Salem Political Snark

Anti-racist resolution passed by Salem-Keizer School Board

Racism is bad. This should be a uncontraversial position, but last night there was plenty of arguing about the pros and cons of a Salem-Keizer School Board resolution calling for a commitment to equity and antiracism. 

Here's a PDF file of the resolution. I've also copied it in below.
Download Salem-Keizer School Board Antiracist Resolution

I watched much of the public testimony online, along with the board's discussion of the resolution.

My main takeaway is that the school board did the right thing when it approved the anti-racist resolution on a 4-2 vote -- with the four recently elected progressive board members voting in favor, and two conservative holdover members voting against. A conservative member was absent.

(The Salem Reporter has a good story, "Split Salem-Keizer school board commits to antiracism in 4-2 vote." The Statesman Journal also: "Anger, emotion spill over during 'historic' Salem-Keizer vote on equity resolution.")

There were good arguments made by reasonable people on both sides, along with some lousy arguments made by extreme people on both sides.

Here's the video of the meeting. I've made it start at the beginning of the public comment period. The testimony is well worth watching. 

What I found encouraging was that the school board meeting served as a forum where people who ordinarily wouldn't be talking with each other because they belong to different political camps were able to listen to those who disagree with their position.

This is one purpose of education: to expose yourself to a variety of ideas that push you out of your comfort zone. Several school board members spoke about the resolution being just the beginning of a broader community discussion about racism and anti-racism. 

Hopefully that will occur.

Salem, along with the rest of the United States, needs to take a big step backward from the political cliff where many on both the right and left view the other side as so utterly wrong, they deserve to be pushed over the edge into societal oblivion.

Yet I doubt that there were any genuine racists in the room last night -- just people who disagreed about the wisdom of passing an anti-racist resolution. 

Opponents of the resolution correctly noted that sometimes "white supremicist" is used as an undeserved epithet. Just because someone disagrees with a BIPOC (black, indigenous, person of color) individual doesn't mean any sort of racism is going on.

And they espoused a goal that few would disagree with. As Martin Luther King put it, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

However, currently too many conservatives consider that racism is nowhere, while too many progressives consider that racism is everywhere. The truth is somewhere in-between. Much progress has been made with racial justice, while much work remains to be done.

Likewise, opponents of the resolution had a good point when they decried a push for equal educational outcomes as opposed to equal educational opportunities.

But this assumes that all students are able to make equal use of those opportunities. Disadvantaged students, either through systemic racism or some other unfortunate circumstance, deserve special attention until that hoped-for day when all young people have generally the same opportunity to thrive in school.

The so-called "school to prison pipeline" due to police officers assigned to schools came in for repeated mention. A woman who opposed the resolution said that she had researched this question and learned that less than 1/2 of one percent of student arrests were associated with School Resource Officers.

This points to the need for solid data to back up claims of pervasive racism in Salem-Keizer schools. It's easy to be swayed by anecdotes where a teacher or student acted badly toward a BIPOC individual. But in any large group of people, a few always will act like jerks.

So it was good to hear school board members and others say that they're committed to getting as much data as possible to inform the goals of the anti-racist resolution. I suspect that racism in Salem-Keizer schools isn't as widespread as those on the left believe, while it is more common than those on the right believe.

Lastly, I have to note school board member Chandragiri's curious comment that he has been told that BIPOC people like himself can't be racist. This can't be true. I'm not even sure that someone can't be racist toward their own racial group, not to mention others in the broad BIPOC category.

In India, for example, there's a longstanding bias against those with darker skin, as a New York Times story says:

Colorism, the bias against people of darker skin tones, has vexed India for a long time. It is partly a product of colonial prejudices, and it has been exacerbated by caste, regional differences and Bollywood, the nation’s film industry, which has long promoted lighter-skinned heroes.

Here's the resolution that was approved last night.

