When I moved to the neighborhood a year ago, I knew there was a school just around the corner, but I didn’t give it much thought until the first warm Saturday morning when waves of enthusiastic cheering washed through the open windows. Ah, I thought, it must be the middle school. Soon, joining this weekly serenade was the lunchtime concert of the marching band parading through the streets as they polished their steps and tunes. Proximity alone revealed two key facts about Beaumont Middle School: it is deeply embedded in the community and music is essential to the school’s identity.
Despite the relentless budget cuts that all Oregon public schools are facing, Beaumont employs a full-time music teacher. Principal Harriette Jackson Vimegnon takes pride in the fact that the school offers beginning, intermediate, and advanced band, insuring that students at all levels are able to participate. Students who persevere through the first two years can join the marching band in the 8th grade. In addition to the band, there are two jazz ensembles: the Jazz Academy, which any student can join, and the Ambassadors, for which one must audition. These programs require a high level of commitment from the students. Most students take jazz or band for three years, with a one-hour class every day. In addition, the jazz band practices two hours per week before school in the mornings—a notable commitment both for the students and their parents who get them there for practice. The result is more than just a brief exposure to music for the students, but a real immersion experience for those who are interested.
About half of the students at Beaumont M.S. participate in one of the bands. “It helps to create a community of students who love music,” said Ms. Vimegnon. “They perform at school assemblies and other programs, and it gets the parents involved with the school.” Members of BWNA who attended the Taste of Beaumont meeting on April 10 got to see and hear for themselves the remarkable accomplishment of the young musicians of the Jazz Ambassadors and their band director, Cynthia Plank (pictured above), when they performed before the meeting. The audience responded enthusiastically to every number, impressed by the musicality, discipline, and professionalism Ms. Plank elicited from her 7th- and 8th- grade performers.
The 594 6th, 7th, and 8th graders at Beaumont M.S. are drawn from Alameda and Rigler elementary schools. The student body is 10.7% African American, 2.6% Asian, 21.7% Hispanic, 1.2% Native American, 0.4% Pacific Islander, 56.0% white, and 7.4% multiple races. But the diversity goes beyond ethnic. Beaumont draws students from a broad economic spectrum, and this also contributes to the heterogeneity of the Beaumont M.S. community. Relying largely on the generosity of the families of Beaumont students, the school runs a clothing closet and a food bank for kids who need assistance. At Thanksgiving and over the holidays, the food bank goes beyond non-perishables to taking and distributing fresh food for families who may not otherwise have enough for a festive meal. A neighborhood women’s organization called Tuesday Mornings donates Fred Meyer gift cards to the school, which in turn gives them to families in need. Cash donations to the school can enable them to provide more gift certificates, which are the most flexible gift for families.
Additionally, there’s an assistance program targeted more specifically at encouraging students to “do the right things,” Ms. Vimegnon said. She has been working to engage Beaumont-Wilshire businesses in this effort. One coup they scored this year will be hard to beat: a generous benefactor donated season tickets to the Blazers home games—two tickets per game—which lucky deserving students won by upping their own game as students. Movie tickets are also coveted awards. BWNA did its part as well by setting aside a few Taste of Beaumont door prizes for donation to the program.
The community that is Beaumont M.S. extends beyond academics and school hours to provide students with a range of opportunities to learn new skills and have fun via the SUN (Schools Uniting Neighborhoods) Community School Extended Day Program. Run by Sue Coffman, under the auspices of Portland Parks and Recreation, SUN is a program for academic support, enrichment, arts, and recreation. The offerings include a before school study club, a “Books & Bagels” reading group, a Latino Network, and a chess and board game club. The Portland Police Bureau offers a course called “Girls’ Strength, Training in Self-Defense Options,” where girls can learn verbal and physical self-dense skills. There’s a business club, an improv/theater club, a range of sports and recreational clubs, including belly dancing, and many other offerings.
Visiting Beaumont M.S., I couldn’t help but think how much school had changed since I was a kid. The programs offered reveal a mindset of doing whatever it takes to keep kids from falling through the cracks. The school strives to be a much more comprehensive presence in the lives of its students than schools had to be when I was young. I don’t imagine that any of this comes easily, especially as the school must relentlessly raise money for things as routine as school supplies and as vital as staffing, which is on the block again next year due to state budget cuts.
There are many ways to get involved in this lively school community. Contact Harriette Vimegnon at vimegnon@pps.net and volunteer!