Staff Exodus

4/30/2022

By Elaine Haworth Koskela
Newberg Teacher

From what I can tell, the Newberg School District is in serious trouble with the number of quality staff leaving. Here's what I see as a staff member. All opinions are my own. The board majority went to war with everyone the very night they gained power. No talking with the union or anyone. Just authoritarian power moves. That meeting and all board meetings are on YouTube. Thanks to Dr. Joe and a lot of other people, the board only broke laws that currently have no punishment, no mechanism for accountability. Most staff and many parents were super upset with the authoritarian methods and the breaking of public meeting laws, not to mention the seeming hatred of the diversity that exists in our schools. A totally local small group of parents decided to do a recall, as is their right. They were attacked and slandered and had lies told about them. Then massive amounts of money from Republicans and all sorts of far right organizations poured into Newberg to stop the recalls. Well over $200,000.00. So much money and propaganda. The power of the current majority is strong and seems to me to be derived from fear of LGBTQ and BIPOC students and staff. Fear that something they don't agree with is being forced on their children. (It's not) They are told these PEOPLE are political and are indoctrinating others. Now there is witch hunting for anything that doesn't fit within the straight, white, Christian ideology. Obviously a lot of fear too. People are told their rights as straight, Christian, white folks are threatened because of the existence of difference. Most staff I know working in public education are doing so to educate everyone. They know the students who are most vulnerable. They weren't too thrilled to be told they were being political by making sure vulnerable populations have representation. For me, I'm really committed to keeping public education public. If someone doesn't like the diversity of gay, or black, or oppositional deviant, or whatever, they are welcome to homeschool or send their children to private schools. There is nothing wrong with that. But our public schools are for everyone. Let's keep it that way. It makes me sick and sad to see one group putting down another instead of everyone working together. Unfortunately, I think the district is going to bleed both staff and students for a long while. Hopefully, the next superintendent will be a skilled bridge builder and something can be built back that doesn't marginalize already marginalized people.

JBT Emmons

4/30/2022 10:18:13 pm

Well said. The success the board majority and their supporters have had in painting those who oppose them as “political” when they themsleves were and are not only funded by right-wing backers and pacs like COPS, but also pushing a clear political and social agenda is terrifying. There is not reason in this, only emotion, and most of that born of fear and ignorance. Even the illegalities the board has perpetrated their supporters ignore—so much for the party all about law and order…, but then it’s clear they believe that only people like themselves (white, hetero, Christian) are protected by such laws. Newberg has become exhibit A for why it is vital that people see and experience more than their bubble.

guadalupe

5/5/2022 01:00:42 pm

@JBT... Couldn't agree more! The double standards are astounding, though sadly, hardly shocking.
With the recent leak of the SCOTUS decision on Roe v. Wade, that double standard, lack of self-awareness, and failure in genuine moral self-reflection seems even more obvious and quite frankly, ridiculous: What is the Christian fundamentalist's perspective of the Taliban? Or most proximal even, who's been chanting "medical rights" in opposition of the mask mandate? What a failure to look in the mirror.

Jim Emmons

5/5/2022 01:31:11 pm

Sigh, yes, not shocking, but disappointing (deeply). It's not an accident that some of the same people decrying the sense of Roe vs. Wade in one breath have been quick to whine about mask mandates in another... Reason is not of interest to the far-right; emotion, especially derived from fear (itself often a product of ignorance or lack of familiarity), is their modus operandi. Unfortunately, this approach to life runs parallel with the shallower understanding of the Christian message common in fundamentalist circles. The emphasis on OT law books over the far more difficult to observe First and Second Great Commandments Jesus advocated; the quickness to judge (a no-no according to Jesus); the inability or unwillingness to examine scripture textually and consider historical and cultural context; and the lack of compassion for anyone not of the exact same mind run completely counter to Jesus' admonition that one treat others as one wishes to be treated. In fairness, there is possibly nothing more difficult than the first or second great commandments (i.e. loving and honoring a deity we cannot experience with the senses and loving our neighbors as we would have them love us)--these are difficult to do because they require both faith and the willingness to be uncomfortable, to get to know people perhaps _unlike_ ourselves. That's the job though. IF more of the far-right spent less time shouting down POC, advocates for equal rights, and LGBTQ+ folk, and more time chatting with them they would discover their common humanity--all of us are just people trying to figure life out, and our lives--all of them--would be far less full of strife were we to seek common ground rather than focus on differences that, ultimately, don't matter. Thank you for your blog BTW--we need this.

Comments are closed.

conversations from community members

Staff Exodus