The Bitchtucci PDX Voter Guide: May 2k19

please enjoy this great picture of my dog. you can support his healthcare fund if you’re really into dogs, really mad about the cost of healthcare, or both.

I know some people think this is a small election. Less important than a ballot stuffed with statewide measures or presidential candidates. Oh, school board members and water districts and such. And so many running unopposed. I have heard the dismissive chatter in the supermarket line.

But, y’know, if the swirling entropic vortex of our political sphere can teach us anything, it’s how miserable it is for vulnerable people to have bad representation. In my work, I see young people who are brilliant partners in their family’s survival who are also so vulnerable to the whims of others around them. At one end of extremes, we have seen the narratives from young folks who survive school shootings: we can’t yet vote to ban assault weapons, but we’re still being killed by them, they say. It also looks like having to go to school where the dress code targets you for your natural hair, or for wearing a tank top when it’s hot outside. A school board-approved dress code policy gets to decide that your natural hair is a good reason to send you home and exclude you from a day of public education instruction that is your right as a child in the United States. In this election, we’re looking for people who are often the deciding bodies for students filing all manner of discrimination claims against their school. These are people making decisions about budgets, complaints, hiring superintendents, working with teacher unions.

I am interested in candidates who keep the dignity and self-determination of young people and their communities close to their ribs. Any turn you can think of where vulnerable people are disenfranchised from their rights to dignity and self-determination, that’s a place to set some of your empathy or your recognition of shared vulnerability.

Students deserve smart people to balance long and short term suffering and goals. I say “suffering” on purpose. Deciding who suffers and when they suffer is a part of the work when problematically and insufficiently-sourced education funds are stretched thin. I am looking for people who will minimize suffering for the people already suffering most. I am looking for short-term mitigation of suffering as an imperative priority. A lot of very boring conventional rhetoric talks about how we don’t want short-term victories if our long-term goals are compromised — oh, we’d rather hold out for a better solution. I think people who are so sure of this moral high ground do not know or remember what it’s like to lose again and again and again. To feel no victories in your housing, your family, your employment, your schools for a long, long time. I would prioritize less efficient short-term gains from time to time because I am not so fucked up and jaded that I can’t recognize the symbolic power of hope. Join me over here.

And stories of resilience under such conditions are familiar, right? The magic happens anyway, doesn’t it? I find myself often winking at my debate students, bright and precocious middle schoolers, mostly brown, mostly first-gen kids, some with accents, some with irrationally frightened immigrant mamas that remind me of my own. One kid stood on a chair last year and proclaimed, “Yes, I have a crush on ______. I told her and she doesn’t like me back, but it’s fine! People keep asking me if I’m embarrassed to have a crush on her, and I’m not!” He looked wistfully at the ceiling. “It’s her choice!”

We push and pull on all manner of issues: Which profession would be most helpful in a zombie apocalypse? (Their answer: Therapist.) Are middle schoolers too young to date? (Their answer: Love in middle school is real but dating leads to pain, and therefore ought to be avoided.) When the government shut down this winter, we placed bets on length and discussed the people affected. We checked back week after week, dissecting nuances of federal funding, lamenting the national parks and air traffic controllers and janitors. (The winning bet came from my quietest student, an Asian-American sixth grade boy who sometimes puts his hood up as if to muffle sound and lowers his gaze to a library book while the other students chatter and settle into their desks. He guessed 40 days. Any of my other students would have howled with the victory of having guessed the closest, but he just nodded solemnly, thinking about the national parks and air traffic controllers and janitors. I brought him a Mini Twix, a prize for his clever guessing, and he unwrapped in slowly, delicately, ate it in two careful bites.)

These kids, y’all. These students — all students! — students at every one of the twelve schools and educational programs I’ve worked at over the course of my career in education — in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France, all over Portland, all over East County, who hail from all over the world — all students everywhere! Students I’ll never even meet! They are complicated and interesting and deserve broad access to environments where their desires to understand the world are honored. Even the ones with a fucking lot to learn about being a good person because of the sticky toxic worlds they’ve grown up in. Even in an education system that still summons questions of who suffers and when.

