Save Dave: Madison High Students Protest Forced Departure of Esteemed Counselor

A long-time and beloved guidance counselor at Madison High School in Northeast Portland is facing the threat of "involuntary transfer" to a different Portland Public School, but students at Madison aren't taking the news lying down. This afternoon, about 50 students staged a walkout to protest the counselor's possible departure.

Turmoil isn't new to Madison this year. Earlier this spring, teachers at the 820-student school were reeling over cuts to the teaching staff. They were also voicing increasingly harsh assessments of Madison's administration and the school district's plans to keep Madison students divided into three "small schools."

That discontent was a factor in the students' protest this afternoon because their guidance counselor, David Colton, is one of the most vocal critics of the recent changes at Madison. If administrators have their way, this could be his last year at Madison. "I think I'm being scapegoated for a lot of the problems that exist in the building," Colton, who's worked at Madison for 10 years, says. [For details on those problems, please read the link in the second paragraph.]

Here's what the students have to say about why Colton should stay at Madison:

• "I don't know if I'll trust another counselor," says Samantha Mathews, a 15-year-old freshman.

• "Last year I failed four of my classes," says Rachael Rogers, a 16-year-old sophomore. "I wasn't thinking about dropping out, but I was discouraged." Colton, she says, brought her to his office, told her he would help her graduate from Madison and to go to college. "I'm passing all my classes now." She's also eligible to play basketball again.

• "It's hard to speak for everyone but most of the kids don't like the small communities," says Joe Scorse, who wants to study German, which is offered at Madison but not at the "small school" he attends. His "small school" offers only Spanish in its foreign language department. Yet Colton, Scorse says, has helped other students change "small schools" or take classes at different "small schools," even though that practice is not encouraged by administrators.

• "Colton's had our back now we've got his," says Saba Saleem, a 17-year-old junior.

• "Basically, Colton puts students before his own job by bypassing policies," says Ryan Boileau, one of the organizers with Heaven-Leigh Carey, a 16-year-old sophomore, who helped gather 300 signatures from students for a petition to "Save Dave."

• "Without him, the GSA [Madison's Gay-Straight Alliance] wouldn't exist," Heaven-Leigh Carey says.

Fun factoid: After students were told they could not put "Save Dave" posters on the walls and lockers at Madison, they taped the signs to their shirts, where free speech enjoys greater protections.

A spokesman for Portland Public Schools declined comment on Colton's fate, calling it a personnel issue.



Photos: Zach Hogg, 15-year-old freshman (top), and students posing for the television cameras.