Dear EEOC: PPS HR Department Needs You

Diversity and Development

Under Construction Since 1964

Please check back in a few decades.

The ignorance and arrogance of PPS administrators never ceases to amaze me.  I spent four long years working in PPS Human Resources department complaining about discriminatory employment practices.  In 2005, I  took my concerns to Vickie Phillips (superintendent at the time) but they were ignored.  Clearly, conditions haven’t improved.   

The Bilingual Teacher Pathway program (BTP) is a teacher preparation program designed to fill critical shortages of bilingual education/ESL teachers in the Portland Metropolitan Area.  This is accomplished by recruiting and supporting bilingual/bicultural educational assistants so they can become licensed teachers.  Typically, the BTP graduates are minorities. 

The Portland Teachers Program (PTP) was created for the purpose of recruiting and preparing culturally competent teachers, with a special focus on historically under-represented groups in the teaching profession.  In short, the teachers in the PTP are all racial/ethnic minorities.  

Today –  2010,  PPS includes a discriminatory question on the teaching  application:

Are you or will you be a graduate from Bilingual Teacher Pathway Program?       Yes                No

Are you or will you be a graduate from Portland Teacher Program?       Yes                No

When an applicant  answers  “yes”,  to the BTP question, it is almost certain that the applicant is a minority. 

When an applicant answers “yes” to the PTP question, the applicant is a racial/ethnic minority. 

PPS administrators might want to brush up on civil rights laws.  According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission:

Pre-Employment Inquiries

Requesting pre-employment information that discloses or tends to disclose an applicant’s race strongly suggests that race will be used unlawfully as a basis for hiring. Therefore, if members of minority groups are excluded from employment, the request for such pre-employment information would likely constitute evidence of discrimination.

It’s no wonder that the district spends a fortune on outside attorneys.  I’ll bet they’re all white too.