Sweeney's Room

As a former Lincoln student, current PPS employee , and one-time Lincoln High School teacher, I feel moved to argue for the preservation of this safe community space. Between 1993 and 1997, I loved my classes and the time I spent with friends in room 135. Taking the bus almost an hour across town from SE Portland each day, I didn’t always feel that I fit into the Lincoln community. Room 135 was one of the first places I came to feel I belonged there—hanging out with my teachers, friends, and the guest presenters Mike brings to his classroom. I am grateful for Mike and the unique space he’s created—his classroom is a living museum of works from prior generations of students. In a few words, it’s a truly creative academic space—a one-of-a-kind experience that should be preserved because of the value it adds to the community. I remember wishing that all my teachers had created such spaces, and I took this with me as one of many lessons I learned in and from room 135 when I became a teacher myself. Yet even more unthinkable to me, from the point of view of an educator, is that Ms. Chapman would move Mr. Sweeney at the expense of a promising class in its delicate early stages of development—namely African American Studies, a course that directly addresses the history and interests of, as well as works to empower a traditionally marginalized population of deserving young adults in the Lincoln community. Really, what kind of message does moving this popular class out to the portables send? That African American Studies is secondary to the work that other students at Lincoln do? That the students with an interest in African American Studies, along with Mr. Sweeney’s great legacy and the generations of great student work that decorate his classroom, should be shuffled outside to a cramped room with low ceilings? On the other hand, I can see how an administrator concerned with consolidating her power in the building and/or blinded by visions of her grand legacy might intentionally or insensitively destroy the institution Mr. Sweeney has built in his many years of thoughtful, excellent teaching. One wonders why no other past administrator moved Mike out of 135–perhaps because of the clearly phenomenal work he was doing and the community hub he provides? In any case, I hope there is room to rethink moving Mike, his classroom (much of which will not make it to the portables), and the African American Studies class. For me, room 135 has always been the heart of the Lincoln campus. It’s been a dynamic space for students for years and is the home of an innovative fledgling class with strong community interest. This move would spell a great loss for Lincoln, with serious implications for the school’s overall health. So save room 135! For Lincoln’s sake!

Mike Sweeney has transformed a class room into a place. He has continually created global community in his classroom and on our street! He not only has been one of my favorite high school teachers ( ‘93-’97), he is also my treasured neighbor. His contribution to the creation of a relevant and meaningful educational experience is extremely unique. He ought to be honored, and shown respect. And if it is the same “space” that he requests, than that is A SMALL request given what he has shared with me, and my community.

I would also like to show support for Mr. Sweeney. Although it has been 10 years, but I still remember clearly his passion for teaching and the amount of positive energy he generated in his class. Even I, a fairly introverted student back then, felt comfortable in his class and knew that he would be there for anyone that needed it. It would be a pity that someone as special as Mr. Sweeney and his classes be disrupted.

I never actually had the opportunity to take a class in Room 135, yet I definitely spent time inside. As someone currently working in the education world, I know how important it is to teachers and students to feel that the intangible aspects of what make a school special and successful are preserved and treasured. Room 135 is clearly one of those intangibles to the Lincoln experience. I hope Principal Chapman reconsiders this unnecessary and drastic move.

Well I never had a class with Mr. Sweeney but always wished I had. More than a decade later and he still comes up in conversations, apparently he makes an impression.

Unfortunately after reading this letter a couple of times, jaw agape, the only phrase that seems to aptly describe it is “hatchet job.”

“The metaphor is astonishingly obvious to all but Principal Chapman, to whom it never occurred this could be construed as racist. She doesn’t get it.”

The authors allowed plenty of room for backpedaling but that looks like Principal Chapman was just obliquely branded a racist. Is this for real? An accusation like that is pretty damn serious and the evidence offered isn’t even strong enough to be described as tenuous.

“Mister Sweeney, if forced, could teach a hell of a class in the street if he had to, and make it a brilliant educational experience. The question is, should he?”

I seem to remember from my Lincoln days that this is called creating a straw man. Or is it hyperbole? No I think it’s a straw man. Either way they taught me it was bad.

Maybe Mr. Sweeney deserves to keep his room, unfortunately from this letter we have no idea if that is the case, only that someone has a serious axe to grind with Principal Chapman. They both deserve better than this.

I spent the 1996-97 school year in a two-period Humanities class co-taught by Mike and Cindy Irby. Thirteen years later, I am still under its influence.

Humanities introduced us to the western canon; we read Homer and the Bible, we learned about Giotto and Brunelleschi. It also–more importantly, in the long run–acquainted us with a sort of methodology for learning about and understanding the world. It taught us that the canon–and the rest of human society–consists of innumerable voices and opinions that are often in conflict with each other; that polyphony is neither avoidable nor threatening.

From an administrative standpoint, perhaps, one classroom is as good as another. Square footage is square footage. Why can’t Mike teach in a portable?

Why can’t we put an Fred Meyer in the Schnitzer Concert hall and have the Symphony play out at the old G.I. Joes building on the edge of town?

Places are important. Their residents imbue them with power and they empower their residents in return. Architects know this. Religious leaders know this. Gallerists know this. Do principals know this?

Throughout history displacement of populations and individuals has been concomitant with disenfranchisement and belittlement.

The move of Mike Sweeney from the geographical center of Lincoln to its periphery is either an administrative mistake or a calculated political move. Either way it will result in the exile from the heart of Lincoln of one of its most dedicated and inspiring teachers.

It appears a critical metaphor has also been lost on Mr. Montgomery, who might’ve benefitted from spending more time in room 135. Mr. Montgomery ignores the context of the quote he cites in his rhetoric-rich, casual divagation about what’s at stake with the move of Mr. Sweeney’s classroom to a portable space. Clearly, to move the popular new African American Studies class from the heart of the building out to a smaller, dehistoricized, “temporary” classroom sends a negative message to students interested in the class. A brief look at the high enrollment for the course and the demographics of the students registered, as well as the course’s content itself, tells us what and whom are being moved to the margins of campus from what’s traditionally been a dynamic community hub at Lincoln. To turn a blind eye to such implications of the move is to become complicit in what most certainly could be construed as a case of institutional racism. Thanks, Jodi, for posting the link to the instructive article above–which further highlights just one of the many issues at stake here for the Lincoln and Portland Public Schools as a whole. Lastly, I of course agree with Mr. Montgomery that Mr. Sweeney could teach a superb class on the corner of 16th and Salmon, but that’s not what this is about. The issue at hand is what’s best for students and the community, with regard for what’s truly equitable. The clear answer is to leave room 135, Mr. Sweeney, and the African American Studies class right where they are.

I misspelled Sweeney, sorry!

In my opinion, Michael Sweeney should be entitled to two rooms.

.
.
Having Mike Sweeney’s energy and physical presence in that central location is symbolically important for all of the students in the school. Keeping that energy and presence in the same location that has been ’spiritually’ rooted down into feels symbolic and important. So much of what Lincoln’s heart and spirit is is Mike Sweeney. Working around his established physical presence there, and thereby honoring him, would be a beautiful statement to the students of the school as to what kind of thing is important in this life…the bureaucratic/logistical necessities going out of their way to find some kind of workaround in order to preserve that organic and soulful energy would be a wonderful message to the students about big-picture priorities.
.
.

