Dr. Jeff Phillips
School Partner: Salem-Keizer Public Schools

Pictured: Dr. Jeff Phillips (left) with School Board Chairperson, Rick Kimball.

Dr. Phillips is a Pediatric Dental Specialist who has practiced in Salem for 15 years. He is a dedicated business partner and a strong advocate for children and education. Each year he sponsors an OMSI assembly for students at four of our schools and provides limo rides to lunch as a fundraising incentive. He has donated funds for replacing band-room chairs at Crossler Middle School, and assisted a Boy Scout with his Eagle project by providing a bench for Liberty Elementary School's playground.

He has paid for health education materials, which gave some of our first and second graders the opportunity to take workbooks home to encourage family involvement. He also provides Save-A-Tooth kits every year, to every school, to be used by students if they knock a permanent tooth out. In addition, his staff helps at Open Houses by manning a dental health booth. As a Salem Heights Elementary School parent, he was very involved with the school and continues to help in any way he can.

Dr. Phillips was a "founding father" of the Salem-Keizer School District Neighborhood Dentist program, which began in 2001. The program is a business partnership between all of our schools and local dentists who provide free dental treatment to low-income, uninsured students in dental pain.

To date, the Neighborhood Dentist program has contributed more than $230,000 of donated dental care to students in our district. It has been recognized nationally, and this spring, Dr. Phillips will attend the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry's national convention in Washington D.C. to present Salem-Keizer's model and offer information so other districts can replicate it in their local communities.

Thank you Dr. Phillips for your commitment to our schools and the children of this community.