The issue of people without housing in Newberg has become another point of division in our community, turning neighbors against each other and stoking fear, with some citizens asserting that those who are homeless will make Newberg into “another Portland,” and that people without housing pose a particular threat to school children.
Now, the head of Newberg schools seems to be jumping into the fray, reinforcing the notion that people without housing are drug addicts. For some people, the latest superintendent update brings to mind the efforts made last summer to ban homeless camps near schools–an effort spearheaded by (now) Mayor William Rusacker and City Councilwoman Robin Wheatley. Under the guise of protecting children, the initiative proposed by Rusaker et al. characterized those experiencing homelessness as dangerous predators, drug addicts and sexual offenders.
In the Newberg school district’s latest video update, Superintendent Steven Phillips visits the Newberg Emergency Shelter and talks with one of its employees, Matt Bunn, who advocates well for the shelter’s work. In the interview, it is clear Matt understands the complex nature of homelessness, and he resists any attempt to flatten or demonize the lives of the people he serves.
And yet, despite what might be a positive intent, the video continues to dehumanize those who are houseless, tying those experiencing homelessness directly to fentanyl use, contributing to the fear-mongering rhetoric. This language is used to rally people to support a proposed ballot measure limiting the spaces where those who are homeless can exist in Newberg.
The video opens with statistics about fentanyl use, including the claim that “In Oregon, drug use is the primary cause of homelessness.” Even a quick search of Google shows this claim is not necessarily true: one survey says mental illness is the highest cause of homelessness in Oregon; the Portland Rescue Mission asserts that homelessness is too complex to indicate only one cause. Many studies show that over 50 percent of women and children needing shelter are escaping domestic violence, and one important 2021 study points out that “Homelessness is a Housing Problem.” This and other studies have concluded that a community’s cost of housing and inadequate housing supply is the number one indicator of whether someone experiences homelessness.
By directly tying fentanyl use to homelessness in Newberg, the superintendent’s update fails to address the complexities of homelessness, and instead becomes one more way the school administration–in the name of “taking politics out of schools”–is making a political stand, one that will harm students in Newberg facing housing instability and the stigma of houselessness.
It’s also puzzling why the superintendent update would need to wade into this clearly political debate at all. Parents in the school district have yet to be informed about:
- Graduation rates
- Enrollment numbers
- The district’s financial picture
- New curriculum adoptions
- Educators’ professional development
- Strategic planning
- Plans for academic outcomes
One response on the school district’s Facebook page captures the frustration with the superintendent updates. A constituyente writes, ”Con todos los problemas que hay en las escuelas y el superintendente prefiere hacer videos. Ya pasó hoy por la High School o Mountain View? Ya fue a ver si hay alguna necesidad en alguna de las oficinas del distrito escolar?” (“With all the problems going on in the schools and the superintendent prefers to make videos. Have you been to the High School or Mountain View today? Have you already gone to see if there is a need in any of the school district offices?”)
A fully transparent and fully functioning school board and its district administrators would do well to inform the community about what is happening in its schools and programs. It might consider the impact of houselessness on its students, and it might address potential solutions the school district can provide to help students find stability in the classroom, especially when life outside of school hours is unstable.
A school board and administration that stigmatizes those who are houseless by insisting the “primary cause” of homelessness is drug addiction (specifically fentanyl use), and who ostensibly support an anti-homeless agenda in Newberg, is being political, no matter what they say about wanting to save schools.
Newberg Neighbors for a Better Community 