Christy Perry, superintendent of Salem-Keizer Public Schools, congratulates McNary High School Principal Erik Jespersen in a ceremony Friday, April 23. Jespersen was named the Oregon 2021 High School Principal of the Year by the Oregon Association of Secondary School Administrators (OASSA) and the Coalition of Oregon School Administrators (COSA) (KEIZERTIMES/Matt[Read More…]

Salem-Keizer Public Schools are planning for a return to five full days of in-person instruction next fall, but the district’s EDGE program, comprised primarily of distance learning, will also continue.   The district will follow all safety guidelines from the Oregon Department of Education and the Oregon Health Authority.  The EDGE[Read More…]

After more than a year of festering political tumult and hurt feelings, it may come as no surprise that the Salem-Keizer School District’s board seats are hotly contested. What might be harder to fathom is that there are 11 candidates for four open positions. Election Day is May 18. While[Read More…]

Teachers, staff, administrators and Wally the Wolverine welcomed about 100 sixth graders back to Whiteaker Middle School Tuesday, April 13. At McNary High School, see on Page A5, freshmen and sophomores were the first to make use of the remodeled building. It had been more than 390 days since such[Read More…]

Local schools will be back to a more normal year in the fall, with five full days per week of in-person classes, the Salem-Keizer School District announced Monday. The district said in doing so they would follow all guidelines in place from state health and education officials. “We do not[Read More…]

McNary teacher Todd Layton (left) addresses his class on the first day of school (KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings). In a 4-3 decision, the Salem-Keizer School Board — at the recommendation of the district — elected for schools to skip standardized public testing for the 2020-21 school year at a meeting on Tuesday,[Read More…]

(Left to Right: Sophiya Chuprova, Maxim Zagaynov and Karla Martinez Pantoja). Act Six — a leadership and scholarship program that connects local faith-based community affiliates with faith and social justice-based colleges to equip emerging urban and community leaders to engage the college campus and their communities — selects multiple promising[Read More…]

Josh Rist Back in early-March, McNary choir teacher Josh Rist spent all day preparing a special lesson for his students. He was under the impression that principal Erik Jespersen would be in attendance observing his class. Jespersen was in his class, but he was joined by over a dozen members[Read More…]

Satya Chandragiri, chair of the Salem-Keizer Public School Board. I believe despite what they say publicly or privately, every Board Director was aware of why they voted in a certain way. It appeared to me that they came prepared as they had ample time to review before the vote on[Read More…]

Christy Perry The Salem-Keizer school board meeting got heated Monday, March 15 while discussing the annual evaluation of Salem-Keizer Public Schools Superintendent Christy Perry. The school board has a contractual obligation to evaluate Perry’s performance on an annual basis no later than March 15 — Perry is the lone employee[Read More…]