Meet the candidates for Salem-Keizer School Board Zone 5

A majority of the Salem-Keizer School Board is up for election on May 20.

Salem Reporter interviewed each candidate about their background, priorities for the district and what motivated them to run.

Read all of our election coverage here.

A majority of the Salem-Keizer School Board is up for election on May 20.

Salem Reporter interviewed each candidate about their background, priorities for the district and what motivated them to run.

As has become standard in Salem, two ideologically opposed slates of school board candidates are running in the nonpartisan races.

Karina Guzmán Ortiz is endorsed by Community for Salem-Keizer Schools, a coalition of union and progressive groups including the Salem-Keizer teacher union and farmworker union PCUN. The group says it’s endorsing “experienced leaders who know that students thrive when they get the support they need to meet high expectations,” and who will focus on protecting public education.

Jason Kroker is supported by Marion + Polk First, a conservative political action committee involved in   school board and city council races. The group says its candidates focus on schools performing with “academic rigor, quality, and hands-on training” as well as bringing police back into local schools.

We asked each candidate about several major issues facing local schools that have come up in the race:

•Early literacy and academics: State tests last spring showed just 24% of district third-graders are proficient in English reading and writing. Reversing that decline has been a major focus for district administrators over the past year.

•Superintendent and district leadership: A major duty of the board is to manage Superintendent Andrea Castañeda, whose contract runs through 2028. Castañeda runs day-to-day district operations, including security measures.

•Safety and security: The 2021 decision by a former superintendent to remove police officers from schools remains a major point of division among candidates. Some would prioritize returning officers, even as the district and Salem police both face budget and hiring challenges. Schools continue to struggle with student behavioral problems which sometimes become violent.

•Equity and federal policy:The school district collects data about student performance that includes demographics, including race, income and disability, and designs programs to address challenges facing particular student groups. Such efforts are drawing federal scrutiny and funding threats as the Trump administration seeks to crack down on what it describes as “illegal diversity, equity and inclusion” programs.

Karina Guzmán Ortiz

Guzmán Ortiz is seeking a second term on the board after being elected in 2021. She served as board chair last school year as district leaders cut tens of millions of dollars from the budget and went through contentious negotiations with employee unions.

Guzmán Ortiz graduated from Roberts High School and was enrolled in the teen parent program. She earned her associate’s degree through her high school when her oldest child was in preschool.

“I’m running again because I care deeply about our schools. I care about our students, I care about our families and our educators, and I know that we are all an interconnected community that deserves quality schools for our students, so that we have those students graduating into our community and being leaders with us,” she said at a recent Salem Area Chamber of Commerce candidate forum.

Early literacy

Guzmán Ortiz said her proudest accomplishment on the board are the goals adopted in 2023 for improving the share of students who attend school regularly, read proficiently in third grade and other measures.

That provides the school board a clearer picture of what’s being done to improve student achievement.

When she came onto the board “it all was very outdated, and we didn’t have established metrics,” she said.

She said improving literacy is a priority, but will take time.

“It is super important, and we’re seeing some progress right on those internal measures,” she said. “We have to be pragmatic about the context that we’re in right and the resources and where students are, and so setting measures that are attainable and achievable for us.”

Guzmán Ortiz also said measuring reading only in English, as the state test does, misses students who read in Spanish.

Superintendent and school leadership

Guzmán Ortiz voted to renew Castañeda’s contract in March and supports the superintendent.

She said she wants the superintendent to continue conversations with educators and school leaders “to understand and see what the day to day looks like, and that the decisions that are being made at the administrative level have a direct connection and through line to the classroom.”

Safety and security

Guzmán Ortiz said providing mental health support for students in school is an important component of safety. Shecited her support for funding counselors and other behavioral and mental health jobs amid deep cuts.

“When kids feel isolated or when kids feel alone, we’re going to lose them and or they’re going to come into school and, you know, they might, in some cases, be unsafe for others,” she said.

She and other board members in recent years have pushed district administrators to consider revising policies on suspensions and expulsions to keep more students in school, she said. Those conversations have largely happened during expulsion hearings, which are closed to the public.

