Jessica Brenden, Hallman Elementary principal, walks down a hallway with traffic flow arrows and dividers on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Kindergarten and first graders in Salem schools will resume in-person classes on March 2, with other elementary schools added in the coming weeks. That means about 4,400[Read More…]
SCHOOLS
Teachers prepare to welcome Salem’s youngest students back to classrooms
A bulletin board promoting masks and social distancing guidelines at Hallman Elementary on Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) There is no more rug in Crystal Magee’s classroom. Stuffed animals are gone too, and bins of school supplies have been replaced with individual boxes, one labeled for each student[Read More…]
PHOTOS: New additions in progress at McKay, South Salem high schools
Bridget West, principal of Hoover Elementary School, looks out to a school field on Feb. 5 from a new classroom built as part of a construction project to expand the school. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Twenty-five local schools will be renovated in 2021 as the Salem-Keizer School District enters the busiest[Read More…]
Salem-Keizer on schedule for massive construction push with 25 schools set for renovations this year
Ongoing construction at McKay High School on Wednesday, Feb. 10. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Twenty-five local schools will be renovated in 2021 as the Salem-Keizer School District enters the busiest year of its years-long construction blitz – one of the largest such efforts in Oregon history. The work, which will touch[Read More…]
PHOTOS: Classes go outside as high school construction students build Salem home
Students in the CTEC residential construction program work together to lift and place a wall on Wednesday, Feb. 10. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Salem high school students this week raised interior walls for the home they’re building as a final project in a residential construction program. Though Salem-Keizer high schools remain[Read More…]
The pandemic closed high schools, but these Salem students still get to do their final project: build a house.
Curtis Fisher, a CTEC construction instructor, works with senior Caleb Susee while building a wall as part of the CTEC residential construction program on Wednesday, Feb. 10. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) When Salem high schools closed abruptly last March, Reed Hamilton, 18, worried about finishing his classes online. But the McNary[Read More…]
Elementary school will be in-person five hours per day, two days per week under Salem-Keizer reopening plan
Highland Elementary School students enter the school library for brief in-person classes on Oct. 20, 2020 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Elementary students in Salem are expected to have in-person classes five hours per day, two days per week when local schools begin reopening March 2. Salem-Keizer School District administrators gave more[Read More…]
As Leanette Mabinton becomes Salem-Keizer School Board’s first student advisor, she hopes adults will be open to learning
Leanette Mabinton, 15, testifies at a February 2019 school board meeting, asking the board to wait to approve a school boundary change until they can consider student input. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) One hour into a February 2019 school board meeting in Salem, tensions were running high as parents and teachers[Read More…]
Fall enrollment down 4.5% in Salem-Keizer as more families opt for homeschooling
School buses parked in the Salem-Keizer School District lot on Hawthorne Avenue (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) More than 6,000 Oregon families opted not to enroll their children in public kindergarten this fall, driving a statewide 4% decline in overall public school enrollment compared to 2019. The data, released last week by[Read More…]
Kindergarten, first graders heading back to Salem-Keizer schools March 2
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) About 4,400 of Salem’s youngest students will be back in school buildings part-time starting March 2 under a plan district[Read More…]