Losing Their Religion

[November 15th, 2006] It took Jesus Christ three whole days to rise up from behind that boulder, and he was the son of God.

So maybe it's not all that surprising to the folks at North Portland's Mount Olivet Baptist Church that their application for a charter/alternative school with Portland Public Schools has failed twice and now seems destined for tough scrutiny on the third try.

While supporters hope this latest resurrection of their application will move forward quickly, longstanding critics of the proposed Academy of Character and Ethics are eager to stamp the life out of the charter high school, which is planned for an as yet unidentified location in North or Northeast Portland.

A school-board subcommittee hearing on the charter application is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 16. Three board members will then decide whether to recommend approving the charter at the full school-board meeting Dec. 11. (Charters are public schools funded with public dollars, but under the semi-autonomous control of nonprofit groups.)

Several parents are again raising questions about how the church will influence the proposed school's curriculum and atmosphere. Much of their concern centers on Mount Olivet leaders' active opposition to gay marriage when they funneled $15,000 in 2004 to the successful statewide campaign to pass Measure 36, which changed the Oregon constitution to define marriage as an act between a man and woman.

Edward Williams, director of administration for Mount Olivet and the person listed in the charter application as the proposed school's administrative director, angrily denied parents' charges that the Academy of Character and Ethics will integrate the church's teachings. "Those parents are wrong," Williams says.

Indeed, nothing in the current application is overtly religious. And there's no rule against churches starting charter schools, according to the district.

Some school-board members are unimpressed with the latest application. But their reasons have little to do with the parents' concerns about religious overtones.

At a discussion of the applicants' third attempt last week, board members Dilafruz Williams, David Wynde and Doug Morgan raised concerns about the financing of the school, the sustainability of its leadership and the originality of its proposed curriculum. The point of a charter school is to offer students something new. "All of this has to be about innovation," Williams says.

The charter school originally was supposed to open this fall, somewhere in North Portland. But the school board denied that first application. Backers returned with a new proposal to open an alternative school on the Jefferson High School campus, but withdrew that idea under pressure from critics.

As it stands now, the charter school's supporters say they plan to integrate character lessons into the curriculum in a completely secular fashion. Parents and other community activists remain unconvinced that Mount Olivet's religious teachings will be kept out of the classroom. They point to the fact that the charter school is still listed, after an entry about a Christian elementary school in India, on the church's website (mtolivet.com) as one of its projects.

"Any charter conceived, designed, organized and originally listed as a Baptist church 'ministry' is probably lousy for science education, character, ethics and the promise of civil protections for all," says parent Bill Griesar.