“We need to make sure that our students have a more progressive discipline approach,” she said. “We’re not saying let’s not discipline. But what we’re saying is we can’t default to exclusion.”

She supported Castañeda’s decision to place weapon detectors in high schools. She opposes returning police to schools and said the district’s existing unarmed security officers are a better investment. She said adding police would be “unnecessarily expensive.”

“We have safety and security teams that are building relationships with young people in schools who are there to greet them and to send them off on their way home, and who are trusted for our youth and youth respect them,” she said.

Equity and federal policy

Equity is a key part of the work schools do, Guzmán Ortiz said, and shouldn’t be a dirty word.

“Equity has been muddied up with partisan politics. And what it means to me is that as we’re looking at how our students are progressing. We’re not putting everyone in a single bucket,” she said. “We see schools in the northeast area, the demographics in that community are gonna be different than those out in far south, and student needs and experiences are going to be different. And so what it means for us as a district is that we respond to those family social needs and learning needs, and so that’s what equity is.”

Guzmán Ortiz supported board action affirming that the school district would not collect or share information on students’ immigration status. She supports the district continuing its equity-focused programs amid federal threats to stop funding public schools, noting those orders are facing ongoing court challenges.

Jason Kroker

Kroker graduated from North Salem High School and briefly worked there as a campus monitor while attending college. He’s an U.S. Air Force veteran and worked as an electrician in the military.

He said wants the  the board to refocus  the district on academics and safety, including returning police to schools.

He said declining school enrollment is a sign that fewer parents feel public school is a good option for them.

“I think a lot of parents are not too thrilled with a lot of things they see in the schools. And so I think we’re losing a lot of kids from the public schools to private to home school, and so, I’m here to see what we can do,” he said. “I have nothing against home school or private school … but I’m here because the majority of kids go to public schools, and I want to make sure we do everything to make the public schools the best they can be.”

Early literacy and academics

Kroker said he decided to run after attending his daughter’s parent-teacher conference at McNary High School.

“I saw things that I don’t think were necessarily beneficial,” he said. “I didn’t see a big focus on academics.”

Asked to elaborate, he said when he was in school there were offerings like shop and debate club with more of an academic focus that he didn’t see during his visit.

To improve early literacy, Kroker said the board should look at policies for holding back students who aren’t demonstrating proficiency, especially in reading.

“If we’re letting the kids go and move on to the next grade without really mastering that, especially when it comes to reading, I think if the kid is just kind of pushed through, then they’re just kind of set up for failure on down the line,” he said.

Superintendent and school leadership

Kroker said he didn’t become familiar with Castañeda until he decided to run for the board about four months ago. He described her as “personable” and a good speaker.

“I think there’s some things that we would disagree on. I think there’s some things we would agree on, but I wouldn’t give her an A,” he said. One of those, he said, is her decision not to return police to schools.

More broadly, Kroker said he wants to look at the size of the district’s overhead and administrator positions and said the district has too many positions that aren’t working directly in schools.

“I’m not about to go and just start cutting budgets everywhere, but I want to take a good look at everything,” he said.

Safety and security

Kroker said returning police to schools is a priority for him, that  their absence resulted in more shootings and violent crime.

“The proof is in the pudding. We see how much violent crime has increased. It’s not just a small percentage, it’s a large percentage. So safety is definitely something that I want to address,” he said.

Asked how the district would cover that added cost, Kroker said only that he would look for cuts “in various ways.” 

Equity and federal policy

Kroker said he hadn’t read the district’s equity policy so had no opinion. Generally said he wants to be neutral and treat everyone equally.

“I don’t really get into the equity thing or anything. I’m the kind of guy, I don’t care if someone’s black, white, pink with orange polka dots,” he said. “A person should be judged by their character, not the color of their skin.”

He said he didn’t see a role for the school board on immigration policy. The board in January affirmed the district would not collect information on immigration status or allow immigration agents into schools without judicial warrants.

“I see it as a talking point, like a feel good thing, but I don’t see how it really has any bearing on anything,” he said. “I don’t know what kind of information they would be able to provide anyways that ICE could use.”

Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.

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