Mike Sweeney is a cultural treasure, and a city-wide resource. Lincoln High School is very lucky to have him as an essential dimension of its legacy in the city. I have taught at Lewis & Clark College for thirty years, and have considered Mike Sweeney
a university-level colleague for his dedication to student learning, deep knowledge of complex cultural issues, and representation of the best in integrating cultural sensitivity for the education of generations. Full support for his teaching is in the best interest of Lincoln’s reputation in the city and region.

I hope there can be a resolution of this administrative issue that supports Mike’s teaching under the best possible conditions.

I started reading this post and was about to ignore it until I realized how important great teachers were in my childhood. I’m pushing 50, but reading about how much importance this teacher and space seems to have, or should I say “significance” I think it would be tragic to let it crumble. I remember a place at my high school that I thought of as a sanctuary, where everyone would congregate including a very cool teacher who understood our needs and went the extra mile. That has had an affect on me to this day. I say keep the room!!

I think that it is absolutely horrendous that Mr. Sweeney should be forced to move. As a Lincoln graduate I associate wonderful memories with teachers, and a good portion, for some, relied on the atmosphere they created. Mr Sweeney is one of the most notable, with the eccentric mix of all the cultures he teaches about he lets students learn in a much more interesting and welcoming atmosphere. This type of treatment reminds me of another wonderful teacher, Mrs Jenkins, who decided to leave when she was not allowed to teach the class she most cared about. I dare you to try and get kids to care about learning when the teachers don’t want to teach, which I think will happen the more you try to alter their styles. It would be like making Mr. Millar move all the couches out of his room and force students to sit in desks. Teachers like to teach with their own styles, and if that helps to get kids to learn, then they should be allowed to do it (within reason).

I have been friends with Michael wife since we were in elementary school together & have known him for years. While I was never in one of his classes, I know him as a wonderful person.
My husband retired after 38 years in education & my parents were both teachers. I am well aware of the difference one good teacher can make. A great teacher can turn a poor student into one who wants to learn.
I have a son who was very smart & didn’t fit in while in high school. His sanctuary was the band room. The band director was one of those teachers the students gathered around even while not in class. I appreciate what this caring man did for my son. This is the kind of environment a school must provide. Taking it away is not thinking what is better for the students.

Mr. Sweeney is an inspiring teacher. He was also my Anthropology teacher at Lewis and Clark while I was in the Master’s in Teaching program. He really does “change students’ lives” by fostering strong critical thinking skills in his students. Mr. Sweeney is not moving to a portable but around the corner to Room 141, a large, bright and sunny room in the social studies wing very near his old classroom. Originally we considered a portable as it was an “open room” but we met with Mr. Sweeney and other Lincoln faculty and changed his move from the portable to 141 due to their concerns. While this room change was a hard decision, the Administrative team felt it was necessary to better support our ISC and IB programs. As you may recall IB/ISC are currently run out of a very small office in the main hall. We have a real need for a centrally located expanded International Center to better support students who participate in IB (80% of our student body) as well as the 750 plus students who are involved in our International Studies Center and international focus programs. They need room to complete ISC map projects, work on Senior Seminars, plan study abroad opportunities, meet with international guests and work collaboratively on extended essays. I am very sorry to disrupt Mr. Sweeney but as Principal I also have to balance the burden of a teacher’s room assignment change with my responsibility to ALL students and our international programs. I have pledged my full support of Mr. Sweeney and will do whatever it takes to help him move. I know he will create the same high levels of community and deliver the same high quality instruction in his new room right around the corner which will still be very convenient for guests and alumni to find. This is a room change not a curriculum or teaching asignment change. I agree that Lincoln is very fortunate to have high quality creative teachers like Mr. Sweeney.

Regards,

Peyton Chapman, Lincoln’s Principal

PLEASE GIVE ME A BREAK!!! Principal Chapman isn’t FIRING Sweeney, she is simply MOVING him. He can be a beacon of hope 100 steps from where he has been the past 35 years. The original email from Sweeney’s family didn’t mention Ms Chapman’s reasons for doing it, which I view as logical and legitimate. Please read the following, which she sent yesterday to the LHS community:

This summer we have been able to add to our facilities improvements by expanding our International Studies Center to more fully support our IB/ISC and international focus programs at Lincoln. With over 750 students participating in ISC and more than 80% of all Lincoln students participating in IB we needed to provide additional space for all of our students to work on map projects and senior seminars, research study abroad and work opportunities, meet with advisors to go over extended essays and host international focus guest speakers during lunch and FLEX. We also needed more room in our IB office to host prospective families and meet with individual students. The down side to budget cuts has been an increase in open rooms which has allowed for room 135 (across from our current IB/ISC office) to become a new larger International Studies Center that will hopefully encourage even more students to take advantage of our international programs. Again we are appreciative of the teachers who are moving to accommodate this school wide improvement need. We have excellent teachers and strong programs at Lincoln. We have so much to be thankful for. Finally, thanks to parent donations, volunteers and community partners we will open our freshly painted International Studies Center with a new study/travel/work abroad library, computers for researching international topics, and room for guest partners from offices such as the Mexican Consulate, the Conscious Institute and Arabic Studies Center at PSU. Carol Dennis (ISC Coordinator) and Kathie Humes (IB Coordinator) will remain in close proximity to their old shared office, the counseling office and the main office to fully support all students involved in our ISC and IB programs.

Dear Debbie-

You might want to get the whole story straight. In order for Mr. Sweeney to move 100 steps, Peyton Chapman intends to move another well established teacher out to the portables. Mike offered to move to the portable rather than displace 2 teachers and was told no by Peyton Chapman. It sort of makes you think that all she really wants to do is move people.

Also it needs to be known that room 135 would not even be used full time full if Mr. Sweeney is moved. Why would you not want a vibrant teacher utilizing a room all day everyday rather than let a few students use the space on a part time basis for convenience sake.

My time under Mike Sweeney’s instruction was transformational. He opened my eyes to a world beyond myself – beyond selfish interests – beyond preset notions. I added a degree in anthropology to my undergraduate education in response to Mike’s influence. I know others who have done the same. I am deeply grateful for the positive difference he made in my life …and in the lives of my fellow students. All students were welcome and all were challenged.

I see two pertinent questions to ask in response to the decision to move Sweeneytowne from Room 135.

1. Does the faculty member deserve to stay in the room?

Response: Clearly, from the comments expressed above, the answer is “Yes!

I have watched for years, as a family friend who’s daughter attended Lincoln, Mike Sweeney give the blood for the STUDENTS he taught. He hasn’t been concerned about improving his ‘career path’. He’s been concerned about teaching in the true sense of the world, as a co-learner in the process of discovering who we are collectively in the world and in relationship with each other.

Politics is a word used in business as well as government. It screams here as the basic problem with a system of governance (the school district) that is dearly concerned with the system in place rather than looking at the goal of the system, to teach. I have no answers only hope that those that are not paying attention will wake up; that the right thing will be done for the students and that our educational system step up to reassess how we influence and teach the children in this state.

Our actions speak much louder than what we say. The insensitivity that is apparent in this course of events and the continued denial and discounting of how those actions are perceived by those involved speaks VOLUMES about what is being modeled to the community that is Lincoln High School, the current students and staff, graduates and those of us in the community.

Mike, I have enormous respect and admiration for your passion in life, teaching, and hope that as this unfolds there will be a time where you’ll look back with the perspective of hindsight and see that, whatever happens, it was the best outcome possible.

I meant “lose” and not “loose.”

What can I say? I am the product of an underfunded public school education.

