Salem Transitional Care (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Employees at a Salem nursing home hit hard by the coronavirus re-used protective masks and didn’t sanitize or change protective equipment in between sick patients and those not yet tested for COVID-19, according to a report by the Oregon Department of Human Services. Salem Transitional Care,[Read More…]
Rachel Alexander
In bid to protect workers, Oregon ag department hands out free masks, sanitizer
Audrey Comerford loads a box of masks into Ethan Smith’s pickup. Smith was picking up masks for B&D Farms, of St. Paul. Oregon State University extension employees and the Oregon National Guard distributed masks and hand sanitizer to farmworkers and agricultural producers on Wednesday, May 27 at the Oregon State[Read More…]
Chemeketa lays off part-time workers, offers retirement incentives to cut costs
Chemeketa Community College on Thursday, April 16. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Chemeketa Community College has laid off 250 part-time and student workers and is offering retirement incentives to others to trim spending for the coming year. More steps will likely be needed to balance the college’s budget for the 2020-21 because[Read More…]
Salem library starts pilot curbside pickup program for holds placed during pandemic
Shelves at the Salem Public Library’s Broadway Street location on Feb. 18. (Saphara Harrell/Salem Reporter) Salem bookworms running out of reading material are in luck. The Salem Public Library, which has been closed since March 16, is now offering curbside pickup by appointment for holds placed before or during the[Read More…]
Salem-Keizer budget committee considers $1.5 billion budget with COVID impacts still unknown
The Salem-Keizer budget committee in a May 19, 2020 meeting. Salem-Keizer’s budget committee will vote Tuesday night on a $1.5 billion district budget that represents an unlikely best-case scenario for Oregon’s second-largest school district in the coming year. The 233 page document, drafted before the coronavirus pandemic blew a hole[Read More…]
As they reopen, Marion, Polk counties short on some state benchmarks for COVID-19
New Oregon Health Authority benchmarks show where local counties are performing well and falling short in stopping the spread of COVID-19. (Screenshot from Oregon Health Authority dashboard) Marion and Polk counties are failing to meet some state benchmarks used to track the severity of COVID-19 outbreaks, even as communities in[Read More…]
Willamette University lays off 37 employees, furloughs 80
Two people walk through Willamette University on May 15. 2020. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Willamette University is furloughing 80 employees for two months and laying off 37 workers in the latest move to balance the budget amid revenue hits from event cancellations and dorm closures. The university’s Board of Trustees approved[Read More…]
In effort to help students with trauma, Houck Middle School will have new administration
Principals Suzanne Leonard, left, Julia DeWitt and Andrew Schiefer will take over new Salem-Keizer middle schools in the fall of 2020 (Courtesy/Salem-Keizer School District) Houck Middle School will have a new administration in the fall, part of a district effort to shift the school’s focus to helping students struggling with[Read More…]
McKay English teacher wins Willamette region’s Teacher of the Year award
McKay High School teacher Larkin Foley (Courtesy/Salem-Keizer School District) As a college senior at Willamette University, Larkin Foley got a chance to tutor local high school students. She was at the whiteboard, writing out an algebra problem for a small group. As the math started making sense to them, Foley[Read More…]
Thousands of Salem-Keizer educators will be furloughed to help balance budget
Highland Elementary 2nd grade teacher Becky Montgomery works with a student during a computer math exercise Wednesday March 13, 2019. (Fred Joe/Special to Salem Reporter) This article was updated on May 20 following a school board vote. Thousands of local school employees will be furloughed one day per week starting[Read More…]