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Salem-Keizer School District Superintendent Andrea Castañeda is on track to meet her public pledge to donate $30,000 from her salary toward local youth and school organizations.
Records obtained by Salem Reporter showed the money helped pay for student trips to Japan and New York City, a fund for school projects, $500 for a funeral fund for the family of the teen killed in the Bush Park shooting and hundreds of donuts for district educators.
Castañeda last November promised she would give the money over two school years from her $285,000 annual salary. Her pledge came during an initial round of budget cuts across the school district that ultimately resulted in more than 100 educators being laid off.
Top district executives, including Castañeda, have not taken cost-of-living increases this year.
Salem Reporter asked the superintendent for a list of donations made to date and verified donations of at least $500 with outside organizations. Every nonprofit that received at least $500 confirmed Castañeda’s donation, with the exception of farmworker union PCUN, which said it did not have donor data readily available.
Records show Castañeda donated $18,100 toward her pledge last school year, and $5,050 so far this school year. She has $6,850 remaining to donate by next July to meet her goal.
Here’s where the superintendent’s money went.
United Way – $11,000
Castañeda made two donations totaling $11,000 to United Way.
The bulk of that money is earmarked for the nonprofit’s school fund, which CEO Rhonda Wolf plans to open next fall.
Educators at local schools will be able to apply for money to take on projects, field trips and other extras that the school district wouldn’t normally fund. United Way began raising money for the fund following the closure of the Salem-Keizer Education Foundation in 2020. The foundation previously paid for similar programs.
Wolf said their goal is to open with about $100,000 available, and Castañeda’s contribution is a large share of what they’ve raised so far.
Other nonprofits – $5,450
Castañeda made donations to about a dozen other nonprofit organizations ranging from $100 to $1,000. Most serve children or families.
Major donations include $1,000 to the Boys and Girls Club, $1,000 to child abuse prevention nonprofit Liberty House, $500 to the Salem Leadership Foundation’s annual fundraiser and $500 to Woodburn-based farmworker union PCUN.
Other recipients include the Salem Retired Educators Association, the YouthEra Drop, the Music Lessons Project, Anahuac Farm, CASA of Marion County and Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency.
School and staff appreciation – $2,850
Castañeda estimated, conservatively, that she’s spent more than $1,000 on doughnuts over the past year.
At the start of last school year, she bought treats for staff at many schools. This year, she purchased them for bus drivers. Roth’s is her go-to, she said, because she likes their glazed cake doughnuts.
“I guess when you drill down on it, I have a preference around a good fritter,” she said, laughing.
Not all of those purchases are reflected on the sheet she provided Salem Reporter, but a share of her giving includes treats, gift cards or other recognition for educators and school district employees.
That includes $650 for Starbucks cards for principals last year, $300 for first day of school doughnuts this year, and a $700 table sponsorship at the Crystal Apple awards, which recognize outstanding local educators.
She said it’s part of her philosophy that small acts of recognition matter.
“Our fundamental job is to make the conditions for teaching and learning better and easier. But alongside that job is the opportunity to make people feel seen and recognized, and gifts and small gestures are just one way to make that connection while the harder work unfolds,” she said.
School programs – $2,050
Several high school programs and trips benefited from Castañeda’s contributions.
She gave $650 to the Future Farmers of America chapter at McKay High School.
North Salem High School students traveling to Japan got $400, and McKay’s Scotsappella group got $500 toward a trip to compete in a national acapella competition.
She also donated $250 to the Saxons Theater program at South Salem High School and made another $250 gift to programs at North.
“I have the opportunity periodically to meet groups of students that are doing amazing things, and they just need a little bit of additional support for their club, support for their program to be able to go to the next level. And we want all of our kids to have those amazing experiences, things that take them to New York or Japan,” she said. “It brings me enormous joy to contribute, in small ways, to the experiences they’re having through our schools.”
Individual donations – $1,800
Castañeda contributed $500 each to a teacher and the families of two students.
One of those was a donation to an online fundraiser for the family of Jose Vasquez Valenzuela, the 16-year-old South Salem High School student killed in a shooting in Bush’s Pasture Park in March.
She declined to provide specifics on the other donations, saying that sometimes a situation comes to her attention where someone needs some extra help.
She also contributed $300 toward two students participating in school music and theater programs.
What’s next
Castañeda said following her initial public pledge, she doesn’t intend to make a similar public commitment or announce donations.
That’s in part because she doesn’t want the focus to be on her or the district office, she said.
But she said she intends to continue making annual contributions to nonprofits like United Way and Liberty House, and keeping an eye out for other needs that arise.
“I look forward to more small opportunities to push fundraising over the edge,” she said.
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.
