The most visible effort to deal with the homeless crisis in Portland is Safe Rest villages. “Safe Rest Villages are alternative shelters that serve as improved point of entry for Portlanders on the continuum from living on the streets to finding stability in permanent housing,” the city says.
The seven Safe Rest Villages scattered around the city offer a host of services, including laundry, showers, flush toilets, and garbage recycling as well as case management, mental health supports, recovery support Services, community advocates, first aid and medical care.
The problem is that while millions of dollars are being spent on these villages, residents can access all their services with no quid pro quo, in other words, without doing anything in return. A resident can literally do nothing all day and night but stew in his or her despair. What the villages don’t offer or require is meaningful work.
Let’s give them something to do.
Of all of President Roosevelt’s New Deal programs during the depression, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) is often hailed as one of the most successful, employing more than 8.5 million people during a troubling time for America.
WPA workers built bridges, roads, public buildings, public parks and airports. In Oregon, Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood owes its existence to the WPA as it was built by hundreds of people eager to work after suffering the effects of unemployment during the Great Depression.
On September 28, 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the First Lady, and an entourage of ninety arrived at Timberline Lodge for its dedication.
“Give a man a dole,” said Harry Hopkins, who directed the WPA, “and you save his body and destroy his spirit. Give him a job and you save both body and spirit”.
Why not try something like the WPA again in Portland?
Why not organize teams of Village Rest residents to get out and paint over the graffiti that’s defacing surfaces all over the city.? Or pick up the proliferating trash and needles? Or clean up abandoned waterside campsites?
Or try writing.
At its peak, the WPA’s Federal Writers’ Project engaged about 6,500 men and women around the country. Among those Federal Writers who went on to gain national literary reputations were novelists Nelson Algren, Saul Bellow and John Cheever, poet May Swenson and African-American writers including Ralph Ellison, Margaret Walker, Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright.
Ralph Ellison
Or take pictures.
During the depression, the Resettlement Administration, later replaced by the Farm Security Administration (FSA), hired Columbia University professor Roy Stryker to lead the agency’s Photographic Unit. Stryker created a team of “documentary photographers” to capture the raw emotion behind the drudgery and bring empathy to the suffering of ordinary Americans.
New Jersey-born portrait photographer Dorothea Lange worked for the FSA. She took many photographs of poverty-stricken families in squatter camps but was best known for a series of photographs of Florence Owens Thompson, a 32-year-old mother living in a camp of stranded pea pickers. One photograph of Thompson, “Migrant Mother,” became a defining symbol of the Great Depression.
Migrant Mother by Dorothea Lange
Surely we can do better than warehouse homeless people in Safe Rest Villages, Put them to work. Give them a job to do and save both body and spirit.
It looks like the really tiny town of Mitchell (pop. approx. 137) in a rugged Eastern Oregon canyon has figured out how to bring in big bucks – sponsor public virtual schools.
Mitchell, Oregon
Since Oregon enacted a charter school law in 1999, virtual charters in the state have spread like a rash, with 20 now offering online courses to some or all grades of K-12 students. Enrollment at the virtual charters in 2022-2023 was 15,711, representing 37.79% of total charter school enrollment.
Charter schools in Oregon, including virtual charters, are publicly funded, so parents don’t pay tuition. Instead, the Oregon Department of Education distributes money from the State School Fund to each school district that sponsors a charter school based upon that school’s enrollment.
Oregon law provides that a sponsoring district must pass on to its charter school at least 80 percent of its per-pupil grant for K-8 students and 95 percent of its per pupil grant for grade 9-12 students.
While the rest of Oregon school districts sponsoring virtual charter schools sponsor only one, the Mitchell School District is taking full advantage of the funding model, sponsoring three virtual public charter schools with total enrollment of 1054 students in 2022-2023:
Each of the virtual charter schools sponsored by the Mitchell School District contracts for the use of technology and curriculum from K12, a profit-driven Stride Company (NYSE: LRN).
I asked Melissa Hausmann, Head of School at all three schools, for copies of their contracts with K12 to get a better understanding of payments made by the charter schools to K12. Although Oregon Public Records law requires that a public body acknowledge receipt of a public records request within 5 business days of receipt, Hausmann has not responded to repeated requests for the contracts..
Given the voluminous data maintained by the Oregon Department of Education (ODOE), I assumed securing information on the state money going to the Mitchell School District because of its sponsorship of the three virtual charter schools would be a simple request. Accordingly, I asked ODOE:
How much money did the State School Fund distribute to the Mitchell School District for the 2022-2023 school year for each of the three virtual public charter schools the district sponsors?
