The 2019-20 Salem-Keizer School Board (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Salem-Keizer school board members will fill two vacancies on the district’s budget committee at their meeting Tuesday night, picking from among 15 people who have applied for the volunteer role. Committee members serve three year terms and review the superintendent’s proposed budget[Read More…]
Rachel Alexander
Thousands more Oregon kids can attend free preschool next fall
Preschool students play in a Salem-Keizer classroom at the East Salem Community Center on Oct. 22, 2019 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Oregon will spend millions of dollars to allow thousands more kids to attend preschool next fall, including tripling the size of a free program for middle-income families. The money could[Read More…]
Young Latino artists highlight school-to-prison pipeline in graffiti exhibition
Tony Villaneda touches up a painting in a graffiti art exhibit about the school-to-prison pipeline in the Bush Barn Annex on Nov. 7, 2019. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) The smell of spray paint hung thick in the air of the Bush Barn Annex Thursday evening as a half dozen teen artists[Read More…]
Unapologetic ska fan anchors 105.5 The Moon’s quirky sound
Darbie Versoza in the studio for her show on 105.5 The Moon (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) On air, Darbie Versoza introduces herself as “Darbie, your one friend who still listens to ska.” Her Tuesday show on The Moon, Salem’s homegrown indie radio station kicked off this week with OK Go and[Read More…]
Tell Salem-Keizer how you’d spend $35 million on local students
Jared Vergara Santana, left, Evelyn Francis, right, Iris Johnson, right back and Lillyana Green, back left, write during class at Hoover Elementary School. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Want a say in how $35 million is spent in local schools? Salem-Keizer School District leaders are looking to hear from citizens about how[Read More…]
West Salem robotics teacher wins presidential award
West Salem robotics and computer science teacher Greg Smith was honored with a 2019 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) There’s not much lecturing in Greg Smith’s class. Within the first 15 minutes, students are set loose to experiment with programming robots to pick[Read More…]
At Hoover Elementary, fourth-grade students launch all-digital newspaper
Jared Vergara Santana writes down research questions for his newspaper article in the Hoover Elementary School library on Oct. 29, 2019 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) A dozen fourth-grade students at Hoover Elementary School bent over papers, brainstorming questions they wanted to research for future news articles. They’re the youngest journalists in[Read More…]
AGENDA: Hear the latest on Salem-Keizer school construction
Project coordinator Joe Bonanno shows a new career and technical education addition under construction on the south side of North Salem High School (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Want to learn more about how Salem-Keizer school officials are spending hundreds of millions on construction projects? A citizen committee tasked with overseeing the[Read More…]
With more state money on the horizon, some push for art in local schools
Third-grade student Levi Black cuts out a shape during an art lesson at Salem Heights Elementary School on Oct. 18, 2019 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Third-grade students in a Salem Heights Elementary classroom listened eagerly as Laura Mack explained their task. After discussing the feelings evoked by different colors, the students[Read More…]
Superintendent says Salem-Keizer bus driver shortage “catastrophic”
School buses parked in the Salem-Keizer School District lot on Hawthorne Avenue (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Bus driver shortages are a common problem across school districts, but Salem-Keizer’s has gotten bad enough that the district soon may not be able to get some students to school. The transportation department is about[Read More…]