A Salem-Keizer School Board meeting Tuesday will be mostly discussion as the board reviews the district’s latest financial reports and a summary of feedback gathered during community forums amid a year of budget cuts.
To participate
The Salem-Keizer School Board meets Tuesday, Jan. 9, in the boardroom at the former Student Services Support Center, 2575 Commercial Street S.E. The public meeting begins at 6 p.m. The board will meet in executive session at 4:30 p.m. to discuss labor negotiations. Executive session meetings are closed to the public.
Members of the public may sign up in advance to provide written, in-person or virtual public comment. People can sign up using this form.
Public comment sign-ups close at 3 p.m. the Monday before the meeting.
The meeting will be streamed on CC:Media, channel 21, and on YouTube at the links below.
The school board will hear a report on the feedback gathered during a series of fall community conversations that Superintendent Andrea Castañeda convened to guide decision-making during a year of budget cuts.
The forums included a presentation from school board directors and Castañeda, followed by small group conversations where students, parents and other attendees discussed what aspects of their schools they valued most, and what they believed contributed to student success. Notes from those discussions were analyzed by the Willamette Education Service District for major themes.
Board members will also hear a report from Castañeda on Salem-Keizer School District operations and receive a quarterly financial report, which says that cost-cutting measures implemented at the start of the school year are beginning to have an effect.
District budgeters now expect Salem-Keizer to have $19.7 million more at the end of the budget year, mostly due to not filling open positions this school year and changing the amount the district contributes to a fund to pay off pension debt.
That forecast is based on offers currently on the table to both employee unions. Mediation with district teachers and classified employees is ongoing.
The board’s agenda includes no decisions that will be voted on at the meeting aside from the standard monthly consent calendar approving new district hires and grant awards.
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.
