Portland Charter School For BIPOC Students Will ‘Intentionally Decenter Whiteness’

The city of Portland, Oregon, is opening a school that will be primarily for students who do not identify as white.

The Holla Public Charter School, which will be located in the Reynolds School District, will open its doors in the fall of 2022. In the state, charter schools are supported by Oregonian tax funds and “do not discriminate in either admissions or programs.”

Holla appears to be the only charter school in the district that holds a race-based mission.

When hiring staff, the school plans to “prioritize hiring staff reflective of our student demographics while simultaneously creating an environment and community reflective of their lived experiences and culture.”

The school’s mission is: “To change the academic narrative of Black, Brown and Indigenous youth by honoring lived experiences, catalyzing genius and centering joy; To explore student identities, nurture their curiosity, ignite their criticality and orient them in the world; To systematize the use of a comprehensive anti-racist, culturally and historically responsive instructional framework that centers literacy and relationships through mentoring, entrepreneurship and acknowledging the contributions of our community.”

According to local news, the school, which grew out of the HOLLA not-for-profit, and led by executive director Eric Knox, would be “specifically for BIPOC students.”

Knox said the school is “an effort to make a space specifically for BIPOC students where they feel seen, heard and their experiences are reflected in curriculum.”

Hip-hop will be an important part of the school’s curriculum. Knox said, “Hip-hop is what our kids understand.” An advertisement for the school said, “HOLLA School will intentionally decenter whiteness in the curriculum, policies and culture of the school.”

Knox launched HOLLA in 2013 with the idea of someday establishing a school, but the organization’s primary mission has been to connect children with mentors in recent years. Knox stated the following on the necessity of establishing the school: “It’s very hard to learn when you don’t see yourself in the curriculum. You don’t see yourself in educational model.”

Knox continued, “We felt like if we were on a campus with our kids, doing life with them the way we do life with them through mentorship, we could get the academic outcomes.”

“We know Black and Brown and Indigenous kids will learn equally as well if they have a space that they see themselves in their history, their culture, and all of that is honored.”

The HOLLA Mentor website reads, “In 2022 Holla will launch a culturally responsive public charter school in East Portland centering youth of color. The school will begin with k-2 adding one grade each year until it serves pre-k-5th grade and will focus on entrepreneurship, steam education, and culturally responsive curriculum.”

In a press release from November, the organization said, “HOLLA is partnering with the Reynolds School District in building an educational space where Black, Brown and Indigenous people are able to come together and build a unique school community.”

“HOLLA School will work symbiotically with the Reynolds School District to advance and actualize our shared vision and values for our local community including goals we share with the district related to anti-racism and student achievement.”

Despite the fact that it is scheduled to open in less than seven months, Holla Charter School has not yet published its admissions standards or created a unique website for the school.

Stay tuned to The Scoop for any updates.