Systemic Sexual Harassment in the Portland Public School System

Employees in multiple sectors of the Portland Public School district are facing systemic sexual harassment and a “culture of silence” from the hierarchy of the school system. Malak Elkher, a PPS custodian, who resigned her job at a PPS board meeting last Tuesday, July 11th, said that she faced rampant and systemic sexual harassment at multiple schools in the district, with supervisors and managers doing little to nothing to help. After just one month of employment at PPS, she suffered harassment from two co-workers, as well as her manager. The stress and anxiety that the ongoing situation created caused her to turn in her keys, ID card, and quit at the school board meeting. Hers is but one of many such stories of harassment, racism, and a systemic abuse of power within the Portland Public School system.

From her GoFundMe page:

Elkher, who only started at the school district on the 7th of June, was sent to Jackson Middle School the next day. After meeting her co workers and being trained how to do the job, the man training her began to harass her while at work. He continually asked her to come to his car during breaks and smoke cigarettes, despite her repeated refusals. “He kept asking, and asking and asking and asking and asking,” Elkher said. “Like not once a day. A lot of times.” She reported an uncomfortable incident where he bought her lunch, and she felt obligated to sit with him while he told her about how much he “liked her skin” and even went as far as to touch her. Elkher told the Union about the harassment and she reported it to her supervisor who supposedly told her manager, but both told Elkher to not talk to HR about the issue. They assured her they would handle it “in house”, yet the harassment continued. She began to feel ostracized and distanced by her colleagues after reporting these incidents. “So every day I go to different break rooms, teachers break rooms, hiding away from him,” Elkher said.

The district HR department eventually received and investigated the claim, interviewing Elkher the day after her report was filed. At her request, Elkher was transferred to Lincoln High School. But since this is a district-wide problem, due to insufficient training and accountability, the harassment continued at the new school, this time from her supervisor. An older supervisor began to ask her out on dates, despite her requesting him to stop. The HR representative who interviewed her made her feel like she was the problem, and hardly let her get her story out before engaging in victim blaming, she did not feel as though the matter would be taken seriously.

Eventually, Elkher emailed HR for the school district. A PPS spokeswoman said the district received Elkher’s email on June 22. An investigation began immediately. The spokeswoman said an interview happened with Elkher on June 23. This interview was not much more helpful than the first, with the interviewer taking few notes. She discovered in this interview that the HR department had not even discussed the matter with the man who she alleged harassed her.

The district claimed to be investigating the harassment and made the standard statement, “‘[PPS] will continue to actively and thoroughly investigate any and all reports of sexual harassment.’

Yet this seems to be a feature of the district’s policy and procedure, not a flaw. Another custodian and SEUI union steward, Gabe Penk, said he has heard of numerous instances of sexual harassment from female custodians. The union is representing some of the women and is collecting information on the complaints filed by custodians. They say that if the district was taking this situation seriously, then they would not have had to air their concerns during the board meeting on the 11th. Penk said:

“The custodial department is largely male dominated and it’s probably that because of the culture that PPS tolerates – lots of women are not comfortable or safe unfortunately working here.”

Portland Public Schools released this statement Tuesday in response:

“We are aware of the allegations made by SEIU and are investigating. Portland Public Schools prohibits sexual harassment and retaliation of any kind, including firing, for making a good-faith complaint. The district is deeply committed to fostering and maintaining a safe and respectful environment for all our employees.”

But the facts tell a different story. Penk says that the number of women coming forward with experiences of sexual harassment has increased in the last few months. He said, “Repeated comments from other custodians. From supervisors, asking them out repeatedly.”

Annika Pedersen, another former custodian, dealt with similar issues while employed with PPS. She said a co-worker at Odyssy Middle School acted like she was dumb, because she was a young woman. She too told her managers and requested a transfer. But when they told her that her schedule would also have to change, she informed them she couldn’t work mornings due to classes. They fired her the next day. Safe and respectful?

Custodians aren’t the only district employees who voiced concern of sexual harassment. Teachers have also complained.

“There are multiple members right now that we are advocating for with sexual harassment cases,” Vice President of the Portland Association of Teachers Jacque Dixon said. “It’s sending a message that a culture of silence is just the norm”.

A special education teacher filed a complaint through the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI). The complaint said a co-worker would touch her shoulder, arms and head without consent. The woman alleges this happened from January 2022 until November 2022.

In another case, a teacher at Kellogg Middle School alleged the district repeatedly failed to address harassment, and disciplined the victim for reporting harassment. She is now suing the district, saying it didn’t do enough to address accusations of sexual harassment, while also retaliating against her to silence her.

According to the suit, the teacher reported multiple cases of inappropriate behavior and harassment over the last few years, including a shoulder massage from a male teacher without her consent, a further instance of unwanted touch, multiple instances of sexual harassment, including being filmed and harassed, and a student’s lewd act involving a cell phone. The suit alleges she witnessed harassment toward other colleagues and students as well, and experienced retaliation after voicing concerns.

“It’s not just my client, it’s not just the woman that complained at the meeting the other night. It’s a very prevalent problem and it really needs to be addressed,” Elizabeth Inayoshi said, the attorney representing the PPS teacher.

Retaliation

Inayoshi said that when the teacher continued to report the cases, she started to experience what she felt was retaliation. She claims issues she brought up in a staff meeting were dismissed as “inappropriate and disruptive.” She also says she was investigated for “inserting herself into a Title IX investigation” because she reported a student’s letter to the Department of Human Services over concerns of child abuse by a different PPS teacher.