School district sponsors are allowed to keep a portion of per-pupil funding provided by the state, usually 20% for K-8 schools and 5% for high schools. The rest goes to the charter school. I asked what percentage, and how many dollars, of per pupil funding provided by the state to each of these three schools was retained by the Mitchell School District in the 2022-2023 school year?
Surprisingly, ODOE said it was not the custodian of records that contained the specific information I requested. It suggested I contact the school district directly.
The Oregon Department of Education says it doesn’t know how much it is spending in support of virtual charter schools.
Mitchell School District Superintendent Vincent Swagerty acknowledged that the district had some of the records requested, but said it would cost $800 “to summarize, compile, review and forward these records.”
Oregon’s public records law allows for “reasonably calculated” fees to be imposed for responding to a public records request, but I considered an $800 fee exorbitant, prohibitive and even silly. Was the district really not able to quickly and easily find out. how much money it’s getting from the state in connection with its sponsorship of three virtual charter schools?
So I pursued an alternative, calculating estimated state payments using ODOE guidance on available data posted online by the department. A review of the Mitchell School District’s contracts with the three virtual charter schools then revealed the percentages of state school fund money passed on to the virtual charter schools.
Those calculations led to a rough estimate that the Mitchell School District retained the astonishing amount of approximately $727,000 of the state school fund money it received because of its sponsorship of the three virtual charter schools in the 2020-2021 school year.
The estimated total broke down as follows:
INSIGHT SCHOOL OF OREGON – PAINTED HILLS
The state sent an estimated $3,777,660 to the Mitchell School District. An estimated $130,656 (20% of the state’s money for students in grades 7-8) and $156,773 (5% of the state’s money for students in grades 9-12) was retained by the Mitchell School District. The remaining $3,392,445 went to Insight.
CASCADE VIRTUAL ACADEMY
The state sent an estimated $7,622,080 to the Mitchell School District. An estimated $357,764 (5% of the state’s money) was retained by the Mitchell School District. The remaining $6,797,516 (95% of the state’s money) went to Cascade.
DESTINATIONS CAREER ACADEMYOF OREGON
The state sent an estimated $1,681,164 to the Mitchell School District. An estimated $84,058 (5% of the state’s money) was retained by the Mitchell School District. The remaining $1,597,105 (95% of the state’s money) went to Destinations.
Estimate of $ retained by the Mitchell School District in 2020-2021
From Insight contract: $287,429
From Cascade contract: $357,764
From Destinations contract: $84,058
TOTAL: $729,251
Does the Mitchell School District agree with these numbers?
I asked Superintendent Swagerty. He responded that he had accepted a position in a new school district and referred me to two officials from the Mitchell School District. Neither responded to my follow-up inquiry spelling out estimated payments retained by the Mitchell School District in the 2020-2021 school year..
Whether or not my calculations are on the money, is the Mitchell School District using Oregon’s charter schools law as a cash cow to generate revenue for minimal effort?
Are the estimated 2020-2021 revenue numbers typical of annual payments retained by the Mitchell School District?
Does this put conservatives who oppose reckless government spending, but support school choice, in a quandary?
Are the district, the virtual charter schools and K12 in a parasitic relationship, each feeding off the other and Oregon taxpayers?
Is the funneling of so many taxpayer dollars to public school districts sponsoring virtual charter schools what the legislature intended with the charter school law?
For that matter, is it acceptable that the Oregon Department of Education, which dispenses millions of taxpayer dollars to school districts sponsoring virtual public charter schools, can’t, or won’t, tell the public precisely how much money it is sending to the sponsoring districts, how much those districts are keeping for themselves and how much they are sending on to the charter schools? Is that responsible governance?
The time has come for oversight that ensures public money is meeting its public purpose.
And then, of course, there’s the question of whether the taxpayer-supported virtual public charter schools are a public good in any case.
A June 2023 analysis from the US Census Bureau linked statewide education records from Oregon with earnings information from IRS records housed at the U.S. Census Bureau to provide evidence on how virtual charter students fare as young adults. “Virtual charter students have substantially worse high school graduation rates, college enrollment rates, bachelor’s degree attainment, employment rates, and earnings than students in traditional public schools,” the study concluded. “Although there is growing demand for virtual charter schools, our results suggest that students who enroll in virtual charters may face negative long-term consequences.”
