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Sept. 1: Downtown Salem celebration of Salem-Keizer schools
Join us in downtown Salem this Wednesday (Sept. 1) from 5 - 8 p.m. for a special celebration of our schools. Salem-Keizer is the featured guest at the monthly "First Wednesday" event in downtown. Come see our high school bands, tons of displays and information, activities for children and families, and help celebrate the start of the next school year.
And don't forget ... school officially starts in one week!
First day is Sept. 7 (6 and 9th grade); Sept. 8 (all other grades except Kinder.); and Sept. 14 (Kindergarten).
Additional information about the First Wednesday (Sept. 1) event provided by the Salem-Keizer Education Foundation:
Go Downtown, in partnership with Salem-Keizer Education Foundation, will kick off the 2010-11 school year with a rousing community pep rally featuring high school bands, cheerleaders, student body presidents, and other activities during First Wednesday festivities Sept. 1.
District Superintendent Sandy Husk and Foundation executive director Krina Lemons will host an evening of celebration designed to let local children know the community is behind them as they head back to school.
The annual First Wednesday celebration will culminate a month long school supply drive. Last year, over 55,000 items were collected and distributed to Salem-Keizer schools. This year all Salem-Keizer Starbucks stories, US Bank branches and 15 other locations are collecting paper, pencils, crayons and other needed supplies.
The evening also will feature the much anticipated drawing for a new car donated by Capitol Auto Group in their support for summer reading. Reading logs have been distributed and collected all summer, encouraging students and their families to read 25 minutes a day. Each log turned in is a chance to win the 2010 Chevy Aveo5. Scott and Carrie Casebeer of Capitol Auto Group will be on hand to reach into the hundreds of completed reading logs and draw one lucky winner who will take home the car.
Also that night, the Assistance League will launch its "Ring the Bell" campaign to collect much needed clothing items for children in the community. Bell ringers and singers will be stationed at six locations throughout downtown to collect new items. Underwear, socks and basic items are the most in need.
Help name new schools
Want to help name the new schools under construction in west Salem? We are now accepting name recommendations. The nomination form is available on our Web site along with the naming guidelines. Go to http://www.salkeiz.k12.or.us/content/name-new-schools-west-salem.
The deadline to submit name suggestions is October 22, 2010.
The two new schools are an elementary and a middle school both being constructed in west Salem and scheduled to open in 2011. The construction is being funded by the 2008 voter-approved construction bond. For more information on the construction bond, please go to http://www.salkeiz.k12.or.us/content/bond-updates.
School Board approves $18 million in cuts
At last night's School Board meeting, the Board adopted a supplemental budget that included $18 million more in budget reductions to the upcoming school year.
Here's why.
In June, the Board adopted the 2010-11 budget, which had $5.8 million in cuts. However, a few weeks prior to the June adoption, Oregon's Governor Kulongoski released a new economic forecast and its impact on Oregon. This forecast showed that Salem-Keizer would need to make additional cuts to the 2010-11 budget in the amount of $18 million (making the total amount cut to $23.8 million).
We took the rest of June and July to find ways to cut an additional $18 million from our budget. The plan was presented to the School Board, and formally adopted by them last night (August 10).
Here are examples of the reductions:
Reductions were made in staff compensation. We are taking four unpaid days this year (two of which are school days). New positions and vacancies are frozen. We also reduced funding for supplies, materials and purchased services; and reduced the "new school start up" fund and the risk management reserve.
More cuts were made in addition to the ones mentioned above. For details, please view our two-page information flyer.
In addition, we learned yesterday that the federal government has passed an educational jobs bill that will give $8 million to our district to save teaching jobs. District staff will develop a recommendation for using that additional funding and present it to the Board at one of its upcoming meetings.
Preliminary adequate yearly progress (AYP) ratings released
On Monday, August 2, the Oregon Department of Education released the preliminary ratings stating whether or not a school made adequate yearly progress. This is a measure of achievement required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Based on several markers, such as state tests, graduation rates, and attendance; a school has either Met or Not Met AYP.
Here is a summary of the preliminary results for Salem-Keizer schools for 2009-10:
- 44 elementary schools met AYP in 2009-10, compared to 42 in 2008-09.
- The same number of middle schools (7) met AYP in 2009-10, although they were not all the same schools that met in 2008-09.
- One high school, Sprague, met AYP in 2009-10. No high schools met AYP in 2008-09.
- District-wide, 78% of schools met AYP, up from 73% the previous year.
