Category SCHOOLS
New state guidelines mean Salem schools need Covid testing on-site to bring kids back
Highland Elementary School Principal Christi Cheever greets students coming in for brief in-person lessons on Oct. 20, 2020 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) It will be at least a month before any Salem-Keizer students can resume in-person classes – and a new set of state rules released…
Salem-Keizer aims for late February to resume kindergarten, first grade in person
Highland Elementary School students enter the school library for brief in-person classes on Oct. 20, 2020 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Thousands of kindergarten and first-grade students could be back in Salem classrooms by late February as local schools move forward with Gov. Kate Brown’s loosened in-person…
Path for more Oregon kids in the classroom opens in 2021 as governor makes reopening decisions local
An empty classroom at Stevens Middle School on Aug. 18, 2020 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) This article was updated at 4:06 p.m. Thousands of Oregon students could be back in school by mid-February after Gov. Kate Brown announced Wednesday that local school districts, not the state,…
Salem private school under investigation after education department finds it broke state rules to reopen
Holy Family Academy on Thursday, December 10. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) A Salem private school is under state investigation after the Oregon Department of Education concluded it violated state Covid restrictions by fully opening for regular classes in the fall. Holy Family Academy, a K-8 Catholic…
Christy Perry named finalist for National Superintendent of the Year
Salem-Keizer’s Christy Perry was named one of the top superintendents in the U.S. Friday. Perry, who has led Oregon’s second-largest school district since 2014, is one of four finalists for National Superintendent of the Year, an award given annually by the School Superintendents Association. “This…
One in three Salem-Keizer high school students failed a class fall quarter
Salem-Keizer high schools cut in half the number of failing grades students earned in the final weeks of fall quarter. But schools still recorded hundreds more students failing classes than typical. Eighteen percent of all grades high school students received were Fs for fall quarter,…
Salem-Keizer administrators plan overhaul of school discipline, safety with goal of reducing racial disparities
Protestors rallied outside of the Salem-Keizer school district offices on Thursday, June 18 to urge the district to cancel their contract for police officers in schools. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter) Salem-Keizer School District leaders plan to overhaul the district’s discipline and student safety programs, aiming to…
A year without school music ensembles means a long road to rebuilding
The West Salem High School band performs at the OSAA 6A State Band Championships in May 2019 with director Todd Zimbelman conducting (Courtesy/West Salem High School) Ten minutes in, West Salem High School’s ninth grade band class appeared strangely silent. A dozen students had trombones,…
With schools closed, bus drivers assemble and deliver meals to kids across Salem
School bus driver Tammie Jones spoons peaches into cups for grab-and-go school meals at the Salem-Keizer Career Technical Education Center on Nov. 24 (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) No students are eating lunch in the oversized cafeteria, but the Salem-Keizer School District’s Career Technical Education Center in…