BACKGROUND
Insight School of Oregon
Insight opened its doors in Oregon in 2012 as Insight School of Oregon Charter Option sponsored by the Crook County School District in Central Oregon. To operate the school, its board contracted with K12, Virtual Schools LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of publicly traded for-profit K12 Inc. (LRN:NYSE] ). Insight’s Oregon headquarters was located in a nondescript one-story office building at 603 NW. 3rd St. in Prineville.
In its first three years, Insight’s K-12 enrollment grew to more than 500 students from around the state.
But all was not well.
K12 Inc. argued that. its education program was “proven effective,” but the numbers told a different story to the Crook County School District. Even though the district netted $231,592 in the first year of its contract with Insight and $436,554 in the second, it began to have serious reservations about continuing the relationship.
In Nov. 2014, the Crook County School District sent a blistering letter to Insight expressing grave concerns about the school’s operations and academic performance. School Superintendent Dr. Duane Yecha and school board Chair Doug Smith told the school they had major concerns about Insight’s: inadequate tracking of student attendance and enrollment; academic achievement; poor test participation; low four-year graduation rate (16.18 percent in 2013-2014); and failure to meet financial requirements stipulated in the district’s contract with Insight.
“…these issues have given the district reason to consider whether Insight is able to meet its ongoing obligations under the Charter Agreement and under ORS Chapter 338,” the letter said.
In 2015, even though the district was set to net $480,710 from its sponsorship of Insight in the 2014 – 2015 school year, it decided not to renew the sponsorship.
So Insight went shopping.
It quickly found a new partner, signing a sponsorship contract with the Mitchell School District 55 on April 29, 2015. The district had just one school serving a few local kids, some teens from around Oregon and a few international high students from Germany, Thailand, and Hong Kong. The international and regional students all lived in a school dormitory at the school.
With a new sponsor in hand, Insight changed to a grade 7-12 school and renamed itself Insight School of Oregon – Painted Hills.
Another change was the financial arrangements. Under its contract with the Crook County School District, Insight had agreed to the district keeping 5 percent of the State School Fund money it received for Insight students in grades 9-12 and 20 percent of what it received for kindergarten-8 students. Under the new contract with the Mitchell School District, the district agreed to keep just 10 percent of the total State School Fund money.
Destinations Career Academy of Oregon
Destinations Career Academy of Oregon, a full-time online public charter school authorized by the Mitchell School District, began its inaugural school year on September 4, 2018. It initially served students in grades 9-11, expanding to offer 12th grade for the 2019-20 academic year.
As part of the Oregon public school system, Destinations Career Academy is tuition-free, providing parents and families the choice to access the curriculum provided by K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN) a provider of K-12 proprietary curriculum and online education programs.
Cascade Virtual Academy
Cascade Virtual Academy, a full-time online public charter school, began its inaugural school year sponsored by the Mitchell School District on September 4, 2018, offering a tuition-free to option students statewide in kindergarten through eighth grade.
Confusingly, there is also a Cascade Virtual Academy based in Aumsville, Oregon that provides a comprehensive online education for students in grades six through 12 who live within Cascade School District #5. The district , which operates six schools, serves approximately 2,500 students living in Aumsville, Turner, and Marion, Oregon.
The Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle.,WA still displays Harry Potter memorabilia , but it has removed J.K. Rowling’s name from its Harry Potter exhibition.
Chris Moore, MoPOP’s exhibitions manager, justified the museum’s action in a 1,400-word blog post titled “She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named”.
“There’s a certain cold, heartless, joy-sucking entity in the world of Harry Potter,” Moore’s diatribe against Rowling began. “Her transphobic viewpoints are front and center these days, but we can’t forget all the other ways that she’s problematic: the support of antisemitic creators, the racial stereotypes that she used while creating characters, the incredibly white wizarding world, the fat shaming, the lack of LGBTQIA+ representation, the super-chill outlook on the bigotry and othering of those that don’t fit into the standard wizarding world, and so much more,” he continued.
On Aug. 6, 2023, MoPOP’s CEO, Michele Y. Smith, appointed in March 2023, said in a news release that the post was “a collective statement” and that “MoPOP has a commitment to diversity and inclusion leveraging the power of arts to drive social change.”
Rowling has been subjected to criticism for what some have called transphobic remarks. In June 2020, she drew outrage when she criticized an opinion piece published by a website that used the phrase “ people who menstruate.” “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people,” Rowling tweeted. “Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”
She continued with comments about the concept of biological sex. “If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction,” she tweeted. “If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.”