Mr. Sweeney’s room is a living, breathing thing. While that is not impossible to move, what purpose would a move serve? I was a satellite teacher for a few years, and cannot possibly say enough about the comfort and empowerment that comes with having my own classroom, and I’ve only been installed for a full calendar year. I can’t even imagine what that would feel like after a decade, let alone two. There is no logical reason to force this issue.

I can’t support the mudslinging, but I can and will support Mike Sweeney. He is one of the reasons that I am currently a teacher, and being allowed to exist in his room not only helped show me that I could love a school subject but also reminded me that I could actually enjoy education. No matter what happens, he has my thanks.

Mr. Sweeney’s room is what a classroom should be; where a student can draw inspiration not just from the teacher, but also from the environment. The collection of printed photos, artifacts, and student artwork, along with Mr. Sweeney’s exemplary teaching, immerse the student in the subject matter, which is exactly the goal of classes such as Anthropology and African-American Studies (which I really wish I could have taken!). His class drove me to study more Anthropology in University.

Although I understand the need to expand the cramped IB/ISC office, I think that putting it in Room 135 would be a mistake. Mr. Sweeney’s room is as much of a Lincoln institution as is Mr. Bailey. Evicting him would be asking him to stop using one of his most powerful teaching tools. His classes would just not be the same without it, although I’m sure that if the worst happens, Mr. Sweeney will pull through and remain one of the best teachers at Lincoln. But please, don’t part him from his room; it is a treasure few schools can say they have.

Isn’t there a dvd player in the portables? He’ll be fine.

And what do you propose we do when he retires? Perhaps we could mummify him with the remote in his hand and he can teach forever.

I don’t know Ms. Asakawa but I bet if this were happening to her family member or close colleague, she’d feel much the same way the Sweeneys and their friends and colleagues do. It’s not just a simple move a few steps away; it’s a metaphor for what’s happening in public education more generally. She and others who echo her sentiments share a rather myopic view of this particular circumstance – a view that would ironically be challenged, questioned, unpacked, and perhaps changed in Mr. Sweeney’s classroom. Michael, I wish you well and urge you on with a fist in the air as you fight the power.

Dear Jodi Lorimer, Faye Sweeney, and Davin Sweeney, and friends of Michael Sweeney,

You call this “an expression of our concerns and rights to free speech.”

In reading over what people have said so far it seems there is more than the one side to this story you have presented, and it is good to see everyone exercising their rights to free speech. I only hope that you will keep your promise that “All messages will be compiled and presented to Ms. Chapman, the school board, and her superiors.”

I’m a LIncoln alum, class of 73, and I’m disappointed to hear about how Lincoln (and the Portland Public Schools) is treating one of its best teachers. It is, unfortunately, an old story. And it is not really about one teacher or one person. It is symbolic of how an educational institution treats the very people who are entrusted with its most important mission/purpose. But because funding is going down, it is getting worse and it is what drives the very finest teachers, like Mike Sweeney, out of the classroom and to anger, despair, and early retirement (no, I’m no making any inferences, this is just my opinion) .
I don’t mean to speak for Mike, but everything I have heard about him and everything I understand directly from knowing him is that he is one of those exceptional teachers who have an enormous impact on an entire community of students, parents, and other community members who get integrated into the educational setting by his outreach and passion. Mike changes lives and he has done it for more than a quarter century.
Why can’t we let him keep his office, the central clearing office for a rich anthropological, anthropomorphic and ontological inquiry? Can’t Lincoln do SOMETHING right? Lincoln can be only as good as its staff, students and perhaps most importantly, its teachers. Please, Principal Chapman, don’t make this shortsighted move. Keep Mike deep in his artifacts. Keep him close to his students. Otherwise, the bell tolls for thee AND us.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jack Turteltaub,

licensed clinical psychologist, former co-editor of the Cardinal Times, Lincoln Class of 1973

I am writing this message from a rural Aboriginal community in Australia’s Northern Territory. I am here, when you get to the bottom of it, because of how Mike Sweeney inspired me to learn more about the profound and infinitely complex web of people, beliefs, art, music, and lifestyles that we call Humanity.

To the people who view this discourse to be “making mountains out of molehills,” (shame on you Jasper,) dismiss the metaphorical and emotionally shaking nature of this conflict, or see it as a stage to vent long-fermented professional grievances, I say to you, where is your respect? Where is your mind? Where is your heart?

Mike Sweeney and his classroom are one of the few aspects of Lincoln High School that I will forever look back on without any amount of distain. For a public school and an institution that has so many deep seeded flaws, it is a miracle that a place like Mike Sweeney’s room ever existed in the first place. His room was a place where I learned to play African drums, study a film through an anthropological lens, think critically about our world and worldview, and delve deeper into depths of the human condition. I cannot believe that the administration of Lincoln High School would make such an ill-informed and abrasive decision. On second thought, I totally can believe that, actually.

His style of teaching, while unconventional, was the highlight of my Lincoln experience, and greatly influenced my undergraduate academic pursuits of anthropology, religion, and film studies. HIS CLASSROOM WAS/IS FUNDEMENTAL TO HIS TEACHING. Like many people have said above, “the Medium is the Message.” Sweeney’s medium takes many forms, be it a conversation, a classroom wall, a dry-erase board, or a film or song. Taking away this man’s classroom would be not only taking away his medium, but his message as well. NOT to mention it would be incredibly disrespectful to a seasoned, talented, insightful, and uplifting teacher.

My little sister is going to be a sophomore at Lincoln this coming year. One of my sincere hopes for her High School experience is that she will be able to experience Mike Sweeney’s class the same way I did.

Ms. Chapman, I hope that you review your decision to move Mr. Sweeney, and take into account the sentiments expressed on this web page, and other places regarding room 135.

I will not pretend to understand the politics at play here. Just wanted to offer a few words about my experience with Mike Sweeney.

Prior to attending Sweeney’s classes, there had been so little actual learning for me in the public school system, I was considering dropping out my sophomore year. Mike’s room was an oasis for me, allowing my bottled intellect so much freedom. The rigorous discussions simultaneously challenged my arrogance and boosted my confidence. Specifically, Mike encouraged me to share my experiences as a Buddhist, making this a source of pride for the first time in my life. I’ve since edited two Buddhist periodicals, published countless words on the topic, and hosted dozens of retreats and workshops in that signature style I learned from him. My unique experience as an American Buddhist, and the courage to communicate it, has become the touchstone for my life.

Current politics aside, please understand the profound impact Mike’s style has had on folks like me, people who struggled to find their way in public school. My success in life, I have no doubt, can be traced back to that wonderful room smack dab in the middle of Lincoln High.

I sat in Mr. Sweeney’s class in 1989-1990 at a time when there was incredible upheaval in the word. Yet, the two two-period classes European Studies in the fall of 1989 showed remarkable prescience with work events. For it was at this time that the Berlin wall fell. Yet under Mr. Sweeney’s steady hand, our class became a remarkable mixture of European History and current events.

Not to be outdone, the next semester we focused our two-period block on African Studies at a time when Nelson Mandela was being freed and Apartheid was crumbling in South Africa. Much as the first semester, our class became a stunning mix, under Mr. Sweeney’s delicate direction, of colonial history (reading such classics as Chinua Ahebe’s “Things Fall Apart”, Wole Soyinke’s “Death and the King’s Horsemen”, among others.)

With his broad thinking, intellectual curiosity, and deft, collaborative relationship with students, Mr. Sweeney was virtually unparalleled among his peers at Lincoln. Although I cannot say definitively that any action I took was directly related to what I learned in Mr. Sweeney’s class, he was a trusted guide in helping to shape my young mind and in exposing me to new ideas, new ways of seeing the world, and new experiences.

