Karen Weaver's Fight for Clean Water November 2017 | Page 7

PORTLAND, OREGON
SCHOOL BOARD SANITY
It's really impossible to make the case that local elections don't matter. The school
board in Portland, Oregon approved a resolution that eliminates the use of any
textbooks or other materials that are “found to express doubt about the severity of the
climate crisis or its root in human activities.” The resolution also directs the school
system’s superintendants to work with students, teachers, and members of the
community to come up with a plan to ensure that all Portland public schools include
climate change and climate justice in their curricula.
In board testimony, Bill Bigelow, a former Portland Public School teacher, said the
district's science textbooks are littered with words like “might, may and could” when
talking about climate change. The resolution marks the expansion of existing policy. In
2014, the State Board of Education voted to adopt Next Generation Science Standards,
a set of guidelines that were developed by 26 states — including Oregon — and several
science and education groups and is currently being implemented in 18 states.