RESOLUTION NO. 202122-2 
COMMITMENT TO EQUITY AND ANTIRACISM

WHEREAS white supremacy is the upholding of white people as a superior race and systematically excluding other communities based on their ancestry, religious beliefs and/or country of origin, including those of Jewish and Islamic heritage, from services and opportunities such as housing, education, and migration; and white supremacy has no place in our schools or in our boardroom; and

WHEREAS an antiracist is a person who, by their beliefs and actions, supports and advocates for ideas and policies to dismantle oppressive structures and promote racial equality; and

WHEREAS it is a cherished asset that the Salem-Keizer Public Schools community is full of people with traditions from all over the world as well as the traditions held right here upon the land we live, through the Kalapuya, Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, and Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians; and

WHEREAS our students’ diverse learning needs and cultural values are an integral part of the learning community, we must create systems that are inclusive and celebrate our students' learning assets, and speaking a language other than English is an asset we celebrate; and

WHEREAS we collectively acknowledge that racism is real and is a threat to students’ and employees’ physical and psychological well-being; and the systems of structural racism have historically oppressed students from Black and African American, Latino/a/x, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American and Indigenous heritage; and

WHEREAS every student must feel safe, welcome, and fully included in their school community; and when students are alienated from their school communities and experience bias and discrimination, they are inherently less safe psychologically, emotionally, and physically and it hinders their ability to learn and grow; and we must build inclusive environments that empower students and employees to thrive; and

WHEREAS community engagement and involvement are paramount to achieving equity; and we will engage with respect, authentically listen, and have the courage to share decision-making, control, and resources; and

WHEREAS we must directly address the overrepresentation of students of color in special education and the underrepresentation of students of color in talented and gifted and college-prep programs; and

WHEREAS we know that students of color are overrepresented in suspensions and expulsions in our schools, starting at middle school, and this impacts their ability to stay meaningfully engaged and graduate successfully; and

WHEREAS hiring and retaining a workforce that reflects the diversity of the community we serve is an antiracist action, and we commit to ensuring this occurs; and

WHEREAS being antiracist means looking deeply at systems, policies, and curricula that oppress our diverse populations; and it involves making real changes so that we change biased yet predictable outcomes related to disproportionate discipline, achievement rates, and the school-to-prison pipeline;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED Salem-Keizer Public Schools commits to being antiracist, knowing we must continually work to do better by developing knowledge and bystander intervention will and skill; and we commit to routinely interrupt systems of oppression on behalf of the students and staff in Salem-Keizer Public Schools and in our community; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED Salem-Keizer Public Schools Board of Directors commits to support the district’s efforts to build a restorative model for discipline, to monitor discipline data and our key performance indicators disaggregated by race and ethnicity, and to develop a system for monitoring the diversification of our workforce.

Congratulations to the four progressive school board winners

Finally, all the votes have been counted.

It took two weeks after the May 18 Salem-Keizer school board election day for this to happen, since that's how long voters have to "cure" ballots with signature problems: a missing signature or a signature that doesn't match the one on file.

Pleasingly, each of the four progressive candidates ended up winning -- an amazing accomplishment. 

Amazing, because Oregon Right to Life and its associated PACs (political action committees) went all out this time around, as they have in previous school board elections, in support of a conservative slate of candidates.

Yet Ashley Carson Cottingham has a 73 vote lead over Linda Farrington. Karina Guzman Ortiz has a 285 vote lead over Mike Slagle. Ovaldo Avila and Maria Cecelia Hinojos Pressey had substantial leads over their opponents on election night, so their victories weren't in question.

This gives the progressive slate in last month's election a 4-0 win over the conservative slate, leaving progressives with a 4-3 majority on the Salem-Keizer school board.

 

A Salem Reporter story says that a recount in the Cottingham-Farrington race will happen, but it's unlikely this will overturn Cottingham's victory.

 

An unofficial final vote tally in the Salem-Keizer School Board races on Wednesday showed a liberal sweep of the board, with candidates backed by the Community for Salem-Keizer Schools political action committee holding on to narrow leads in two races that had been too close to call.

 

The contest for zone 3, however, was so close it will head for an automatic recount under Oregon law.

 

...State law requires an automatic recount when the number of votes separating two candidates is less than 0.2% of the votes cast for both. The margin in the race was 0.17%.

