Salem-Keizer School Board to vote Tuesday on immigration resolution
Update, Wednesday, Jan. 15:
The Salem-Keizer School Board voted Tuesday in support of a resolution saying the district will not collect or share immigration information or cooperate with immigration authorities unless required by law. Five school board directors voted for the resolution, Satya Chandragiri abstained and Krissy Hudson was absent after leaving the meeting early. Read more about the vote here.
The board also voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize a sale of Hazel Green School to move forward.
Original story below:
The Salem-Keizer School Board will vote Tuesday on a resolution supporting a longstanding school district policy of not collecting information about students’ or families’ immigration status.
Board leaders and Superintendent Andrea Castañeda put forward a resolution and a statement of existing district policy on immigration enforcement in December due to questions school principals were getting about how the district would respond to a promised mass deportation effort from President-elect Donald Trump.
READ IT: Agenda for Jan. 14, 2025, school board meeting
“The Board finds that the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in District schools, on District property and on District transportation routes could disrupt the educational environment, cause trauma, and potentially interfere with constitutional rights to be free from unreasonable search and seizures,” the resolution said.
The resolution said any legal requests made for staff employment records, student educational records, school property access or staff or student removal “must be presented directly to the superintendent’s office. Adequate notice is required to ensure that the superintendent or designee can assess the request and consult legal counsel before any action is taken.”
School board directors briefly discussed the immigration resolution in December.
To participate
The Salem-Keizer School Board meets Tuesday, Jan. 13, at 6 p.m. in the boardroom at the former Student Services Support Center, 2575 Commercial St. S.E.
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. Monday. The meeting will be streamed on CC:Media, channel 21 or on YouTube in English and Spanish and interpreted live in American Sign Language.
Hazel Green school sale
The school board will also vote on a resolution that would allow the district to sell the former Hazel Green Elementary School to Valley Inquiry Charter School.
The school, located at 5774 Hazelgreen Rd. N.E., closed in 2011 during a round of budget cuts where the school district consolidated elementary schools. It was at the time one of the smallest elementary schools in the district.
Valley Inquiry, a K-5 charter school, has used the building since. The school has about 170 students.
The charter school doesn’t pay rent to the district under its charter agreement, which was last renewed in March 2021. The school does contract with the district for building costs including utilities and maintenance. The contract lists those costs for 2021 at $47,000 per year.
District leaders are interested in selling the property because of rising maintenance costs. The board will vote Tuesday on declaring the property “surplus,” the first step toward negotiating a sale. A sale agreement would be approved by the board at a later date.
If a sale is approved, the money would be deposited in a district fund to pay for capital projects.
Other items
- The school board will conduct a public hearing for the renewal of the Jane Goodall Environmental Middle School charter. The charter middle school has operated since 2000. The board is scheduled to consider a new charter contract in February and is required hold a hearing.
- The board will review the school district’s annual financial reports and audit.
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 education, economic development and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade and is a past president of Oregon's Society of Professional Journalists chapter. Outside of work, you can often find her gardening or with her nose buried in a book.
