The Cardinal Times Spring 2021 Issue

PAGE 4 • The Cardinal Times, SPRING, 2021 FEATURES
Politics: Can it be avoided in classrooms?
By JADEN SCHIFFHAUER
How are political influences involved or avoided in classrooms?
Graphic by HOLDEN KILBANE
Since the beginning of 2021 alone, numerous
current events, political discourses
and controversial ideologies have come to
the forefront of the American public’s discussions.
As a result of such a culture, students
and teachers have begun to grapple
with classroom conversations dealing with
these issues.
Despite the immediacy of these dialogues,
actually holding them can be a difficult
task to navigate. Rules such as those
contained within Oregon law ORS 260.432
provide regulation, preventing teachers and
other public employees from “[promoting]
In early February, the safe park program
was proposed by City Commissioner Dan
Ryan, who oversees Portland’s Housing Bureau,
the Joint Office of Homeless Services
and the Bureau of Development Services.
“The idea is that [the safe park program]
would be so that people who live in their
vehicles could park somewhere safe and be
able to have access to the basic amenities...
basic things that we take for granted,” says
Yesenia Carrillo, who is in charge of Constituent
Relations for Ryan as well as being
Ryan’s Policy and Communications Advisor.
According to Portland city officials, the
parking lots would have access to services
that the houseless community can utilize to
move towards more stable housing in the
future.
“[There would be] a bit of support to
help people identify where they could get
services that might help them get back into
an apartment,” says Marc Jolin, Director of
the Joint Office of Homeless Services, “and
then there are other ‘safe park programs’
that are a little more intensively supported.
For folks who are sort of maybe longer term
living in their vehicles, maybe they’re living
in an RV, and then they have more barriers
to getting off of the streets.”
or [opposing] any political committee or
[promoting] or [opposing] the nomination
or election of a candidate, the gathering of
signatures on an initiative, referendum or
recall petition, the adoption of a measure or
the recall of a public office holder while on
the job during working hours.”
Even so, junior Rohan Yamin has found
that this year has created a greater deal of
these kinds of conversations.
“I have definitely had more politicalbased
discussions this year over previous
years,” says Yamin. “Starting with the Black
Lives Matter protests, most teachers have
A similar safe park program is currently
used in other major cities such as Los Angeles,
CA. And according to the Safe Park
LA web, after just five years in operation,
approximately 25% of the houseless population
in LA are now staying in city-protected
safe parking lots.
While this idea may be a new consideration
for Portland’s city officials, it has been
present in the community for a long time.
“The idea is definitely something that
many of our community partners have been
thinking about and advocating for, but [the
safe park program] was not something that
the government agents have pursued,” says
Carrillo. “This has been an idea that’s been
amongst the community for a long time.”
The same concept is currently used within
faith-based organizations. The Portland
Zoning Code under section 33.920.470.B
allows for three vehicles to be parked in a
religious institution’s parking lot per night
as long as they have access to sanitary facilities.
“There have been partnerships in the
past with different faith based organizations
who wanted to make their parking
lots available for people who are living in
their vehicles,” says Carillo.
While a safe park program has yet to be
acknowledged and offered a space to talk
about the current political climate.”
Some teachers feel that the weight of
having conversations about politics and
current events falls more upon some than
others.
Political Economy and History teacher
Dr. Rion Roberts notes that the bulk of
these discussions often occur within certain
classes.
“Not all teachers have the ability to engage
in that, because they don’t have the
training in social science analysis,” he says.
“Language arts teachers have it a little
rough, math teachers avoid the conversation
totally, so disproportionately we end
up getting stuck in social sciences as being
the place where we talk about politics.”
Social Sciences teacher and soccer coach
Sam Roberson agrees that such discussions
are common within the classes that he
teaches.
“In Political Economics we spend the first
full semester talking about nothing other
than politics,” he says. “It’s a daily conversation
for us… In addition to planned daily
discussions, I start every class with a chance
for student check in…. During the first several
minutes of class students can bring up,
talk about, or ask questions about anything
that’s going on in the news or their world.
Much of the time it’s about breaking news
or controversial topics.”
Some teachers outside of Social Sciences,
such as Amanda Elliott who teaches
English and Theory of Knowledge (TOK),
notes that similar conversations sometimes
take place in her classes too.
“I had a couple of classes after the Jan. 6
events, for example, or the election where
I asked if we needed to talk or if we should
implemented in Portland, the city is currently
taking proposals for additional forms
of alternate housing that can be incorporated
into the Portland plan.
“Once we see those proposals, we’ll have
a better idea of both what type of safe park
we’re going to be offering, and what the
scale of that safe park will be,” says Jolin.
Portland has implemented other outdoor
housing solutions during the COVID-19
pandemic that provide a tent, bed, sleeping
bag and other hygienic amenities to accommodate
crowded shelters. According to the
Oregonian, one focuses on the LGBTQ+
community, one on people of color and another
that is for everyone, but prioritizes
older folks. City officials say safe park is a
similar, less expensive alternative.
“One of the advantages of the safe park
programs over any other shelter strategies
that we have is that folks have their vehicles
so we’re not having to invest in sleeping
structures or shelter beds,” says Jolin. “It’s
less expensive, especially in the short-term
model of providing some support to folks.”
Jolin says another potential benefit to the
safe park program is its ability to accommodate
those who are chronically homeless,
or those who aren’t looking for shelter
or permanent housing. This may be due to
just get on with things,” she says. “Most students
just want to get started, but in TOK,
we have groups studying political RLS [real
life situations], so we’ll have discussions
there. Some students are looking at vaccinations,
masks, the Jan. 6 events, and the
White House Columbus Day press release.”
Students at Lincoln have come to understand
such conversations, with both teacher
and student participants, as a common
part of their educations. Junior Tucker
Bowerfind has experienced many political
dialogues within the classroom.
“I have found that, in general, these types
of discussions have been relatively common
in both in-person and in virtual classes,”
he said. “I find that these sorts of discussions
tend to happen the most in classes
that make space for check-ins and whatnot,
where a student will mention some current
event having to do with politics. Teachers
are almost always willing to engage with
important topics that are raised to some
level.”
Students such as Bowerfind have found
that teachers will tend to limit how they
speak about their own beliefs.
“Most teachers are careful about what
they choose to say in class about political
issues, but I definitely have had experiences
with teachers voicing strong opinions
on matters that they care about,” he says.
“Even if they don’t say what their beliefs are
outright, I think it’s impossible for them to
completely keep their personal biases relating
to politics out of their teaching or just
conversations.”
Continued on Cardinaltimes.org
New safe park program could help Portland’s houseless
By HADLEY STEELE
having a bad experience at a shelter, wanting
to stay with their pet or worries about
being separated from their partner.
“You’re still going to find folks who are
camping— when you talk to them about
shelter, their initial reaction is going to be
[that they] don’t really want to go. We try
very hard to help them understand what’s
different about shelter now, and that might
be a better fit than they think. And then we
also just recognize that we need to keep
working on different strategies that might
be better,” says Jolin.
Advocates say everyone living as a houseless
person has a different experience and
may need a different path to permanent
housing. City officials say Portland is working
to accommodate these differences in
needs, and the safe park program may be a
step in that direction.
“It can be dangerous to be sleeping unsheltered.
We want to be able to offer people
some basic safety and stability that
allows them to both be safe tonight,” says
Jolin. “But to have that sense of support,
that allows them to focus on the work they
need to do to get back into permanent
housing because it takes work.”