His classroom, with its relics of years past and unique cultural artifacts, was a haven in the hallway and, along with Mr. Sweeney, should be considered among Lincoln’s crown jewels.

If Mr. Sweeney really has to move then he should take Bailey’s Room. Problem solved.

I was a student of Mr. Sweeney’s. He was the only teacher at Lincoln who challenged me to think! Actually use my brain for something other regurgitating facts and figures that I had memorized. His methods may be non-conventional but this is precisely why he is so effective. The lessons learned in his classroom actually stay with you. You find them to be useful in life. The memories of our trip to the movie theater to see Born on the 4th of July will forever be with me. He has a way of connecting with students that allows him to make an impact on each and every one of them, to change the course of their education and lives. He is a treasure. He does not belong in a portable out back. He belongs right there in room 135 , in the main hall along with all the other important people, trophies and treasures.

Mr. Sweeney is an exceptional educator, a valuable member of the Lincoln community. admired and loved by all students and alumni. His legacy lives on through each of us. In fact he has been invited and attends all of our LHS reunions. I hope that Principle Chapman can find another way to achieve an Asian Studies Center…how about letting Mr. Sweeney teach Asian Studies. He’d do a fabulous job. Think about it. Thank you.

I am an Alum from the class of 1998, and i say leave Sweeney where he is out of respect for his history and achievements.

The support for Mike Sweeney is overwhelming. How can any one say that he is not part of the big picture which I believe is to educate our most valuable resource, our children. He is the big picture, support him.

You know, I (LHS alum 1987) was with you until I realized this “very short story” turned out to be quite long. Secondly, when I hit the words, “We demand…” in the 2nd to last paragraph, I remembered something: diplomacy. Remember, folks??? Get it in your blood: less fables, more Erasmus or James Baldwin and such…

I’m currently a Lincoln student about to become a Sophomore. Although I have never had Mr. Sweeney as a teacher, I have seen the affects of what you talk about in other teachers. It seems to have affected the staff to the point where they feel they can only express their opinions to a group of faculty that they choose, most of the time with teachers similar to what they teach. I have seen it in most of my teachers, even teachers I didn’t have as a freshman, and she was tired of it so she decided to transfer schools at the expense of all of the students that loved her not having somewhere to go and talk to a teacher like they were a friend. I don’t know what exactly is going on in that entire administration, but I do know it is affecting the staff in one way or another. I agree with most of the opinions in this but some I think are just fueled by a personal anger, which is not what you need when trying to get the general public to side with you. But I do support that the morale is low within the staff.

For the three years I’ve taught at Lincoln, Mike Sweeney’s room has been the beating heart of Lincoln High School, and just as the heart belongs in the center of the body, so Sweeney’s work and the warm, exciting, and truly diverse community he has nurtured in room 135 belongs in Lincoln’s main hall. As another writer has expressed, yes, Mike’s work in 135 is the perfect complement to that of the main office and the counseling and other administrative offices.

It is no less than an ongoing in-school community center for staff, students, parents, and school guests alike, not just on some days, but every day.

At lunch most days I flee my own room, 71A, an isolated basement classroom without windows, to the refuge of 135 where teachers, guests and a varied group of students sit side by side to eat, discuss significant or trivial issues, almost always with laughter, and often, for thirty-five minutes anyway, drop their school-imposed roles and speak from the heart. In my twenty-nine years of teaching experience, such an environment within the confines of a public school is a most rare, precious thing.

I’ve known, respected and personally liked both Mike Sweeney and Peyton Chapman for a good portion of my career. For me Mike represents the best of what I’ve come to think of as a once-strong democratic presence among staff at Lincoln. Peyton obviously has a new vision for Lincoln (though I and many aren’t clear quite what that vision is) but it’s one that apparently doesn’t include much democratic input from staff. I’m told there was once a room committee which advised the principal on issues such as relocating Mike’s room (as well as reassigning me to a depressing dungeon for a third straight year…ah, but that’s another story for another website, perhaps), but that this committee was administratively disbanded.

For the past two years at Lincoln it’s been hard not to notice a steady erosion of staff morale. Mike Sweeney and his supporters aren’t the only ones unhappy with Peyton’s decisions. During this past school year I was often saddened to hear so much dissatisfaction and dissension coming from so many quarters among staff. I don’t blame Peyton for all of it, but perhaps there is something lacking in her decision-making style or model which is stridently out of step with Lincoln’s active staff-input tradition. With a less autocratic approach, perhaps the same decisions would be arrived at after all, but with staff morale and goodwill toward administration intact.

At present it is generally not intact, I feel, and with this latest administrative decision I find myself dreading the general tenor we’ll all be facing when we return to school in a month.

As much as I once tired of what I thought to be excessive staff dialogue at meetings on issues during my first year or two at Lincoln, I’d welcome a return to such dialogue on critical issues like moving vital school resources such as Mike Sweeney’s and Ted Drier’s rooms from their current locations.

I hereby join the chorus of voices which are imploring Peyton to reconsider her decision and at least postpone Mike’s and Ted’s relocations until a room committee can be reconvened to discuss and consider the issues involved and offer input.

Respectfully and hopefully submitted,

Christopher Rudolf,
English Teacher, Lincoln High School

I was a colleague of Mike’s during his seminal work in refugee acculturation in the 1980’s. The vision and quality of his teaching was largely seeded by his proactive compassion toward refugee youth of the Vietnam War in a program in FoxFire journalism he designed and implemented. Three years of unique publications and other media resulted from Southeast Asian high school students’ research into their elders’ imminent personal stories and cultural ways. In the immediate year that followed, 1983, Mike brought to Lincoln many of these elders to participate in workshops and concerts by over fifty of Portland’s keepers of their traditional aesthetics. Through these remarkable programs and a career of tireless insistence on their principles, he set a standard for interethnic respect that resonates deep into our community. Such an effort from one man’s heart must be answered at this hour in kind. Please let Mike Sweeney keep his home, Room 135.

Mike often brings up the idea of “institutional memory” in faculty discussions. I’ve been at Lincoln only 16 years, and in that time, maybe a dozen or more administrators have come and gone. Some constants in these 16 years, however, do exist for me; and one of them is the presence of Mike in the main hall, greeting students, greeting colleagues, greeting one and all, with good humor, good will, genuine concern, and most of all, just plain humanity. Not just greeting, you know – but being present, in many senses of that word. I haven’t spent loads of time in Mike’s room, itself; however I treasure his presence in the center of our school. Students here may speak to what Mike has meant to them as a teacher and a mentor, and what the physical space has meant to them, which has been profound. For me, as a teacher, there has been a consistency in these past 16 years, a friendly presence in the main hall, for kids and adults alike. Community is what Mike is all about. He has made it a priority to promote community at Lincoln High School in so many big and small ways. This abrupt change, and the process by which it was made, goes against the grain of what a community is all about.

Here’s a quote from Parker Palmer, from an interview on public radio, recently:

“One of the breakthrough studies recently done in what makes schools successful on behalf of kids is a factor they call “relational trust.” They found that if a building is full of people who trust each other, you’re going to get great outcomes for kids even if that school is unfairly deprived of the resources it needs. Because if people trust each other, they will come into community, they will generate abundance, they will love the kids and love each other, and good education will emerge.”

That’s what Mike is all about.

