The Chalkboard Project will host its Advocacy Day on February 3, 2009 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Oregon State Capitol. 

Advocacy Day will provide a unique opportunity for one-on-one interaction with legislators and legislative staff.  This interaction is crucial in the legislative process and is the best way to make sure your leaders in Salem understand the issues facing your education system.

The Chalkboard Project will continue to advocate to strengthen mentoring and professional development programs for educators.  The 2007 Legislature allocated $5 million to teacher and administrator mentoring.  Chalkboard supports continued expansion for the mentoring programs for all new teachers and administrators.  Stay tuned to Chalk Talk for further updates about the 2009 legislative session and details about Chalkboard's legislative agenda.

RSVP Today!  Email info@chalkboardproject.org or call 503-542-4325.

 

 

Lisa Frank is a seventeen-year-old senior at Lincoln High School in Portland, OR.  She is a member of the Multnomah Youth Commission, the official youth policy advisory body for the City of Portland and Multnomah County and is a board member of the National Service-Learning Partnership.

This month Chalk Talk  is interviewing Ms. Frank  to get her views on youth engagement and what she has learned as a student in the the Portland Public School System.

Considering your experience coordinating youth - what advice would you give to the many organizations in Oregon, like the Chalkboard Project, on how they can engage and energize a younger generation?
The most important thing that any organization can do to engage and energize youth is to prove to those youth that they actually want their input. If young people see that an organization is listening to their opinions and acting on them, they will keep coming to the table. Organizations also need to be in touch about what issues concern young people today. This means focusing on hot topics for students (like college tuition/scholarship programs) but also recognizing that youth shouldn't be pigeon-holed into caring about only the environment and school. Young people have a wide variety of interests and skills, just like adults. Finally, it's important to have clear, specific goals. The most successful projects with which I have been involved are the ones for which it is easy to answer the question: How does this impact my life and the life of other youth in the community?

As you reach the end of your studies in the Portland Public School system do you have one teacher that really sticks out in your mind as being an strong, positive influence on you?
I have had many amazing teachers, but in terms of my engagement in the community, I have to give all the credit to Melanie Morris, whom I had for reading, writing, and social studies in seventh grade at West Sylvan Middle School. During the fall, our class did a month-long study of citizenship and what it means to be a good citizen (it was a Classroom Law Project Youth Summit program). This was when I first became interested in politics and current events. We also had a guest speaker, PPS School Board member Bobbie Reagan. She brought in applications for Youth Innovation Fund, a new youth philanthropy/civic action board. Ms. Morris encouraged me to apply, and I served on the board for its entire four years. That experience truly changed my life, and led to many other amazing opportunities like working with the Multnomah Youth Commission. I would not be who I am today without Ms. Morris.

Chalk Talk thanks Ms. Frank for her insighful and important words. 

Four years ago, Oregonians shared their opinions about public schools.

Now we want to know: How are things the same? How are they different? Have your priorities for public schools shifted? Are your neighborhood schools better or worse off than they were four years ago?

Please take a few minutes and complete our online survey.

We want to hear from you.