Outrage, when channeled in the right ways, can be transformative. So, the silver lining of the gut-wrenching, infuriating and painful investigation detailing how Portland Public Schools failed to protect students from a longtime educator's alleged sexual misconduct may be that the district will have the motivation to fuel a genuine culture shift.
Already, the report examining how the district missed red flags about Mitchell Whitehurst's behavior over his three-decade long career has prompted deep soul-searching by school administrators and board members. In a tearful address last week, director Rita Moore channeled the fury and determination of the community as a whole, declaring that PPS owes "these students and their families not only an apology for our past failures, but also unshakeable commitment to action so that this systemic dereliction of duty never happens again."
One voice, however, is missing from the chorus of those committing to fix the flaws that allowed Whitehurst to hopscotch from one position to another, his alleged sexual harassment of students unchecked and undeterred: The teacher's union. As The Oregonian/OregonLive's Bethany Barnes reported, Portland Association of Teachers' president Suzanne Cohen glossed over the report's findings that the teachers' contract allows complaints to be purged from a teacher's record. Despite investigators' recommendation to change the contract to better protect students, Cohen defended the agreement, emphasizing that the blame rests with the district administration.
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Undeniably, she has a point. District administrators, many of whom have since left PPS, bear a large portion of responsibility for not investigating multiple sexual misconduct and harassment complaints against Whitehurst over the years, as Barnes revealed in a 2017 series that prompted the district to commission its own investigation. District lawyers, human resources directors, principals and others often neglected to do the bare minimum to investigate students' complaints of being ogled, harassed and targeted with sexual comments or advances. Even a report, made years after the fact, that Whitehurst had demanded and received oral sex from a student wasn't investigated.
But the administration's failings don't excuse the indefensible policies baked into the teacher's union contract that make it difficult to track whether a teacher been the subject of multiple complaints or been told to improve their conduct in some fashion. For example, teachers have five different files, maintained in multiple locations, storing different information. That alone makes it difficult for supervisors to have a complete view of the teachers they oversee.
Then, consider contract provisions that require the district to purge any complaints stored in the teacher's file at his or her assigned school if the teacher or supervisor transfers to a different building. So a student's complaint that a teacher made sexual comments to her might seem like a first-time infraction, explained away as a misunderstanding, instead of being the third, fourth or 10th complaint over the teacher's career that it might really be. Another contract provision requires the district to remove "letters of expectation," which lay out district expectations for meeting policies or practices after an issue is identified, after three years as well.
As investigators noted, these requirements to purge records protect educators, not students. "If an issue is worth documenting in a building file, it is relevant to the educator's employment and a change of supervisors or a change of teaching assignment does not mitigate its relevance," the report states. A removal "cleans the slate for the educator, who may, over time, exhibit a pattern of inappropriate conduct that is serious."
Cohen told The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board that the union's bargaining team will review all the recommendations and that they are committed to student safety. But she insisted that the report's findings are an indictment of administrators who failed to investigate complaints - not the contract. It's as if Cohen has skipped the entire section devoted to detailing the many ways the contract hampers responsible supervision.
Students can't wait anymore for the union to develop its position. The union should come to the table before the contract's 2019 expiration date, and commit to new provisions that put student safety first.
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This community has stood with Portland teachers time and again, in ways big and small. Portland voters have passed local option levies by overwhelming margins, agreeing to pay millions extra in taxes each year to protect hundreds of teachers' jobs and add hundreds more. Parents show up to volunteer in teachers' classrooms, raise money for supplies and otherwise try to ease the burden on teachers. They do this because they value the singular role that teachers play in children's lives as educators, mentors and role models.
But families also trust that teachers will stand with their children and put the safety and needs of students above the job security of a suspect colleague who may be harming them.
The school district is full of dedicated, professional teachers who make personal sacrifices every day because they believe so strongly in their mission and commitment to students. These same teachers need to make clear to their union leaders that contractual provisions protecting those who degrade and harass students contribute as much to the district's culture of dysfunction as administrators who turn a blind eye to students' complaints.
- The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board