I only had the opertunity to expirience 1 class taught by Mr. Sweeney, but it has changed the way I think about the world and other cultures, as well as the way I think about the way our cultures think about them, for ever. We were studding Africa, and it was just a year after the official end of apartheid in South Africa… The discussions and the ideas set my heart on fire with compassion.

I think Mr. Sweeney’s room and it’s location are integral to how he interacts with the learning community of LHS and to dissolve or move that room would be to damage that community.

Come on folks….its a room. Sweeney is an excellent teacher. Amazing in fact. But if the room can be better serve kids in another way, so be it. Sweeney is what makes the room great. He can create that same atmosphere elsewhere. Peyton is supposed to maximize her output with what resources she has. This website is a joke. See through this nonsense and think critically. Not everything you read online is true. Its just passed off that way.

Mr.Sweeney’s Social Anthropology class left the most lasting impression on me during my time at Lincoln High School. One of the key elements to the spirit of the course was in fact the classroom, where the students had the space and layout to foster open communication and the exchange of ideas. The fact that it was located on the ground floor in the center of the main building, in a way reflected it’s importance to me and my experience at the school- 135 is the foundation, the heart of Lincoln.

Folks, the room is not that important. We have here a power struggle between an imperious teacher who has amassed considerable local power and a principal who is determined to carry out the management responsibilities of her position of authority. My sympathies are with the principal.

One of my best memories of my years of teaching in PPS is getting to know Mike Sweeney when I too taught at Lincoln. I believe if one were to make a list of the qualities of great teachers, he would pretty much have them all. Unfortunately, there are principals (with their shiny new Blackberries purchased by money saved by laying off teachers) like Peyton Chapman who haven’t got a clue as to the value of a teacher like Mike. She’s so bent on control (under that tired saw “for the good of all students”) that all else is simply secondary. Lincoln has other very fine teachers who have nothing nice to say about her either. As an active PAT member and longtime building rep, I have heard the horror stories. Of course, as always, PPS administration listens only to itself and never to the teachers in the trenches. It’s sad. Portland used to have great schools, but that was a long time ago. It is the behavior of self-righteous administrators and their utter lack of respect that causes good teachers to leave the profession and stops young people from entering it. It’s also incredibly lame that a former Lincoln student who maligns Mike Sweeney and Kathy Humes doesn’t have the guts to sign his/her name. Pathetic, really, that this individual is so caught up in grades that s/he can’t recognize learning when slapped in the face with it. As a seasoned teacher myself, it’s pretty easy for me to recognize the hurried work of lazy students.

I was full IB and I didn’t even know there was an IB room…

Mr. Sweeney’s room, to me, will always be a place where I remember being allowed to express myself in a concise and articulate manner, and my opinion counted. Mr Sweeney was and is a fair teacher, and I loved being in his class, he challenged you to think, to grow, and find knowledge anywhere, seek it because there is always more than one answer. Being in room 135 all those years ago, brings nothing but fond memories of where I got the chance to stretch my mind far beyond what I thought possible at that time. Mr. Sweeney gave me confidence in myself and my abilities, an always caring and loyal and honest soul, I feel it is our duty as those who have been changed, inspired, or otherwise due to Mr. Sweeney’s guidance, to stand up for him and this cause. We should all celebrate Mr. Sweeney, for, like others, had it not been for Mr. Sweeney, (One of only a few teachers in the history of my 30 year life who I could write such a glowing appraisal for), I surely would not be the person I am now. I will do whatever I can to help this cause, please keep me posted, and a deep and gracious thank you to Mr. Sweeney, thank you for everything, mostly, your guidance, love, support, respect, and care.

hasan.

Get a grip Lincoln. Its a classroom in the middle of a hallway where there should not be one. I graduated from LHS one year ago, and while I had an exceptional educational experience in certain departments from a few special teachers, I left Lincoln without looking back, more anxious than ever to get the hell out. There is a sickness at this school with its lack of community. Every year or so when a student dies, someone makes a local headline or whatever, it seems that all hell breaks loose. The status quo hierarchy of teacher-run influence over the school has got to end, because every time a crisis emerges, our school takes a serious hit from the outside community through negative press, etc. Now while I loved Lincoln for allowing me to work through my own independence of thought and take charge of my learning, I felt very little connection to the school itself or students outside my group of friends. I also feel that in my latter years at Lincoln I grew apathetic about the school and activities, and in retrospect wish there was some sort of structural force within the school that pushed me harder to find more things to become passionate about.

Now, is moving Mike Sweeney going to solve any immediate problem at Lincoln? Probably not. But if the ISC actually became an international studies center, I think that particular program might cease being such a joke. ISC now has the potential to be much more than dumb paperwork and easy A assignments. The pursuit to legitimize our programs in the school is a step in the right direction. This school needs leadership, and now that it has it, a few feelings are going to be hurt. But I do not care, because the image of our school within the greater Portland community matters, and we all need to work to shed the doubt that lingers in the minds of local voters who reject school funding. You people have shown tremendous passion for one teacher at Lincoln, but there are bigger issues than this right now.

When principals act in this top-down business-oriented manner, teachers and students are often left trying to piece together the broken community structures left behind. I know from experience that the most successful principals are those that become a fabric of the community and base their decisions on community consensus. Here’s to hoping Lincoln recovers and that this principal can learn to do her job in a more community-minded way.

Please post all posts that are appropriate. This way you do not run the risk of further alienating others. Sure- You may disagree or they may be full of crap, but it is the right thing to do. The truth be said- Lincoln official Committees should decide such matters as moving a crucial room like 135, one major hub of the school. The politics are so heavy at Lincoln that anyone can seem biased or vengeful- staff or admin. Be safe and respectful- use a formal process. Involve people and there is less risk of alienation. Just like students, everyone wants fairness.

To clarify my last post: Jordan Gutlerner had made a dissenting comment on this site a week or so ago that the site administrators chose not to post. I had made a comment about this earlier today — before Heather’s last post.

Like the Portland Mercury article that linked me to this site seems to have suggested, it is possible that a sense of entitlement has skewed the proportions and perceptions of reality at a school that I love very much.

I never had the personal pleasure of having a class with Mr. Sweeney, although I did stop by his classroom a couple of times over the course of the four years that I attended Lincoln. Everything that I have seen, heard, and read about Mr. Sweeney, however, seems to suggest that this classroom change is exactly the sort of thing that is in line with his teaching.

A fully-functional international center, despite the concerns voiced about the quality of the programs, could only be help students understand our role in the world as a whole. If we are truly going to open student’s minds to their greater role in the Universe, integrating their learning experience with a international perspective is critical. Students, and the rest of us, must understand that the actions we take and the decisions we make in this world to do not take place in a vacuum. Maybe one way to do that is to help them realize that all the foreign people we see out-there-in-the-world on TV are real beings, with feelings and bodies just like ours.

I think Mr. Sweeney has done an admirable job, based on limited personal experience and extensive testimony of others, in promoting the development of rational and critical thinking. Students need to understand their role as global citizens. We all need to understand how it is that we live, and how we can learn to live better. Sweeney seems to be a very inspiring instructor, in this regard. I was moved by the many testimonials of former Lincoln alums, a few that I have known, who have gone on to do great things to the credit of their former teacher.

