts to that program. Grassroots efforts have been made by teachers and students to bring back the infamous TV program. The hope is that soon Jefferson will offer a television curriculum.
Jefferson is often given a view from only the standpoint of state and national tests, seen by many as modern racism.[citation needed] These tests are timed, standarized and normalized. Most students and teachers s welcome higher standards and accountablity for students. However, Jefferson High School has consistently had the lowest test scores in the state of Oregon. In 1997, in an attempt to improve the quality of education students received and thus raise test scores, Jefferson High School undertook a controversial "reconstituting" plan wherein all staff was fired and the school was rebuilt from scratch. [1] Test scores, however, remained low, and many were disappointed at the loss of many dedicated teachers with decades of experience of working at Jefferson High School. Among the teachers lost were Linda Christensen, who was a celebrated member of the local community. Christensen recently published Reading, Writing, and Rising Up ISBN 0-942961-25-0, which is largely about her years of teaching at Jefferson High School. Christensen is a nationally recognized educational reformer and social justice activist.[citation needed]
Jefferson High School's dance program
In the mid-1970s, in an attempt to integrate the student body, Jefferson High School introduced the magnet arts program and the dance program, which allowed for students from other districts to be bused into the school to take part in the arts and dance programs. Rather than integrating the student body to any profound degree, what this led to was many white students from other districts being bused in for the programs and having nothing to do with the rest of the school. In addition, though Jefferson High School was predominantly a black high school, the percentage of black students enrolled in the dance and other arts programs remained relatively low.
Jefferson High School became well known in the local community for its magnet arts dance program, which was founded in the late 1970s by Mary Vinton Folberg, sister of Will Vinton (creator of Claymation). Folberg modelled the Jefferson Dance Department after the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts.
In the early 1980s, Folberg founded the student dance company The Jefferson Dancers. Many internationally recognized artists and choreographers worked with The Jefferson Dancers. The company performed in many local venues, and on a few occasions toured internationally.
Jefferson High School basketball
The men's basketball team has been coached by Marshall Haskins since 1998 and has been one of the most successful programs in Oregon. In 1999-2000, they went undefeated, were nationally ranked, and won the state championship. The program has graduated NCAA Division I players Aaron Miles (basketball) and Michael Lee of Kansas, Thomas Gardner of Missouri, Brandon Lincoln of Oregon, Jon Tinnon of Idaho, Antone Jarrell of UTEP/Portland State, and Brian Morris of SMU. Ime Udoka of the Portland Trail Blazers also graduated from Jefferson, as did James Allen (American football) of the New Orleans Saints. Ironically, Udoka got his chance with the Blazers when Miles failed a physical in pre-season.
Prior to Haskins, Jefferson was coached for 21 years by Bobby Harris. Jefferson won a state championship in 1972 coached by Jack Bertell.
Notable alumni
- Mel Renfro, former Dallas Cowboys player and Football Hall of Fame inductee.[1] He was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.
- Ime Udoka
- Pete Ward, former Chicago White Sox player. born in Montreal, he attended Jefferson HS, then Lewis and Clark College [2] in Portland. He was a 1963 rookie-of-the-year runner-up. In 1964 he hit three grand-slam homers.[3] His last season, in 1970, was with the New York Yankees. batting stats He was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1985.
- Ime Udoka, American basketball player currently with the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers
- Terry Baker, 1962 Heisman trophey winner
External links
- Jefferson High School
- Jefferson High School description at Homes101
References
- ^ "Photo caption: Former Dallas Cowboys star and future Hall of Famer Mel Renfro...". The Oregonian. Portland, Oregon: Oregonian Publishing. 2004-12-07. pp. D5.