Salem’s school system would add 240 full-time employees, lengthen the middle school day and spend more than $3 million to create more after school programs and eliminate fees to improve local education under a plan being advanced by Salem-Keizer School District administrators. District administrators will present their spending plan at[Read More…]
Rachel Alexander
New south Salem clinic aims to be neighborhood doctor’s office
Physician assistant Christine Rue, left, doctors Paula Spencer and Rashanda Brown, and physician assistant Alyssa Schmidt, front, are the staff of the new South Salem Primary Care clinic (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) When two of Salem’s largest medical providers merged last fall, a handful of local doctors decided on a change[Read More…]
After losing close friend to suicide, Willamette senior works to get young men to seek help
Willamette University senior Brendan McGonigle wants to encourage more young men to talk about mental health (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) When Brendan McGonigle was a freshman at Willamette University, he lost a childhood friend to suicide. The event spurred McGonigle, now a senior exercise and health science major, to do more[Read More…]
Salem-Keizer raising pay for bus drivers, transportation workers
School buses parked in the Salem-Keizer School District lot on Hawthorne Avenue (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Hoping to curb a persistent bus driver shortage, the Salem-Keizer School District is raising pay for drivers and other transportation workers. Starting bus drivers will now earn $17.47 hourly, up from a previous wage of[Read More…]
Here’s everything Salem-Keizer plans to do with an extra $35 million
Students get off the bus for the first day of school at Bush Elementary, Sept. 4, 2019. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Salem-Keizer administrators want to help thousands of kids do better in school with more than two dozen changes to district programs affecting everything from math class to yellow buses. The[Read More…]
McNary Font Club debuts original musical in quest to remove Comic Sans from school buses
Senior Julia DaSilva, playing Comic Sans, attacks sophomore Ian Madsen, playing Times New Roman, during a Font Club rehearsal (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) If you’re looking to surprise, confuse or engage in a strong debate about the much-maligned Comic Sans font with your Valentine’s Day date, the McNary High School Font[Read More…]
Better math curriculum, bilingual support and school counselors part of early plan for new school funding
Salem-Keizer administrators plan to revamp the school district’s programs for teaching English to non-native speakers, add more social workers and counselors in schools and improve middle and high school math programs as part of their plan for spending $35 million in new state funding expected in the fall. The public[Read More…]
School board to hear long-awaited plan for $35 million in new state funding
The 2019-20 Salem-Keizer School Board (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Salem-Keizer school board members and the public will get a first look Tuesday night at priorities for spending millions in new state money to close educational gaps in the district. Community volunteers Adriana Miranda, executive director of Causa, and Reginald Richardson, vice[Read More…]
Miller students get creative with art and history inspired field trip
David Wilson, gallery manager for the Salem Art Association, talks with Miller Elementary School fourth-graders about a painting by Salem artist John Oberdorf on a class field trip. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Laurie Hoverson’s fourth-grade students relish any chance to do art. But a Friday field trip to the Salem Art[Read More…]
Pacific Islander high schoolers mentor Auburn Elementary students with ukelele and dance
Eliandra Yatilman, a fourth grader at Auburn Elementary School, and Dale Dela Cruz, a North Salem High School senior, sing “Lava” at the Auburn Islander Club’s first family night on Feb. 6, 2020 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) When Kimo Lewis attended Auburn Elementary School, there were a lot of Pacific Islanders,[Read More…]