However, creating a better understanding of Humanity’s role in the universe, and moving Sweeney’s classroom 100 feet, are not mutually exclusive events. In fact, preventing the move may serve as a detriment to the higher goal of fostering a sense of universal brotherhood and goodwill among mankind. It is only logical for the International Center to take its place as the central hub of the school, if we are to truly be committed to the ideals of advancing the understanding of our Humanity. We can’t marginalize the utility of this valuable spacial resource to just the lucky students that are able to take classes from Mr. Sweeney.

I understand that Mr. Sweeney’s classroom was “open to everybody”, but this is not the whole truth. It is not “open to everybody” in the sense that not “everybody” could use his room for learning (at least during normal school hours). Only the students that are registered for his class can be learning there during class hours. Ironically, despite the openness of the classroom that Sweeney promotes, one is still either “in their place” or “out of their place” when they site in his class. Only in a fully-available classroom, such as the International Center, that is open to all students for all hours of the school day could this unfortunate paradoxical condition to be resolved.

Mr. Sweeney, then, must bite the metaphorical bullet and swallow the losses that losing his classroom entail to be consistent with the integrity of his teaching philosophy. We have to open up his room for the greater good, and to serve a greater cause. In the end, what will be lost is regrettable, but what will be gained is something incredibly important.

Mr. Sweeney, of course, can still keep hold of all the treasures he uses to more effectively educate his pupils. He can still bring in wonderful guest speakers to expand the minds of our young ones. He can still use his influence to effectively instill the critical and rational thinking skills the next generation will need to deal with the massive problems facing the world. Obviously, a change in location is not going to dramatically change the exceptional quality of his teaching style.

The change in location will bring about, on the other hand, a haven for all students with a keen interest in the part they play in the greater world. An International Center, given its proper place at the central hub of the school, will serve to educate students according to all of the ideals that Mr. Sweeney promotes. It may even provide opportunities to students that he could not, because he is limited to specific curriculum that his classes need to learn.

One cannot help but to marvel at the opportunities in education with an international perspective created by this new International Center, so closely linked with the legacy of a brilliant teacher. Students, newly inspired by an invigorating lesson by Mr. Sweeney, can walk dreamily down the hall to the International Center and immerse themselves in the cultures of the world. They can find opportunities to travel abroad. They can work with other students to gain a more balanced perspective of our Mother Earth.

In the end, these comments that we have all left probably will not significantly influence outcome of the final decision that Mrs. Chapman has the absolute right to make about the move. Despite that, it is a credit to the wonderful community that Lincoln has to see this outpouring of passion regarding what might seem trivial at other schools. Everyone seems to care very deeply about the school, and for that I am glad.

However, I would ask everyone to carefully consider the truth at the heart of their sentiments regarding this awkwardly polarizing situation. The solution that is the most beneficial to the students, I believe, has to come before all others. In that case, I am firmly convinced that establishing a central International Center in Mr. Sweeney’s old room and moving him a short distance is the most logical course of action to take in this matter. I hope those of you still inclined to disagree can see the tangibly beneficial effect that this would have on our community.

I debated with myself whether or not to post something here, because this issue has become so contentious and I doubt that it is really about the room change anymore. As a lincoln graduate who was quite involved in student affairs, I feel like i’ve seen and heard both sides of a number of very similar issues. I think there is no question that Mr. Sweeney is a phenomenal teacher; I never had him personally, but have heard nothing but glowing reviews of his classes from my fellow students. I also personally know Ms. Chapman, and I don’t believe that she ever does anything with malicious intent. If you take the time to listen to her side of a story, there is always a reasoned purpose behind her decisions. From my perspective as a student, however, it seems that the heart of the issue is the manner in which decisions get made. As people have pointed out, Ms. Chapman has a vision for the school, but I think she has not done a good enough job at incorporating disparate opinions (students, faculty, parents, etc.) in decision making processes. So when something like this happens, the inevitable result is that the school learning environment is disrupted because the students, who are never full parties to any discussion of this sort, become polarized on cues from the faculty and get riled by their sense of injustice. I think the students really have a unique perspective on school affairs, and should be taken more seriously. It is just sad that the status quo establishes a situation where the administration isn’t always listening, and the students don’t always feel that they can speak with candor. If you were to ask students honestly what they think of ISC, I could guarantee that the honest answer would be “it is a joke, utterly lacks rigor, and i’m only doing it to flesh out my college applications.” I find it sad that even though lincoln is such an incredible school (and don’t get me wrong, i had a fabulous time in high school), so much of the “enrichment” is just another box to check when applying to college. Even at a school with the number of opportunities lincoln has, I can count on one hand the teachers who’s classes will have a lasting impact on my life and the extracurriclar experiences that I will remember 30 years from now. From the testimonials on this site, it seems that Mr. Sweeney is one of those teachers who students remember even twenty years after graduation, and to jeopardize that i think is horribly risky.

With that said, I agree with Ms. Chapman in that we should try to improve the school. But i often disagree with her methods, which frequently are poorly communicated and lack the grassroots support which is critical to making real change in such a small community. By not getting the buy-in of faculty and students, this leadership style from my perspective seems to do more to disrupt than to improve. If I were principal, I would first find a way to make ISC a meaningful program. And as has been suggested, it is not the room that makes the program; I doubt whether map making projects will ever be more than a joke in the eyes of the student body, and although senior seminars were fun, my partner and I admittedly made up our entire presentation (which was over the top ridiculous and full of innuendo appropriate to high school boys) and no one called us out on it, we still got a perfect score from ISC, and even got written up as an exemplar project in the parent newsletter, none of which gave us any confidence in the rigorous expectations of the school. Unless students value the program beyond a checkoff grade for college applications, I highly doubt whether it will bear as much meaning as room 135 does to the students in Mr. Sweeney’s class.

As a current Lincoln student I’m frankly offended by this website. In my experience Peyton Chapman has been an excellent principal and the comments directed towards her regarding racism are at best untrue and at worst libelous. I’ve heard good things about Mr. Sweeney and his class, and that impression is only supported by many of the comments on this forum. I’ve also heard bad things, but that isn’t pertinent to whether his room should be moved. With that said, it shouldn’t be a big deal for him to switch rooms if the administration has decided that it is necessary. A good teacher can teach from any room, and the things that make Mr. Sweeney’s room special aren’t architectural; they’re the things that are hanging on the walls; things that can be moved. The students that want to visit Mr. Sweeney can still do so and the students that have never met him or have no reason to visit him (like myself) will have another room in the main hallway that is actually useful. The current IB/ISC office is cramped to the point where it is hardly useful, and organizationally it makes far more sense at Lincoln high school for their new room to be on the main hallway.

While much of high school fades, Mike Sweeney leaves a lasting impression. For me, and based on the outcry, a number of other students, Mike planted seeds of transformative thinking, a critical mode of engaging with the world which continues to feed thought and action. Having left Lincoln 15 years ago, I am unfamiliar with the current politics, however I hope that in this conflict Mike will be treated with the respect he deserves after so many years of timely, topical, critical contribution to the school.

It is without question that Mike Sweeney is a beloved icon of Lincoln High School and Portland Public Schools as a whole. He has probably been voted “favorite teacher” in the senior poll for the last 20 years, and his impact on students’ lives is evidenced here. The classes I had with him could not have been more poignant – Middle Eastern Lit and History was already in progress when the first Gulf War started and many of us were 18 and fearing a draft, for example. He is an icon of open-mindedness and also of principles, and Room 135 is a symbol thereof.

I cannot presume to know that the supposed politics here are the motivation, whether consciously or subconsciously, of the administration. I certainly hope, for their sake, they are not. And the working relationship of the faculty and administration is something quite serious that surely must be addressed directly if it is such a case of tyranny.

