“Black teachers matter” was the chant as hundreds of students at Ockley Green Middle School walked out of class in protest of two teachers being placed on administrative leave. The Portland Public Schools District said dance teacher Damon Keller and librarian Phyllis Harris’ leaves are due to personal matters and did not offer additional details to the Portland Mercury on Friday (April 14).
But students and parents alike say the actions against the teachers are a symptom of a greater issue happening at the district’s schools with larger populations of minority students. “Recently, they’ve been firing mostly all of our Black faculty members at Ockley Green and around PPS, too,” one student told the publication. Parents who spoke with the news outlet said they were given a different story about Keller’s absence, citing that he allegedly used too many sick days.
Former Ockley Green teacher Chris Riser said the school’s issues with faculty and staff of color are not a new phenomenon. Instead, it is something that has been going on since 2006. “The issues with administration go all the way back to the first year of consolidation,” said Risher. He left the middle for a teaching opportunity at a charter school halfway through the 2022–23 academic school year. He had been with Ockley for seven years and also faced a stint of administrative leave in 2018 when he helped students organize a protest. Riser noted, “At the same time the district is talking about retention, they’re actively hemorrhaging educators of color.
Other complaints launched against the school involve Assistant Principal Spencer Crum. Riser said concerns about Crum’s leadership arose before he was hired last fall. In a 2018 episode of the “Socks & Sandals” podcast, the school administrator admitted to culturally identifying as Black despite being a white man. He claimed that having grown up with Black friends made him “more comfortable around people of color than white people.” The Mercury reported that Crum also marked his race as Black on the SATs and identified as Black, non-Hispanic when he registered at the University of Oregon.
The publication also mentioned a parent’s criticism of Crum, which read, “The principal does not seem to have experience with culturally responsive instruction or an understanding of how white supremacy culture operates and how it has caused great harm in North Portland. PPS has invested in at least 15 YEARS of racial equity training for district staff, and THIS is the best they can do??!!”
Last month, Crum came under fire when students led a protest after he allegedly entered a girls’ restroom and locker room that was being used by a student without announcing himself. Another female student said his behavior made her feel uncomfortable in an unrelated incident. He is also named in an ongoing federal civil rights complaint involving alleged violations of Title IX. The law prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools and education programs that are federally funded.