On Aug. 6, actor James Dreyfus defended Rowling in an item he wrote for Spiked, a U.K. publication. “Here we go again,” he wrote. “Another institution, brimming with self-righteous faux outrage, is trying to airbrush JK Rowling’s name out of history, Once again, Rowling’s reasonable and rational defence of women’s sex-based rights is being presented disingenuously as ‘hateful’ or ‘harmful’ towards transgender people, and therefore deserving of cancellation.”
Would Josh Flagg and Tracy Tutor, cast members on the Bravo reality real estate show Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles, try to con you?
They are both highlighted as “Brand Ambassadors” of Elite 100 Agents, which claims to spotlight the top 1% of U.S. real estate agents. “Agents designated as Elite 100 members are part of a national network of the very best,” says Tutor in a promotional video for the outfit.
The problem? Elite 100 Agents is a scam.
The private organization is run by a fellow named James Espinosa out of Suite 900 at 66 West Flagler Street in Miami.
But don’t go there expecting to be ushered into Elite 100 Agents’ office with a clean, modern aesthetic that communicates success. Suite 900 is just a virtual office with live receptionist services and professional lobby greeters,something you can put on a business card.
Elite 100 Agents isn’t even registered as a business by the Florida Department of State’s Division of Corporations, something even online businesses are required to do.
“Elite 100 Agents Membership shall be limited to only 100 agents/brokers in any given geographic real estate market as per U.S. Provisional Patent #63/386,256,”the Elite 100 Agents website says. “All agents recognized as Elite 100 Agents are highly rated when measured against industry standards, including key factors such as reviews, sales and reputation for excellence.”
An email to James Espinosa requesting a copy of U.S. Provisional Patent #63/386,256 went unanswered.
So what’s required to become an esteemed member of Elite 100 Agents? A resume documenting a candidate’s academic background and real estate prowess, letters of reference, sales records, a listing of awards?
Nope.
Just pay $475 for a “Basic” membership or $675 for “Platinum” membership (“Most Popular” the site says.). Individual, group and even entire company memberships are available. There, that was easy, wasn’t it.
Basic members are promised a Personalized Plaque, a Directory Listing, access to a Discount Program, use of the Elite 100 Agents logo and their Name & Photo in The New York Times.
Platinum members are promised a Personalized Plaque, a Personalized Crystal, a Directory Listing, access to a Discount Program, use of the Elite 100 Agents logo and their Name & Photo in The New York Times.
An Elite 100 Agents Crystal
New York Times advertisement
Bonnie Heatzig, a sales associate with Douglas Elliman in Boca Raton, Fl, was so excited to be featured in a Elite 100 Agents ad in the New York Times that she posted on her LinkedIn account, “ I am elated to share I’ve been featured in The New York Times. Last Sunday, the The New York Times highlighted this year’s Elite 100 Agents. Congratulations to everyone that made the Elite 100 Agents list this year! I’d like to express my sincere gratitude to all of my clients that have trusted my expertise with their luxury real estate needs over the years.”
The Elite 100 Agents website currently lists 271 members. If they all paid $675 for the “most popular” Platinum membership, Espinosa may have already pulled in $182,925. Let’s hope the haul stops there.
But it probably won’t. These online scams just seem to proliferate like kudzu. A similar online outfit, Lawyers of Distinction, for example, claims to highlight elite attorneys, but is just a pay-to-play operation. It appears to have succeeded, however, in luring over 5,000 lawyers to pony up $475 – $775 for membership. (An expose of Lawyers of Distinction can be found here: Lawyers of Distinction: The Fraud That Won’t Die)
“There’s a sucker born every minute,” is a phrase often attributed to American showman P. T. Barnum, but it’s likely few real estate professionals have actually been duped by Elite 100 Agents, lured into believing they’ve been selected for a rare honor based on their accomplishments, when all they had to do was pay a fee.
But I wouldn’t be surprised if there aren’t clients who’ve been purposefully misled by the deception. There’s the rub.
After multiple exposures as a fraud, Lawyers of Distinction, a Florida-based business, continues to grow its membership and confidently promote itself in national publications such as The New York Times.
It’s latest promotion? A prominent ad in the Sunday, August 6, 2023 edition of The New York Times, reproduced here so you can read the names of the newest members who apparently want to embellish their credentials by deceiving the public.
Nine of the members saluted in the ad are from Oregon. Lawyers of Distinction claims to have a total of 34 members from the state. “Reach Out for Representation You Can Trust,” says Kali Yost, one of the Oregon members, on her website, which features the Lawyers of Distinction 2023 logo.
