Vinny Olivas, center, protests outside a Salem-Keizer School District building with other members of Latinos Unidos Siempre after walking out of a student task force meeting on Sept. 25 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Three months have passed since Christy Perry, superintendent of the Salem-Keizer School District, pledged to reassess the use[Read More…]

James Gough, an incoming kindergartner at Kalapuya Elementary School, laughs after making a mistake on an assessment test to gauge his alphabet comprehension on Thursday, September 17. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) The twenty-one students in Emma Kubishta’s kindergarten class started with the basics: a capital letter “A.” They watched on their[Read More…]

\ In 2016, Heidi Sipe faced a challenging year as superintendent of the Umatilla School District. She was dealing with changes on the local school board and among staff and seeking advice for how to run her eastern Oregon district. Christy Perry, superintendent of Salem-Keizer Public Schools, was always willing[Read More…]

An empty classroom at Stevens Middle School on Aug. 18, 2020 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Salem-area residents are split on whether it’s a good idea for students to return to classrooms this fall, according to a Salem Reporter survey, but most reported concerns about the academic and emotional well-being of their[Read More…]

The South Salem High School office in Sept. 1, 2020 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) When Alex Goldberg showed up at South Salem High School Monday to get a new Chromebook for her daughter, she found a line of students waiting outside in smoky air. It was around 3 p.m., and Goldberg[Read More…]

First grade teacher Jenna Miller hands a math workbook to Nikolas Buczynski at Kalapuya Elementary School on Thursday, September 3. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) All Salem-Keizer School District students will start classes next Thursday, Sept. 17 after multiple schools had to cancel events preparing for the new school year because of[Read More…]

Piper Miller, 6, picks up school materials during a drive-in event at Kalapuya Elementary on Thursday, September 3. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Salem schools are getting ready for an online start to school with drive-by events where students can return library books, pick up needed supplies, meet teachers and dig through[Read More…]

Shari Dixon, student data specialist at McKay High School, works through the intricacies of class scheduling at her desk on Thursday, September 3. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Sam Mendez says building a high school schedule is like a game of Jenga: you move one block and hope it doesn’t bring the[Read More…]

Incoming kindergartner Emory Truehitt stops by Kalapuya Elementary school to pick up materials for online classes on Thursday, September 3. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Emory Truehitt grinned, revealing a mouth of mostly missing front teeth, as he flipped through his math workbook. The kindergartener was sitting in the back seat of[Read More…]

Annie DePiero inspects the library in her new classroom at South Salem High School on Sept. 1, 2020 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) When teacher Annie DePiero walked into her classroom this week, she said it felt “like a time capsule.” She hadn’t set foot in South Salem High School since mid-March,[Read More…]