And congratulations to Early College High School, Claggett Creek Middle School and Stephens Middle School ... the preliminary AYP report said:
- Early College High School (one of our alternative high schools) met all academic targets but did not meet the graduation target, thus not making AYP. This means student met in reading, math and attendance.
- Claggett Creek has met AYP for the second year in a row and moves out of school improvement status.
- Stephens has met AYP for the first time.
The complete preliminary report for our district is available on ODE's website.
Hiring teaching positions during a budget reduction
Recently we have received a few inquiries about why the district is posting and hiring new positions when we are experiencing budget reductions for the coming year.
For the 2010-11 school year, the district will hire 129.5 teachers. In a more typical year, the district hires 230-240 teachers.
Here is the current snapshot on 6-16-10 of what is happening with hiring in the district:
• 80.5 teachers will need to be hired to replace our teachers who have retired or resigned to maintain our current level of service for k-12. This does not reflect growth. 8 teachers will be hired to address known growth situations across the district. Not hiring these positions would result in larger class sizes especially in the elementary grades reported to have effects such as 35 and 42 to a class if we did not hire an open vacancy.
• 21.5 teachers will need to be hired to serve special education students due to retirement and resignation and 9 reflect growth in these student numbers.
• 14 teachers will be hired in the district to fill positions that are funded by grant money.
• 13.5 teachers will be hired on a temporary basis to fill positions where our currently employed teachers are taking maternity or paternity leaves under FMLA
We hope this information helps clarify why were are hiring teaching positions.
New director of Elementary Ed and new head of Business and Support Services
New Director of Elementary Education
Meera Kreitzer, Principal at Auburn Elementary School has been hired as Elementary Education Director. Meera began her career in education as an elementary school teacher with the Cascade School District. She was hired as an elementary teacher in the Salem-Keizer District at Englewood Elementary School in September 1992. She transferred to Eyre Elementary School in September 1998. In September 2001, she worked as a Career in Teaching Mentor (CIT) until June 2003. She then worked as a reading teacher at Washington Elementary until November 2003 when she assumed the responsibilities of Assistant Principal at Auburn Elementary School. She served the district as Elementary Principal at Bethel and Fruitland Elementary Schools and then at Auburn Elementary School for the past four years. Meera’s expertise in literacy and staff development will be valuable in her role as Elementary Director.
She replaces Steve Larson who was hired earlier this spring as the District's Director of Instructional Services (replacing David Bautista who is moving to Woodburn School District as its new superintendent).
New Assistant Superintendent for Business and Support Services
Michael Wolfe has been hired to replace Richard Goward as Assistant Superintendent for Business and Support Services and will have the leadership responsibilities held by Goward when he was Chief of Operations. Michael has previously worked as Workforce/Development/Process Improvement Manager for Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) from 1996 to 1999. He then was hired as Senior Administrator/Deputy Director for ODOT from 1999 to 2006. From 2006 to 2007 he worked for the Portland Development Commission (PDC) as a Process Improvement Manager. Most recently he served as the Vice President of Administrative Services at Mt. Hood Community College. Michael’s expertise is in operations management and business systems.
Michael replaces Richard Goward who had served Salem-Keizer Public Schools as Chief Financial Officer and Chief of Operations for the past 13 years. Goward recently accepted a position with the City of Portland.
New school design meeting - June 23
South Salem area parents, students and community members: you are all invited to a workshop about the design of the new south Salem elementary school. The workshop will be June 23 at Sumpter Elementary School (525 Rockwood St. SE in Salem) starting at 6:30 p.m. Childcare will be provided.
The new elementary school is scheduled to open in the fall 2012. Currently, the old Battlecreek golf course area is being looked at as a potential site; however the land sale is still being negotiated.
The June 23 workshop will include:
* Highlights from the last community workshop
* Update on the site and floor plan
* Update on the building character and appearance
* Plus, opportunity to ask questions
All our local schools are part of the community, and this new school is no exception. This workshop is part of an extended process to help our community become part of the school, provide input on the layout of the building, and on concepts of style design.
If you have any questions, please call Salem-Keizer School District Construction Services at 503-391-1133.
Thank you, Salem-Keizer Voters!
This new school is possible thanks to the support of our local voters who approved a $242.1 million construction bond measure in November 2008 to help repair and renovate more than half the schools in Salem-Keizer, as well as build four new schools in key areas in our community. Please visit the Construction Bond Web site for more details on all the projects being funded by this voter-approved bond measure.