Good morning and thanks for spending a little time with me.
Managing Editor Rachel Alexander wants to tell you how local students are doing in math and English.
She can’t.
The Oregon Department of Education is holding tight to the results of student tests. As best we can assess, the state says it wants time to make the numbers more presentable.
That has a whiff of government manipulation. Test results in recent years haven’t been great. New numbers will tell the community what progress the Salem-Keizer School District is making to shore up sagging student performance.
It’s not that the state doesn’t have the numbers. Last week, Education Department officials offered a deal to reporters. If you promise to keep quiet, we’ll send you the numbers but you can’t tell the public about them for a few days.
Embargoes have some advantages, especially on technical topics. Getting an early look allows reporters time to review and then understand what they are reading. In turn, that means you and others might get better stories.
But holding on to public information in this way raises suspicions.
Salem Reporter joined three other news organizations on Friday to insist the information be released now. Adding their voices for transparency were The Oregonian, Oregon Public Broadcasting and Oregon Capital Chronicle.
“Embargoing public information until a Friday is a common tactic to limit the dissemination of that information to the widest possible audience,” editors, including Alexander, said in the joint letter.
We’ll continue pressing for disclosure. This information belongs to you. You are entitled to it. And education is a crucial issue in Salem.
If you want to add your voice, you can send an email to Charlene Williams, director of the state Education Department. She’s at [email protected].
Meantime, Alexander and her team of reporters produced some important journalism about Salem in recent days.
I highly recommend taking time to read reporter Abbey McDonald’s deep look at the future of downtown Salem. Abbey talked to small business owners, government officials and those in the real estate industry. She reviewed numbers. Her story – “The problems and promise of downtown Salem” – is the kind of account that’s important for readers like you. This provides details and perspective you wouldn’t get otherwise.
Staying with downtown a moment, reporter Madeleine Moore has the details on the city of Salem’s efforts to develop an empty downtown lot.
Another story worth your attention is reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian’s account of Mario Lara, a wildland firefighter and devoted family man. He was killed by a drunk driver in 2022. Too often, news organization report the bare details – the victim, the suspect and move on. Lara emerges in our profile as the kind of person we’d all like to know.
Reporter Joe Siess is keeping a close eye on Salem’s efforts to curb violence. He caught that a key piece of the puzzle – a new city program manager – is missing. He explains why the city came up short.
In other City Hall news, Salem councilors mapped out their wish list for the Oregon Legislature, developers are encouraged to a point about eased city rules and a town hall explored what’s been gained in Salem efforts on homelessness.
In public safety news, firefighters handled a house fire across from North Salem High School, and the teen captured on home video shooting a cat faces justice.
On the people front, we reported on a South Salem senior raising money for arts, introduced you to the new leader of a local visitors association and told about food entrepreneurs in Salem.
Columnist Mark Wardell writes about how you can participate in the approaching Great ShakeOut while columnist Jim Sellers helps readers save money on Medicare.
Photographer Laura Tesler was busy last weekend, covering Pride in the Park and the grape stomp at Willamette Valley Vineyards.
We also shared the family-written obituary for Shirley Rawlinson, which included several photos.
We make publishing such stories easy for families in a way that can save them hundreds of dollars. If you ever have the need, we’re ready to help.
I thank you for reading, subscribing and sharing our work. Please reach out to me anytime at [email protected] if you have story ideas, questions or suggestions for our team.
– Les Zaitz, co-founder and editor, Salem Reporter
Subscribing is so important
Last week, another Oregon newspaper closed its doors. Another community loses access to local news. We’re swimming against the current and you can help.
A subscription to Salem Reporter is easy to set up. It’s affordable. And it’s the way for readers to vote in favor of the kind of news we deliver. Our fee is modest. The cost is $12 a month, $120 for the year. Why not join in? Click HERE and in moments you’ll be a Salem Reporter subscriber. (You can take us for a test spin for just $12 – get three months for the price of one.)
Copyright © 2025 Salem Reporter. All rights reserved. |
Our mailing address is: 494 State St., #410 • Salem, Oregon 97301 |
You are receiving this email because you signed up through our website or participated in a promotion. |