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A Dec. 8 Portland School Board listening session on changes to Jefferson High School’s attendance boundaries started with an unusual apology.
Board Chair Eddie Wang asked members of the board to stand with him as he admitted the board had fallen short of the “respect, clarity, and care” expected of elected officials at a Dec. 2 meeting.
That was the night the School Board erupted in chaos several times as a dispute over approval of a bond management contract turned ugly. Board members sparred over which questions were appropriate to ask regarding Portland Public Schools’ selection of Texas-based construction firm Procedeo.
When portions of the majority-Black audience in the board room pushed back on questions, a couple of board members told the crowd they were “not the public”—because other people not present had expressed concern about the contract approval. The remarks sent the room into such disarray that Wang ultimately shut down all discussion, frustrating board members who still had outstanding questions.
In his apology, Wang said the new board is still learning to govern together and that, as chair, responsibility to set an environment that embraces healthy debate and accountability rests with him.
“Some moments Tuesday night left members of our community feeling dismissed, unheard or undermined. Some comments were experienced as microaggressions,” Wang said. “That is not the environment that we intend to create and is not who we want to be…We will and we can do better.”