While Room 135 has been a special place to me and countless others, it is, however, a symbol, not the man, the teacher, the mentor. No doubt, this situation presents a very personal “educative moment.” If there are truly principles at stake here that are worth preserving, it is a lesson he can teach in standing up for them. If not, here is an opportunity to teaching us to open our minds, even when our own turf is on the table.

I wish you and your family the best in discernment.

Considering many educators have lost their jobs or had to accept pay reductions over the course of the last year, throwing such a fit over being moved to a classroom a mere 100 yards smacks of self entitlement. I myself enjoyed Sweeney’s Anthropology class in room 135 greatly and it was indeed a unique space. But let’s keep our priorities straight, it’s the teacher, students and curriculum that make for a quality educational experience, not the location of the classroom.

Perhaps a bit of sacrifice for the good of Lincoln High School as a whole is in order during tough times such as these.

As a former student of Lincoln, it saddens me to see that after only a few years, how much of a memorable institution has fallen into disarray. Obviously there are high emotions running here as I’m sure everyone wants the best outcome for the students. I certainly hope that Principal Chapman, parents, teachers, colleagues, etc… remember that they don’t work for unions or for personal reasons but for the betterment of the students. If keeping Mr Sweeney in his room is better for the students, then that should be respected.
Now what about the students that might be inconvenienced by ISC or IB remaining in their small office? As far as I know, ISC and IB are programs (or programmes as IB prefers to call them) are completely extra curricular and optional. If students need time and help to fulfill the requirements of both these programs, help should be provided. But let’s look at the help that would be required by students. World map making? International seminars? ISC honestly requires very little extra work and space. If an entire room needs to be dedicated to both these programs, then the advisers are not running their own responsibilities efficiently enough. If more space is required, I can think of at least one area that is underused and usually stacked with chairs and tables: the cafeteria in the basement. Although perhaps not the most asthetically pleasing of places to work, too bad. Money is tight and therefore Lincoln should act as frugally as possible.
If the argument here is so that Lincoln could have a successful Mandarin Chinese program, I can see how an accolade like that would be another feather in the cap. However as far as I am aware, there is an already established Chinese program at Cleveland High School. Want your Lincoln child to have a good Mandarin Chinese education? Send them to Cleveland. If it’s that important to you, buy them the Rosetta Stone. Or hire a private tutor. Or let them learn it in college. I’m sure those private institutions of higher education would be able to provide it. Especially if you write them a nice donation check. If my information is correct, I have heard that this hiring of a Mandarin Chinese teacher has been at the discretion and funding of the Lincoln Parents. Although very touching as it may seem, perhaps Lincoln’s parents have not thought through this decision. Just because you may have the money now, who exactly will be paying for this teacher in the years to come? What about the extra time, attention, paperwork. etc. that will be required of other members of the faculty there just so one teacher may remain there? Will each of the Lincoln parents who advocated this new Chinese program be paying for this years down the road? I am assuming not. Perhaps it is time for Lincoln parents to be less involved with the infrastructure of a federally funded institution. If you want a private school education for your child, send them to a private school. The gluttony of these parents is astonishing. The lack of forethought put into this decision makes me question if these parents deserve to make these sorts of decisions or have this sort of power.
Try to keep an extremely important teacher in his room, and you’re seemingly met with nothing but difficulties. Have a few rich parents decide they want a new special teacher and the Principal must be forced to change a positive element of the community. It truly is too bad that because of office politics, the students must suffer. But hey, Lincoln parents have made it quite obvious that if you throw enough money at something, it’s bound to fix itself.

Also, I agree with Spencer Roberts in regards to feelings of entitlement on behalf of some Lincoln parents, and the role that funding often plays.

Dear Sweeneysroom Readers,

My name is Evan Hansen and I’ll be approving Sweeneysroom posts from here on out. I’ll also be a 4th year English teacher at Roosevelt High School’s ACT campus. I can’t promise to be a perfect administrator for the site (who can promise perfect administration, honestly?), but I will make an effort to update comments at least once every 24 hours, and to do so equitably.

I’ve agreed to curate the site for a number of reasons. Most generally, I care a great deal about Mike Sweeney. I’ve had the privilege of learning from him as a student (a transfer student from SE Portland through the ISC program, in fact), as an intern teacher, and working alongside him as a colleague. He’s a gifted teacher and thoughtful person, and I agree with many of you that he’s been a valuable counselor and community fixture in Lincoln’s main hall for 26 years.

Yet while I think moving Mr. Sweeney and Mr. Dreier (another phenomenal teacher and colleague) to new rooms is perhaps ill-advised from a building health point of view, I don’t think that’s the central issue here. Two or three rather more important issues lie at the heart of our discussion. One is that these events will set a precedent for how PPS administrators, teachers, parents, and students work—or don’t work—together to make decisions in public schools. As we weigh in on this issue, we’re also expressing how we would like to organize and manage our schools in the future: Would we prefer a system in which administrators make decisions without first having a conversation with their whole community of teachers, parents, and students? Or do we feel comfortably inexpert in addressing such issues as which teacher teaches what, where s/he teaches it, the content that’s being delivered, and so on. In other words, do we feel that decisions about our kids’ education don’t require our or their input?

The fact that plans for room 135 were publicly unveiled concurrent with Mr. Sweeney’s less-than-consummately-professional eviction notice—without discussion with the broader Lincoln and PPS community—and then those plans were subsequently altered multiple times (what of the new Mandarin program now?) suggests that this move and the vision behind it could have used more planning and community input before setting change to motion. I thus support Mike’s and Ted’s efforts to have a more thorough and comprehensive process in planning and decision-making on the building level. There were other options to pursue, in this case, which never became part of a broader discussion. Creative solutions to room-sharing are critical at Lincoln, after all, where space is at such a premium. Why was there not a broader discussion PRIOR to action? To ask that question doesn’t constitute self-interested whining or an attempt to preserve the status quo. At its heart is respect for the multiplicity of voices in the broad community of administrators, parents, teachers, and students who make up the school.

The decision to move Mr. Sweeney and Mr. Dreier thus appears to have been made unilaterally, or at least made by a select few people behind closed doors, despite institutions for community input being in place at Lincoln for decades. The Site Council, other student groups, committees of teachers, and a variety of bodies have weighed in on critical matters at Lincoln for many years. The issue that’s come to be known as “Sweeney’s Room,

Mike Sweeney is animate: he breathes, teaches, and has mentored many, including myself. His room is inanimate: it does not breathe, does not teach independent of Mike Sweeney, and has mentored no one.

