Teachers and classified staff at Gresham High School recently held a vote of no confidence against school leadership and called for the removal of Principal Erika Whitlock. The vote follows what teachers have described as two years of growing disciplinary concerns, including students skipping class, bringing weapons to school and getting into increasingly violent fights. It also comes as the union continues to negotiate its contract with the district.
Christopher Keizur is an associate editor and reporter for the Gresham Outlook. He’s been covering this issue, and joins us with more details.
Note: This transcript was computer generated and edited by a volunteer.
Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. Teachers and classified staff at Gresham High School voted overwhelmingly that they do not have confidence in school leadership. They’re calling for the removal of the principal Erika Whitlock. The vote follows what teachers have described as two years of serious and growing disciplinary concerns. Christopher Keizur is an associate editor and reporter for the Gresham Outlook. He has been covering this issue and he joins us now with more details. Welcome back to the show.
Christopher Keizur: Thank you. Happy to be here.
Miller: So as I mentioned, this vote was overwhelming – 94% said that they have no confidence in school leadership and district administration. What security issues did they actually bring up?
Keizur: There’s a list – students skipping class, fights in the hallways, which have been described as way more brutal in recent years than in the past. Think not so much shoving but full on fist fights, punches. Students are bringing weapons to class for protection. There’s smoking, vaping, drugs being done in the bathrooms. Former students, some of whom were expelled, have been showing up on campus. That’s just kind of the laundry list the teachers shared.
Miller: And what are teachers and administrators doing right now to discipline students who are breaking these rules?
Keizur: Well, if you listen to the teachers, it sounds like not enough is happening, mainly not enough options for teachers. Many of their complaints are that when these somewhat lower level infractions are happening, there’s no clear guidelines for what they should do. There’s not a list of this punishment on the first offense, this one on the fifth offense. And so a lot of the teachers are asking for support from the district, from administration, from the principal, and they’re feeling like they’re not getting it.
Miller: What else are teachers actually asking for, in addition to having the principal replaced?
Keizur: A lot of this is overcrowding of classrooms and the school itself. So part of that would be hiring more teachers, lowering class size, more resources in general, trying to move kids out of the shared spaces when they should be in classrooms, so more oversight be it from current administration, new hires. Part one of the solutions they brought up in their current negotiations is to create more of a system in place where students are being held accountable.
Miller: You mentioned negotiations. It’s worth turning to that just briefly because that’s part of the background here. My understanding is that the current contract is up at the end of this school year. How does all of this fit into ongoing labor negotiations?
Keizur: It plays a big role. For what it’s worth, when the negotiations first started, both teachers and the district spoke about how collaborative and engaged the process has been, very positive. That has continued. The teachers have said that they’re still having good conversations with the district negotiation team. This vote of no confidence has not derailed the process, but a lot of the points brought up are things that they’ve been bringing up from the beginning of the contract negotiations. They want more teachers, they want better safety for students and staff, the class sizes. One idea they’ve brought up is switching to an AB block schedule which would limit those passing periods when most of these problems are happening. So all this kind of ties into what’s being negotiated, but it’s not like they’ve broken apart with this vote. They’re still communicating and the process is still ongoing.
Miller: To go back to the question of the severity of these security concerns, the Gresham Police Department stopped having school-based officers – folks known as school resource officers – in 2022, citing staffing shortages. That was for not just Gresham-Barlow but a couple other neighboring districts. How much has that played into the current situation?
Keizur: I spoke with the police department when this vote first happened. A lot of these issues wouldn’t rise to the need of an officer response. These have been lower level incidents. So the Gresham Police Department, those supportive of having officers based within schools, have said we’re not being called out to Gresham High every day for these incidents. So I think a lot of the solutions from the teachers and the district don’t really involve the police at this point, other than I guess it would add an extra set of eyes within the hallways.
Miller: What have you heard from students about what’s happening?
Keizur: The Gresham High students have always been very involved with what’s happening within their school – marches, rallies. They’re not afraid to let their voices be heard and this has been no different. A group of students have formed a new group called the Gresham Student Union and they’ve taken on some of these safety concerns, coming up with their own ideas that they’ve pitched to administration and the teachers. They talked about having student hall monitors, potentially metal detectors at the entrances. These are all these discussions, nothing’s been implemented but the students are right there with everyone else.
Miller: Does the teachers union’s vote of no confidence in school leadership or district administration have any legal consequences?
Keizur: I don’t think so. It’s more of a formal expression of their discontent. This is a way to make their concerns heard by not just themselves and the students and the administration, but the parents and the community as a whole. I think the fact that we’re having this conversation, it was one of the outcomes for the vote of no confidence.
Miller: Oh, literally the conversation you and I are having right now.
Keizur: Exactly.
Miller: That’s a fair way to put it. Well, how has the school board responded to this vote?
Keizur: They’re backing the principle at this point. There’s been no firings, no shake up of leadership. The district and the school board have responded to the concerns. They’ve said that they will work on trying to implement new procedures or practices. A lot of it has been through letters to parents who are obviously concerned about their student’s safety, but Principal Whitlock is still in place. Maybe that will change over the summer. School is almost over. Maybe things will look different come the fall, but as of right now, there’s been no tangible shakeups.
Miller: I also wonder what it’s like to go to work every day at a place where you’re walking around and you know that 94% of the people who are working under you have said to your bosses, “We don’t have confidence in you.” I wonder what that’s like. What has Principal Erika Whitlock said?
Keizur: She’s also communicated directly to parents and the staff and she’s made some pledges. She said she’ll be more present in the hallways and her administrative team will be more present in the hallway, really just trying to get students into class where they’re supposed to be. I don’t know how effective that’s been. I don’t know how often she’s been in the hallways, but she has acknowledged that this concern exists and is trying to get out ahead of it.
Miller: Chris, thanks very much.
Keizur: Thank you.
Miller: Christopher Keizur is the associate editor and reporter for the Gresham Outlook.
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