Impressed? Don’t be.
About all that’s required to be named a “Lawyer of Distinction” is to apply yourself or be nominated, fill out some online forms and pay a fee.
According to the Orlando, FL-based organization’s website, a Charter Membership, for $475 a year, comes with a “Customized 14″ x 11″ genuine rosewood plaque”. A Featured Membership, for $575 a year, brings the plaque and inclusion in a membership roster published in USA Today, The New York Times, The American Lawyer and the National Law Journal.
Then there’sthe Distinguished Membership, for $775 per year (described on the organization’s website as “Most Popular”), which brings the rosewood plaque, the membership roster ads and an 11″tall translucent personalized crystal statue.
Lawyers of Distinction, incorporated in 2014, is like diploma mills, outfits that claim to be higher education institutions, but only provide illegitimate academic degrees and diplomas for a fee.
The Lawyers of Distinction website describes the application review process as follows:
“Lawyers of Distinction Members have been selected based upon a review and vetting process by our Selection Committee utilizing U.S. Provisional Patent # 62/743,254. The platform generates a numerical score of 1 to 5 for each of the 12 enumerated factors which are meant to recognize the applicant’s achievements and peer recognition. Members are then subiect to a final review for ethical violations within the past ten years before confirmation of Membership. Nomination does not guarantee membership and attorneys may not pay a fee to be nominated. Attorneys may nominate their peers whom they feel warrant consideration. The determination of whether an attorney qualifies for Membership is based upon the aforementioned proprietary analysis discussed above. Membership is not meant to infer any endorsement of Lawyers of Distinction by any of the 50 United States Bar Associations or The District of Columbia Bar Association. Any references to “excellent,” “excellence,” or “distinguished” are meant to refer to the Lawyers of Distinction organization only and not to any named member individually.”
Phew! Sounds complex and rigorous.
Don’t believe it.
It’s just pay-for-play. It’s selling badges. It’s paying for meaningless accolades. Apply, pay the annual membership fee and you’re in.
According to the Florida Division of Corporations, “Lawyers of Distinction Inc.” is a private for-profit company with a principal address of 4700 Millenia Boulevard, Suite 175, Orlando, FL 32839.
Robert B. Baker, at the same address, is listed as the President in the company’s 2023 Annual Report.
Robert Baker
But don’t go to the office address expecting to be ushered into a space with a clean, modern aesthetic that communicates success. The address is only a virtual office. The site offers a “Platinum Plan” for $69 a month and a “Platinum Plan with live receptionist” for $194 a month.
Robert “Robbie” Brian Baker, a member of the Florida Bar (Bar #992460), is also the founder and owner of Baker Legal Team at 2255 Glades Rd., Ste 330-W, Boca Raton, FL 33431. According to the Baker Legal Team website, he has a degree from Boston University School of Law in 1989 and a B.A. from Ithaca College. He began his career, the website says, as a prosecutor working as an Assistant District Attorney in Kings County, New York.
As an aside, the firm’s website has the chutzpah to highlight that it’s a member of Lawyers of Distinction.
Lawyers of Distinction’s website says it currently has over 5000 members. If 5000 lawyers sign up for the Distinguished category at $775 this year, the organization will rake in $3.9 million. Quite a haul.
Lawyers of Distinction used to try to quell doubts about its legitimacy by including on its website a section headed, “Is Lawyers of Distinction A Scam? With Over 5000 Members, See What Lawyers Have To Say.” All the section contained was a few member comments and ratings, such as, “Andre L. Pennington – June 20, 2022, I love the opportunities that this honor provides. I highly recommend!” Now the link just takes you to a page that says, “Lawyers of Distinction currently has over 5000 members in the United States. The best way to hear about someone’s actual experience with a company is to receive information from an actual user, not a 3rd party.”
It’s likely that few attorneys have been duped by Lawyers of Distinction, lured into believing they’ve been selected for a rare honor based on their legal work. They must figure that impressing potential clients is worth the mendacity and deception.
But the widespread use of Lawyers of Distinction by attorneys really just represents the decay of honest professional representation. If the American Bar Association and state bar associations really cared about lawyers’ clients they would be cracking down on such misleading marketing ploys. If the publications that run the outfit’s ads, such as The New York Times, gave a whit about truth in advertising, they’d decline to run its ads, too.
And if an attorney ballyhoos their selection as a Lawyer of Distinction to you, beware. They already have one strike against them and are living in a world of unearned praise.
ThinkingOregon 
