This article was updated Thursday, Nov. 3 after two additional candidates were added to the board packet. District spokesman Aaron Harada said the two mailed-in applications had gotten lost in the district’s internal mail system.
A retired elementary school principal, the Oregon official responsible for teacher licensing and multiple district parents are among the 10 Keizer residents vying to be the next representative on the Salem-Keizer School Board.
The seat representing zone 6 is open after Danielle Bethell’s surprise resignation from her seat last month. School board directors serve as unpaid volunteers and are responsible for passing a district budget and overseeing the operations of Oregon’s second-largest district.
The current board will also have the task of hiring the next superintendent for the district after Superintendent Christy Perry announced she’ll retire at the end of the year.
The school board will interview applicants for the open seat at a special meeting Nov. 3 at noon before hearing public comment and filling the seat at their regular Nov. 8 meeting.
The board’s agenda packet includes applications and resumes for those who submitted them.
Everyone who applied for the seat and met eligibility criteria is listed in the packet, district spokesman Aaron Harada confirmed. To be eligible, candidates must have lived in zone 6 for one year, be registered voters and cannot be a current employee of the district.
Whoever is appointed would serve the remainder of Bethell’s term, which expires at the end of June 2023.
The seat will next be up for election in May 2023, along with the seats for zone 2, northeast Salem, currently held by Marty Heyen, and zone 4, southwest Salem, currently held by Satya Chandragiri.
Members of the public can watch the interviews live using the links below:
English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUxqluI2U8M
Spanish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEryqVXDBRM
The board will take public comment on the candidates at their Nov. 8 meeting.
The 10 applicants for the seat are listed below in alphabetical order by last name.
Clifford “Bob” Bemrose
Bemrose is an application analyst at Legacy Health, according to his resume. He applied for the seat saying he wants to build trust, focus on passing a budget with programs to help all students succeed and hire a strong leader to be the district’s next superintendent.
“I believe public schools have an enormous impact on the lives of young people in our community, and in the long term have an outsized impact of well being in communities in general,” he wrote in his application.
Julianne Jackson
Jackson is the founder of Black Joy Oregon and a criminal justice reform advocate working for the Partnership for Safety and Justice. She is a parent and alumna of the district, she wrote, and wants to focus on listening to the community and making plans of action to address student safety, wellness and dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline.
“It is my belief that greater representation is needed for our marginalized community. We are seeing the result not only of covid but of nationwide extremism in our children and I want to do everything I can do to mitigate that harm and usher in a culture of collaboration between the community and the board,” she wrote.
Mark Lidtke
Lidtke is retired after 30 years teaching middle school in Woodburn and has five grandchildren in Salem-Keizer schools. He said school board members need to regularly talk with students, teachers, parents and other stakeholders to stay on top of what’s happening in schools.
“As a member of the Salem-Keizer School Board I will be diligent in insisting that all students are treated equally and respectfully and offered the same quality education throughout the district. To accomplish that, a priority for me would be to close the learning gap created by the covid crisis. It’s an immense and extensive problem, and as a district we need to recognize it as the emergency that it is,” he wrote.
Sue Myers
Myers is a retired educator who most recently taught at Sonshine Christian School, and was a classroom teacher at multiple district elementary and middle schools during her career. She said the board needs to ensure appropriate classrooms are available to students with behavioral or educational needs so education isn’t disrupted for all students, and make safety of students and staff a priority.
“Knowing some teachers and students in the district and hearing about the chaos that is occurring in some of the classrooms and schools, I would love to be a part of the solution to re-establish respect of those in authority and returning the emphasis of education in Salem-Keizer to be focused on academics and increased learning,” she wrote.
Rebeca Ramirez
Ramirez is a real estate agent with school-age children and said she would seek feedback from parents and use surveys to ensure their viewpoints are represented. Ramirez said her goals would include expanding the district’s dual language program and revamp the special education program.
“Communication is key. I am not involved in any poilical (sic) parties/groups. Attachment to any groups can cause bias. I am neutral and open minded and ready to listen to anyone/everyone,” she wrote.
Thais Rodick
Rodick is a senior marketing program manager at the Oregon Lottery and has two children attending Valley Inquiry Charter School. She said she’d focus on bringing parent perspectives to the table, being available to people in Keizer and ensuring the district has options for families including well-run schools and charters.
“As a governing board, we need to tune into the needs of our community – parents, teacher and students. I plan on making myself available to listen to our different schools in Keizer. As a governing board, we need to listen empathetically to understand, and ensure that decisions we make don’t inadvertently have a negative impact on our students,” she wrote.
Anthony Rosilez
Rosilez is the executive director of the Oregon Teacher Standards and Practices Commission, which licenses teachers, and previously ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination to represent state Senate District 11, finishing third in the May primary.
His application said he’d use his 25 years of experience in education, including time as a substitute teacher and superintendent, to provide “policy and oversight to district administrators and staff that maximizes the use of best practices in creating safe learning environments and a proven instructional program” and support dialogue and integrity on the board.
“With sound policy in place, the board can then focus on supporting the administration’s efforts to reach district goals, ensure fairness and equity, and make adjustments as needed to stay the course required for teaching to succeed over the long term,” he wrote.
Stephenie Russell
Russell is self-employed with Pacific Packaging Solutions, a Keizer-based packaging company. She said as a board member, she’d want to be aware of what students need to feel safe physically and emotionally at school and make sure they’re learning basic fundamentals.
“I would like to create a culture in our schools where students find purpose, continuity and have the tools to see their dreams come through,” she wrote.
Robert Salazar
Salazar is a retired educator who served as principal of Washington and Myers elementary schools. He said the interference of special interest groups on the board have caused disruption and made it difficult to focus on students, and said he’d like to work on collaboration to focus on positive outcomes.
“A school board can best thrive by addressing data from school and district administration. There are many facets of a large school district that require a school board to have accurate information to make decisions that are valid and not initiated by special interest groups,” he wrote.
Ross Ziesemer
Ziesemer is an advisor for the WorkLife program at Optum Services Inc., a health care company. He said he wants to represent students and their parents on the board and ensure students are given the tools to succeed academically and graduate prepared for life.
“A governing board must seek to ensure the best interest of students. This includes involving students’ parents who know better what is best for their children. This is accomplished by the school board working together to achieve the goals of students reaching the highest academic standards in the core educational subjects,” he wrote.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.
