A view from a drone shows construction crews making progress to take down the old Leslie Junior High School, adjacent to South Salem High School. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
The Salem-Keizer School District wants a graduate researcher to help educate local students on local indigenous history and the importance of historic preservation.
The district is offering a $33,000 award for a graduate student to create a curriculum with lessons about the cultural importance of historic sites, methods for preserving them and local Native American history.
The effort is part of the construction project to expand South Salem High School, which will be completed in the fall.
Because that project included demolishing the historic Leslie Middle School, the district entered into an agreement with the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office to mitigate the loss through other historic preservation activities, said Karma Krause, the district’s public engagement manager for construction projects.
The site South Salem High School sits on has cultural significance for local tribes. Krause said she expects the curriculum developed will focus more broadly on local Native American history and cultural preservation, not necessarily on the South site.
“We’ll have to see what the research turns up,” she said.
The district recently extended the deadline for researchers to apply for the award. It is now July 9. More information about the project and how to apply is available on the district website.
-Rachel Alexander