Inayoshi says retaliation against whistleblowers like her client could prevent others from coming forward.

“That kind of retaliation is very chilling for anybody who looks at that and says ‘I’m having these problems but if I complain, I could lose my job,’” Inayoshi said.

There is a clear pattern of retaliation enacted against educators who center students and community when speaking truths about the racism, environmental injustice, sexual harassment and rape culture that has been normalized in Portland Public Schools.

Former Ockley Green Teacher Chris Riser was placed under investigation and his life turned upside down for supporting students in using their civil rights in 2018. He survived it and eventually departed from PPS to lead a school, but he stays in solidarity with educators being targeted right now. On Feb. 92018, at least 400  Ockley Green Middle School students went on an unauthorized, two-hour, three-mile round trip walk off campus, inspired by the words of Teressa Raiford and Ms. Reye from Don’t Shoot Portland. The demonstration was a protest on the anniversary of the death of unarmed 17-year-old Quanice Hayes, an armed robbery suspect shot and killed by Portland police in February 2017.

Riser was placed on leave on March 23 after an investigation led by the interim principal at Ockley Green, who had authorized Don’t Shoot Portland to visit the school for an all-school assembly the day the walkout occurred. “Our review concludes that students were subjected to the risk of potentially severe harm because of unauthorized actions that were not in keeping with our obligation to ensure students’ safety at all times,” read a letter school administrators sent home to parents that March.

Harriet Tubman Middle School Teacher Bryan Chu, a known voice against racism and environmental racism, was targeted over a period of years and experiences ongoing racism and retaliation from PPS. From April 1st, 2022 until now he has been in limbo, on administrative leave, waiting to see if he will be fired. An attorney for Chu, a social studies teacher at Harriet Tubman Middle School, sent a tort claim notice to PPS on Chu’s behalf on May 9, alleging retaliation, hostile work environment, and a racist work culture that led to him being temporarily ousted for being a whistleblower.

“At the end of the day, this is racist retaliation,” said Chu, who’s Asian. “The stuff that [PPS] says, it’s not really about that. It’s a bigger thing.”

The claim, sent by Portland-based Albies & Stark law firm, highlights the school district’s past failures to treat its employees of color fairly. It also alleges an atmosphere of discrimination and the stifling of non-white voices of opposition, despite PPS’s own equity policies and state mandates to hire more teachers of color in Oregon schools. Chu was placed on administrative leave April 1 as the district launched an investigation into his behavior during district meetings, as well as his repeated critique of the district’s public engagement process regarding the relocation of Harriet Tubman Middle School. On May 4, the investigation was expanded to include allegations of workplace harassment, communication with students, grading practices, and his continued public complaints of alleged unlawful conduct by PPS.

“If you’re quiet and compliant, you have job security,” said Chu. “It’s systemic, but systems are made of people.”. There is a pattern of investigating anyone who speaks out or stands up, either for their rights or the rights of others. Teachers also file frivolous reports against other co workers in order to get them investigated, whether the allegations are founded or not. Most teachers are just there to do their job and aren’t concerned with the district politics, but those who are active and observing are the ones being targeted for investigation. At the end of the day, this is about the children and their education and the school board in Portland is harming those children with their actions and inaction. Their performative activism and inclusion is belied by the racist and exploitative practices endemic in the system.

Chu also had critiques for the Union, saying that they are also responsible for upholding the systemic issues inherent in the district. They are not doing enough to live up to the slogan, “An Injury To One Is An Injury To All”. People are getting hurt because of stiff bureaucracies, and individuals within those institutions that uphold those systems of power.

Ockley Green Teachers Damon Keller, a dance teacher who is Black and Phyllis Harris, the only Black librarian in PPS, are being targeted.

“Black Teachers Matter”

was the chant as hundreds of students at Ockley Green Middle School walked out of class in protest of two teachers being placed on administrative leave. The Portland Public Schools District said dance teacher Damon Keller and librarian Phyllis Harris’ leaves are due to personal matters and did not offer additional details. Keller reportedly asked for time off to attend a dance event and his supervisors couldn’t figure out his request and so put him under investigation.

But students and parents alike say the actions against the teachers are a symptom of a greater issue happening at the district’s schools with larger populations of minority students of color. “Recently, they’ve been firing mostly all of our Black faculty members at Ockley Green and around PPS, too,” one student said. Parents who spoke with the news outlet said they were given a different story about Keller’s absence, citing that he allegedly used too many sick days.

Chris Riser, who himself was placed on leave following the 2018 walkout for Quanice Hayes, said the school’s issues with faculty and staff of color are not a new phenomenon. Instead, it is something that has been going on since 2016. “The issues with administration go all the way back to the first year of consolidation,” said Riser. He left the middle school after six years for a teaching opportunity at a new public charter school with a mission to change the academic narrative for Black, Brown, and Indigenous youth. Riser noted, “At the same time the district is talking about retention, they’re actively hemorrhaging educators of color”.

More Than Policy

At the July school board meeting, where Elkher told her story of harassment and quit, a union representative recounted a story from another female custodian. That woman said a co-worker would take pictures of her without her consent. He also allegedly made inappropriate comments about female students.

The district found those claims founded.