Rachel Alexander
Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers education, economic development and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for over a decade and is a past president of Oregon's Society of Professional Journalists chapter. Outside of work, you can often find her gardening or with her nose buried in a book.
Salem high schoolers plan walkout, urge support for immigrant students
A student adviser to the Salem-Keizer School Board asked district leaders to support a proposed law requiring schools to notify families if immigration agents come onto campus.
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School board to consider selling empty Lake Labish, Fruitland school buildings
The Salem-Keizer School Board will be briefed Tuesday, Feb. 10, on three potential building sales, including the former Lake Labish and Fruitland schools and an administrative building near downtown that’s no longer needed.
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What Salem-area lawmakers are prioritizing for the 2026 session
Salem lawmakers want to regulate federal immigration officers, end the Cherriots’ board’s ability to levy taxes without a public vote and beef up the state’s emergency management system.
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What to know about the Salem-Keizer School District’s $23 million proposed budget cuts
District leaders plan to cut 120 teacher and classified jobs from local schools next school year as enrollment continues to decline, while also reducing main office and overhead costs like school bus and computer purchases.
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Hundreds of teachers zero in on reading during Salem trainings
Many Salem-Keizer School District teachers in a literacy training said their college education had done little to explain current research about how students learn to read.
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Salem-Keizer graduates 4 in 5 seniors from Class of 2025
Graduation rates in the Salem-Keizer School District have ticked slightly up and down in recent years, but reliably hover around 80%. New state data shows that’s true again for last year’s seniors, with 2,772 graduating.
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Elementary schools to close as teachers get 3 days of reading training
More than 1,000 educators in Salem and Keizer will get intensive training this week on topics including phonics instruction and the science behind how students learn to read.
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Salem schools will lose thousands of students over next 5 years
A new forecast suggests the Salem-Keizer School District will have just 32,000 students by 2030, driven by declining birthrates and more families using private and homeschool options.
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McKay mariachi teacher plans statewide festival, grows new music program
Cindy Flores is the first dedicated mariachi and Mexican music teacher in the Salem-Keizer School District, teaching about 140 students across three schools.
EDITOR’S NOTE: How we reported in depth on work in homeless camps
Reporters Madeleine Moore and Abbey McDonald spent hours in the field with workers from two city teams, one who spends their days working to move people out of homeless encampments and into shelters, and another who cleans up the garbage left behind. The result was an in-depth, revealing report on an issue that's often discussed but still poorly understood.
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