On this ballot, expect to see school board members, community college directors, county education service district directors. On some ballots in Oregon, there are more: parks & rec boards, water & fire commissioners. This is where the fuck we live. These are our parks, our schools, our community colleges, our water. Voting is what the fuck we’re going to do.

Love ya. You got a nice pen ready? You got a bus pass to drop this bad boy off at a dropbox before 8pm? You gonna yell at your roommates to fill out their ballots so you can drop theirs off at the same time? I know you will, baby. Thank you. Good luck.

Housekeeping:

• Election Day is Tuesday, May 21st. Turn in your ballot by 8pm at any dropbox, like public libraries, assorted boxes in McDonalds parking lots, and more. You can also plug in any address here to find a nearby dropbox.
  I always drop off on Election Day at my local library because I think the librarians get a thrill from seeing so many civically-engaged people in their civic space. Can any librarians confirm or deny?
• You can pick up a new ballot at an elections office until 8pm on election day. This can be handy if you didn’t know it was an election until, like, right now. Or if your ballot was lost or damaged. You can call ahead or just show up.
• If you’ve already turned in your ballot but are curious about its progress and reading this voter guide just out of curiosity, go ahead and track your ballot and feel the thrill of having taken another action. The frequency and rates at which voters track their ballots is fascinating data and you should always feel great about reducing your very nuanced and storied existence into a fascinating data point. Social science, you know?
• I always use the Multnomah County voters pamphlet and Vote411.
• The Democratic Party of Multnomah County asked candidates to just say whether or not they were Dems to get posted on this website. Voting along party lines is oft-critiqued, but is one piece of the puzzle, especially when we’re trying to glean fluffy, unquantifiable information like values leanings in a bunch of nonpartisan roles.

I considered endorsements from:

• The Portland Community College Federation of Faculty and Academic Professionals’ endorsements (They abbreviate themselves to be PCCFFAP and I laughed out loud. I am not kidding. I wish I could forget 4chan. I am a grown woman).
• The Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO)
• The Color PAC. I trust this organization and its recommendations have my full attention.
• The Portland Association of Teachers (PAT)
• I even considered endorsements from the Willamette Week. I know, right?

Many of these organizations include endorsements from cities and counties all over the state, which can be useful if you are looking beyond Portland or Multnomah County.

• I looked for write-in candidates for positions running unopposed, but didn’t come across many temptations. A lot of candidates who run unopposed are fucking phenomenal, but they are not listed here in this guide.
• Nothing is better for you to crank up than “Tempo” by Lizzo on a sunny day. Either you’re also a thick bitch who deserves this song, or you are a humble appreciator of the thick bitches in your life who make this world run. I also can’t stop listening to “That’s a Lifestyle” by the Dirty Projectors and “Changes” by H.E.R.

