Local families feel that school leaders are failing to provide proper oversight of student safety, and need to intervene earlier, according to findings from a recent focus group.

Around eight families, in a focus group, told school officials and the Salem-Keizer NAACP about how bullying, threats, gang activity and racial bias put their children in danger or at risk of being harmed.

Those results are behind a push by directors on the Salem-Keizer School Board to strengthen safety policies and more transparently report on bullying, threats and racial bias incidents.

School board director Satya Chandragiri shared his proposed changes to school policy with the local NAACP chapter, which then hosted the May 29 focus group that brought participants together, which included Black and Pacific Islander families. 

Chandragiri, who sat in on the group, described listening to the families’ testimony as traumatic. 

“Then I thought to myself, if I feel this way, I can at least go and sit and type a policy and work on making some change. What about those families? What about those children? They are living in utter terror and totally powerless,” he said.

Chandragiri, with support from board directors Krissy Hudson and Jennifer Parker, is asking the school district to review its current standards for reporting safety incidents and look for ways to improve transparency and prevention efforts.

School district policy currently requires investigation into reports of bias or harassment, and requires that those involved are given an update about the investigation and any changes made to prevent future incidents.

“In Salem-Keizer Public Schools, everyone has the right to be safe, respected and welcome in our schools,” Superintendent Andrea Castañeda said in an email statement. “We are always open to changes that improve our school system, are aligned with data, clear in their purpose and aligned to best practices.”

In the focus group, some families said they weren’t notified quickly about serious incidents involving their children, or didn’t get clear follow-ups afterward, according to a presentation of findings Chandragiri provided.

“Some families described the process as structured in ways that wear people down,” the presentation said, referring to testimony from some parents who had to “learn policy on their own” to get their complaints to the district acknowledged.

An online petition supporting the proposed policy and recommendations has 236 signatures as of Monday afternoon. Another roughly 200 people have signed on print versions of the petition, Chandragiri said.

On Tuesday, the board will discuss the presented information and suggestions rather than vote on new policy, but “it begins a process that will result in thoughtful changes,” Castañeda said.

At the school board’s meeting Tuesday, June 9, directors will present findings from the focus group, along with data from the Oregon Department of Education showing that Salem-Keizer students experience the highest rate of suspensions and expulsions statewide.

In the 2024-25 school year, the district, which has over 38,000 students, saw 65 students expelled and 4,878 suspensions, data from the presentation shows.

Chandragiri said that seeing “back-to-back” cases of appeals from students who were expelled or suspended from school was the final thing that pushed him to suggest changing district safety policies.

Since his election to the school board in 2019, Chandragiri said he has not seen sufficient data reported on students experiencing bullying, mental health issues, fights or other safety concerns. 

After years of hearing concerns from the community about student lives lost and changed by violence in schools, Chandragiri said he started to look for the data himself to help speak to what families were experiencing.

“So I started questioning this. What is happening? How do we know our children’s civil rights are not violated?” he said.

Increasing data transparency is a large part of Chandragiri’s push to change school policies, he said. He said he wants the community to be able to hold the school board responsible, and for the board to hold the district responsible.

A drafted policy he plans to bring to the board would require quarterly reports on serious safety threats or incidents, public reports on school safety and using data to identify higher-risk students or situations.

The policy also calls for quicker communication with families when students face expulsion or suspension and reinforcing harm prevention measures, especially in protecting students from community violence risks like gangs.

Although local law enforcement overlaps with issues of student safety and harassment, the policy is clear in maintaining a separation from enforcement agencies when addressing disciplinary issues in schools.

“(Chandragiri) and I have discussed several changes in district and board policies related to safety,” Castañeda said. “I am confident that with time to work together, we can strike the right balance between policy revision and practice improvements.”

Contact reporter Madeleine Moore: [email protected].

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