Hello,
I was a student in Mr Sweeney’s classes in the late 1980’s. As a working class Latina kid raised by a Marxist single mother, I was shocked by the privilege, entitlement and classism I encountered during my time at LHS. It has been 20 years since I was there, but there was plenty of subtle (and not so subtle) racism in those halls at the time and I can’t imagine it is much different now. Many of my Lincoln friends were not even allowed to come to my neighborhood (inner NE PDX).
Mr Sweeney was a welcoming entity in a foreign and painful environment. If you walked into his classroom, whether it was during class or not, you could know that you would be treated with respect and as an equal. You mattered in his classroom.
His were the only classes I never skipped. A few of us used to meet in his classroom in the AM just to hang out, and students brought him coffee as a gift. The Red Wagon coffee shop actually used to have (they likely still do) a coffee drink named after him.
His classes were the most thought provoking, enriching, and enjoyable I experienced during my 4 years at LHS. I loved his Anthropology, Asian Studies and African Studies courses. Thanks to Mr Sweeneys leadership our whole school was honored one year by a visit and performance from Ladysmith Black Mambazo. I still tell people about that meaningful experience.
I cannot even tell you what our principal’s name was.
The seemingly dishonest and cowardly behavior of the management at the school disappoints me. I appreciate that there may be a need to make some changes, but I would really like to know whether Mr Sweeney has been consulted or included in this decision. I am confident that he would sacrifice his room if it would truly benefit the students.
That room belongs not only to Mr Sweeney, but to those of us who were fortunate enough to share it with him. That classroom is a sanctuary of open-mindedness, critical thinking, diversity and nonjudgement in a school that would otherwise be greatly lacking in those areas. To uproot him and his students (all of us) from that room out to a trailer would be to effectively disenfranchise him and his students along with the values that he embodies in his teaching.
He could teach in a cardboard box and would still do a fantastic job. But he should not have to move unless he feels OK about the reason and the process. He has earned that amount of consideration.
Also want to say thanks to Mr Sweeney for being such a great teacher.

My fellow Friends, countrymen, and active participants in the PTA,

I say hello to you on this somber September afternoon. Terrible news has befell the Paine household, and not because Mrs. Paine has made me sleep on the sofa again for lack of “common sense.” Nay, it is because of the injustice at Lincoln High School, an establishment renowned for its fairness and zero tolerance of zero tolerance, that I gaze longingly into a portrait of myself and ask, ‘what has become of democracy?’

I would like to thank the discursive quality of many of the lengthy responses to this most tumultuous affair. Rest easy my fellow patriots, and know that in your time away from being outside, choosing not to enjoy the last days of summer, you have sacrificed much for the greater good. The alumni who took it upon themselves to allow us to taste their profound wisdom and experience, even if it is only a tea spoon. I savor every drop of your intellectual ramblings, and knowing that you must drink it up everyday, you must surely be drunk on the elixir of post-college erudition. Oh yes, I speak of those who have fought valiantly the tyrant, the she-beast, known as Chapman to her cahoots, and the Iron Fist to everyone else.

She turns a deaf ear to the whines and shrills of everyone pleading her desperately to change her mind, because she has chosen not to give them what they want, and if that isn’t what evil leadership is, then Barack Obama is a saint. Yes my fellow Cardinals, you are being mocked in the face of “progress,” but is progress really what this school needs? After all, tradition is what binds Lincoln together, like a magical adhesive that rejects all those pesky new types that only start trouble (you know who you are, East-Portlanders).

And the racial undertones of this move can be felt like someone stepping on the foot of MLK, while he isn’t wearing shoes and the foot stepping on him is wearing metal cleats with “Hate” written on every spike. This is the most perverse attack on racial equality since a Korean man kicked me out of his store because I was standing in front of the candy section for too long (have we come so far, Jung-Hwa, to move so far back?).

Where is the listening of student voices in this enormous undertaking? If I were Mrs. Chapman and was faced with relocating a fellow faculty member three doors down in order to open up for the growth of a new school-wide department, I would immediately turn to a 16 year old and ask them sincerely, “Do you find the implications of this move to hurt the Lincoln community?” And by God, if their answer differed from my instincts, then I would surely discount my administrative experience and go with their riled little heads.

Because you see my friends, it isn’t about just Mr. Sweeney and his classroom filled to the brim with cultural trinkets and sleeping stoners (or are they not a cultural trinket, as well?), it’s about America, and if we will let one of our designated officials make a decision that they are supposed to make without letting us get in her way to exercise a right we have given ourselves as a people who tend to give things to ourselves. Shame on the apathetic portion of this community who have stood idly by and let this atrocity march forward! To those who say we are making a mountain out of an ant hill, I say to you, don’t you realize that that ant hill is a mountain to ants? And it’s a mountain that they built, with a persistent blind effort that doesn’t waver for anything, all for a chance to appease the queen. And ladies and gentlemen of the internet, my Queen is Justice, and God willing, I have served her well. Thank you.

Come visit my grave!
Thomas Paine

As a recent student teacher at Lincoln, I got the chance to know Mike Sweeney and Peyton Chapman (and work under Ted Dreier, specifically). I also had the rare opportunity to observe many of Lincoln’s staff in their classrooms, each with their own distinct methods and styles. My general assessment, for what it’s worth, is that the vast majority of Lincoln’s staff and administration are committed, passionate people who want to do what’s best for young people and their education, even if they might disagree on some of the particulars. What really stuck with me about Lincoln, is that the school is OLD. The deferred maintenance and condition of basic services like the cafeteria and locker rooms are embarrassing. The fact that in this city, in this country, that we still have professionals teaching in windowless dungeons or sagging portables is pathetic.

That, to me, is the real elephant in the room. Of course teachers like Mr. Sweeney should have an inviting, warm, “well-lit” ( ! ) classroom to teach in. ALL teachers should be able to expect that! And of course principals like Ms. Chapman shouldn’t have to choose between uprooting veteran teachers, and providing adequate space for enrichment programs. Until we solve this issue, EVERYONE in schools will be faced with the sad task of competing against each other for steadily decreasing resources. How is this possible? Who “wins” in this scenario? Who is benefiting? No one but the incredibly small minority of people in Portland and all across the country who control a frighteningly disproportionate amount of wealth, power and accompanying influence on media and public policy. That shift has turned this country from at least a modestly middle class society into something that is approaching a new Gilded Age.

I hope that eventually we can find the courage to provide not just adequate, but exceptional resources to our public schools (and universities!), so teachers and principals can get back to the business of providing students with the best education they can.

Although I am technically no longer involved with this site, I feel this commentary has a place here. Mr. Canzano speaks to precisely the issues this website addresses; the crisis of leadership at Lincoln. This is an issue that has only been made public by the embarrassing performances of a string of Lincoln coaches over the last few months. However, the way these incidents have been handled, or not handled, is indicative of all the larger issues we have addressed on this site. It is school-wide and district-wide and no one is paying attention until a coach gets arrested for being drunk and disorderly in public. Mr. Canzano says, “Her supporters are going to tell you the school has great test scores and wonderful faculty members.” What is not apparent to the public at large is that many of those ‘wonderful faculty members’ are trying every way they can to get out of the poisonous air of Lincoln. Many already have. Parents should look seriously at the environment in the building to which their children are exposed on a daily basis. Ms. Chapman’s administrative philosophy of ‘divide and conquer’ has succeeded wildly in creating a rancorous atmosphere of supporters and detractors. Through transparent acts of favoritism and recrimination, many faculty know precisely where they stand in the principal’s graces. Those in favor are given plum class assignments. Those out of favor are moved to the portables for no legitimate administrative reason, and left to languish in basement rooms with no windows while decent classroom space goes unused. Those high test scores come at a high price in stress and deep dissatisfaction with what should be a constructive team effort to provide a safe and nurturing environment for the students.

I am very saddened that Mike Sweeney had to move his class room and for all the turmoil it has caused within the school. Mr. Sweeney’s anthropology & humanities classes helped me realize what a large and diverse world we live in and actually changed the course of my life in the sense that I studied anthropology in college and have maintained a passion for people’s cultures and care much about global issues. His class was consistently stimulating and as a result I can reference a great deal about many cultures and historical events. I hope he is seen and recognized as a life changing teacher and an inspiration. I am so fortunate to have had him in my life.