Candidates

• MESD Director, Position 6, at-large: Kristin Cornuelle
  The Multnomah Education Service District is basically an umbrella cooperative that attempts to leverage resources for multiple school districts within Multnomah County. As if answering that question of, “Who…are you guys?” the MESD has a sweet FAQ page to paint inside the nebulous lines a little bit. They identify their priorities as “School Health Services, Special Education, Alternative Education, Technology, Outdoor School, and School Improvement.” In practice, I have attended MESD trainings where counselors and mental health professionals from multiple districts are gathered to discuss, for instance, the protocol for violent threats at school. The MESD employs several hundred employees across the district, like Special Education Assistants, school nurses, occupational therapists, and so on. Directors are volunteer board members who serve four-year terms, and this at-large position is not linked to a geographic area in particular. A deft understanding of allocating resources is a huge part of what this role requires. There are several MESD alternative schools that attempt to catch our students from various districts with high behavioral and mental health needs.
  Cornuelle is running against Shira Newman, who, by all accounts, seems lovely. Information about this race has been vague and thin. Both candidates have Facebook pages, for instance, that say almost nothing. Both of their write-ups in the Multnomah County voter pamphlet are measured, reasonable, identify solid priorities. The experience differential is pretty vast — Cornuelle has served on MESD’s board before, and also has been held leadership roles serving people with disabilities, domestic and sexual violence survivors, homeless folks in need of legal services, and folks reentering the workforce. By contrast, Newman cites her experience as a mother, which is EXTREMELY valuable from a values perspective, but doesn’t give me much to go on from a budgeting, federal/local policy, or auditing perspective. Interestingly, Newman also reports that her children have attended a variety of public, private, charter, and alternative schools, as well as homeschool. I have no idea of the linearity of these events, nor can I know the reasons for switching schools, but I always do wonder whether a certain frustration with systems causes folks to (often legitimately!) withdraw their students from one learning environment in favor of another. Candidates who run from a place of wanting to change their gripes with the system can bring great energy, but such energy needs to be tempered with a shrewdness for the most effective way to bring those changes about, as well as a sense of perspective to attend to other needs beyond their individual red flags. I don’t have a ton of information that would lead me to believe this Newman’s intention or expertise. I default to the experience, strategy, and service to very specifically relevant populations that Cornuelle brings to the table. Cornuelle, importantly, names sanctuary status as a priority in MESD schools.
• PCC Director, Zone 2: Tiffani L Penson
  LET US SING THE PRAISES OF PCC FROM EVERY ROOFTOP FROM YON TO THITHER! Progressive use of state and federal funds to get more students free access to PCC like Future Connect! Certificate programs in Career and Technical Education to get students well-qualified to dope-ass jobs in high demand, with high pay, and tons of security and union opportunities! Eccentric calculus professors who will go on a tangent about the origin of Arabic numerals for a full ten minutes!
  Identity politics-wise, I’m always going to heavily weigh the benefits of electing a super qualified, super experienced black woman to public office. Penson is all this in spades. She has broad policy and education experience through the city of Portland. It is actually very exciting that she is running for PCC’s board of directors — we are lucky that she wants to share this savvy with the institution because she is so aggressively qualified. She has a keen eye for meeting needs of folks who often get forgotten about. I love her focus on POC and women, of course, and especially appreciate that she identifies mothers transitioning back into the workforce as well. Multnomah County Democrats did a glowing write-up of Penson that includes this juicy accomplishment: “She implemented and manages the first-in-the-nation Minority Evaluator Program, which requires City bureaus to include at least one minority evaluator from the community in the contract award process.” I love smart policy like this. It’s specific. This tells me what I can already tell about Penson — she’s interested in making it difficult to weasel out of being more inclusive. A lot of inclusivity policy is written in the form of more progressive values and mission statements, which are important but do not have teeth. More of this keen focus at PCC will have great results on a Board that is already making extremely encouraging changes to open doors for students.
  Leonardo Kendall is running also, a PCC alum with great local experiences like volunteer coordinating for the Multnomah Democratic Party and interning with House Rep Jennifer Williamson. This is not his time, not against Penson. I hope Kendall stays in the scene, beefs up policy initiatives, keeps runnin’ for shit.
• PCC Director, Zone 3: Michael Sonnleitner
  Two smart, well-meaning white guys. A classic Portland voter conundrum. Vote 411’s survey answered a lot of my questions about the two candidates running for this position. We’re basically looking at veteran Michael Sonnleitner, a liberal longtime PCC professor, Fulbright scholar, and PCC board member who wants to involve students in decision-making and keep tuition affordable, and Jason Young, a newcomer to the PCC scene, whose work supports educational institutions with learning technology and more sophisticated business models.
  Jason Young’s LinkedIn provided some insight into that history, and I looked at some of those well-written claims about exceeding annual quotes and boosting retention rates with respect but with an understanding that these are pretty elaborate team efforts. I think either candidate would bring something very different and very valuable to the table. I tend to value Sonnleitner’s long relationship with PCC and valuable perspective as the only PCC instructor currently serving on the board. He’s also the one in this election with a track record that seems really proud of bringing student voice and representation to the table (he helped ensure that there is a student delegate to PCC board meetings, for instance). I also have a heavy bias toward his political framework — he names Frantz Fanon, one of my all-time most influential theorists, as an influence for his scholarly research.
• Portland Public School District, Director, Zone 1: Andrew Scott
  Scott’s opponent Jeff Sosne was a very mysterious figure without a ton of information available in the world — some digging allowed me to learn that Sosne has a psych background and has worked with young people with ADHD diagnoses. I would have been interested to see a developed platform from a youth mental health professional. But then he quietly withdrew his candidacy before the race. He’s still on the ballot.
  Andrew Scott will do a fine job — his responses and explanations in the MultCo voter pamphlet, Vote 411, and website leave me a sense of vagueness, but he judiciously uses active verbs like “demanded” and “audited” and does have a very legit background in Portland’s budget office. He says he is displeased by the discrepancy in funding between PPS’ affluent and poorer schools. I hope he digs in.
• Portland Public School District, Director, Zone 2: Shanice Clark
  Newcome Shanice Clark is running in a tight race with Michelle DePass. Both are black women with a shit-ton of great endorsements and smart ideas. DePass has the backing of the Portland Association of Teachers PAC, a Very Big Deal. Both have the support of Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon, signaling their alignment with solid sex education in PPS. Clark has endorsements from various progressive policymakers in the state, and I appreciate the dynamic of citing individuals — this tells me a little something about attention to personal relationships and coalition building. I think either candidate would do wonderful things in this position and I lament the dynamic of two qualified, compassionate people of color running for the same position while so many other positions go uncontested, but geography is what it is. As a counselor, I like what Clarke is prioritizing: Restorative Justice discipline and behavior management, an alternative to traditional exclusionary discipline processes; trauma-informed practice; welcoming families who normally feel left out of the decision-making process. There’s something to be said, too, about Clarke’s freshness to this particular office — she’s my favorite kind of newcomer: lots of applicable and transferable skills, great values, with an outsider lens.
• Portland Public School District, Director, Zone 3: Amy Kohnstamm
  This is a toughie. I pondered the Willamette Week’s incisive critique of Kohnstamm’s waffliness in her past term on the PPS board alongside the more measured Oregonian editorial that shares critiques for board missteps but more fairly casts skepticism upon challengers Deb Mayer, an educator and education activist whose values are on point but whose top foci are not what will best serve our most vulnerable students, and Wes Soderback, who seems like your principled eccentric grandpa. Soderback’s write-up in the Multnomah County voters pamphlet is worth a read. It’s great. He seems to convey, “This shit should be self-explanatory.” In all caps, he writes: “BUDGETING.” Beneath, simply, “We must fund our schools adequately. Our core curriculum must be our number one priority.” Well, Wes…yes. In all caps at the bottom, he says, “DON’T FORGET TO VOTE.” Love this dude.
  Regarding Mayer, WW offered this meaning-packed sentence: “She’s on the left flank of education activists, calling the kindergarten assessment each student receives ‘child abuse,’ and warning against the unproven health risks of the radiation emanating from Wi-Fi-connected devices.” Girl, yes. But also…we’re looking at make-or-break graduation rates, access to basic services, trash leadership and accountability, and fucking asbestos and lead in our schools. Kohnstamm at least can give us the benefit of expedited action because of her relationships and history on the board. She is a partner to smart organizations who are doing the accountability work alongside and often better than PPS, like All Hands Raised. I can squint my eyes but she has my vote.
• Portland Public School District, Director, Zone 7: Eilidh Lowery
  I watched this pronunciation video on YouTube for Eilidh’s name and waited with fucking baited breath for eight long seconds before the audio chimed in: Ay-lee. PHEW!!!! Lowery is endorsed by the Portland Association of Teachers, the Planned Parenthood PAC, Governor Roberts, and has just way more tangible experience than Robert Schultz. In his responses on Vote 411, Schultz comes across as rushed, leaving out punctuation and answering briefly, listing random experiences like being a “scout master” without explaining why this experience would be relevant as a PPS board member. While Eilidh Lowery answers questions about challenges with a deft understanding of state policy, Schultz concludes his with, “Sorry to say, we also need to have some parental accountability.” The scope of problems and solutions is p mismatched here.