...Marion County Clerk Bill Burgess said a recount will take place after election results are certified, which will happen by Monday, June 7. He expected the recount would take one or two days.

While it’s always possible a recount could change the result in the race, Burgess said such events are rare.

Before the election, I was talking with a group of fellow progressives about the school board races. "They won't win them all," said a knowledgeable observer of Salem's political scene, speaking of the four progressive candidates.

Yet it's looking like they did win them all.

This is almost as surprising as the two Georgia Democrats who unexpectedly pulled out wins in their run-off races in early January of this year, providing Democrats with a 50-50 tie in the Senate with Vice-President Harris being the 51st vote when needed.

With the four Salem-Keizer school board victories (assuming Cottingham survives the recount), progressives will end the nightmare of the current conservative school board majority being at endless war with both students and the Superintendent. 

Such wouldn't have happened without a heck of a lot of work put in by those supporting the progressive candidates' campaigns. 

Credit also goes to the Statesman Journal and Salem Reporter for publishing detailed profiles of each school board candidate, along with their positions on key issues. When voters are well-informed, they're more likely to make wise choices when they fill out their ballot.

Cottingham and Ortiz likely to win school board races

After Ashley Carson Cottingham and Karina Guzman Ortiz had comfortable leads over their Salem-Keizer school board opponents on election night, their margins have shrunk considerably after additional votes were tallied.

Currently Cottingham has a slim 86 vote lead over Linda Farrington in the Zone 3 race, while Ortiz has a 279 vote lead over Mike Slagle in the Zone 5 race.

Cottingham and Ortiz are part of the progressive slate that competed against a conservative slate.

The other two progressives have insurmountable leads. Osvaldo Avila is up by 1,807 votes over Kari Zohner in the Zone 1 race. Maria Hinojos Pressey is up by 1,099 votes over Liam Collins.

So whether the seven member Salem-Keizer school board has a progressive or conservative majority comes down to the Cottingham-Farrington and Ortiz-Slagle races, since the three board members not up for election this year are conservatives.

A Salem Reporter story says that final vote results won't be released until June 2, following a two-week period when citizens whose votes weren't counted have the opportunity to "cure" ballots lacking a signature or having a signature that doesn't match the one on file.

Sure, I could wait for June 2 to come around and see whether Cottingham and Ortiz win, as I hope they will. But that's no fun for a political junkie like me.

So I did some analyzing of the uncounted votes reported in the Salem Reporter story with the goal of figuring out the likelihood that Farrington and Slagle will overcome the leads enjoyed by Cottingham and Slagle. 

Bottom line: Farrington has a decent chance of beating Cottingham, though Cottingham is favored to win. Slagle, though, almost certainly won't beat Ortiz.

Here's how I reached those conclusions. 

The Salem Reporter story says that Marion County Elections rejected 512 ballots due to signature problems. Either the ballot envelope wasn't signed (148) or the signature didn't match the one on file (364). Bill Burgess, the county clerk, estimated that about 2/3 of ballots came from voters within the school district boundaries. 

Two-thirds of 512 is 341. So that's the number I used for potential additional Salem-Keizer school board votes from Marion County. The story also said that a few hundred ballots are uncounted in Polk County (West Salem) and about 100 Polk County ballots have signature issues. 

Today Polk County reported 274 additional votes. So I'm assuming that accounts for the "few hundred." The Polk County tallies for the Salem-Keizer school board races didn't change, which means the 274 additional votes came from outside the school district boundary,

That leaves the other 100 ballots with signature issues. To date 47% of Polk County voters cast ballots in the Salem-Keizer school board races. One hundred times .47 equals 47, the number I used for potential additional Salem-Keizer school board votes from Polk County.

Adding 341 (Marion County) and 47 (Polk County) gave me an estimate of 388 for the total number of potential additional school district votes.

Since Farrington is 86 votes behind Cottingham, she needs to get 87 votes more than Cottingham from the pool of 388 potential additional ballots. To do this, Farrington would have to get a bit more than 61% of the 388 (237), leaving Cottingham with 39% (151).

Yet so far Farrington and Cottingham have been splitting the vote 50-50. Sure, it's possible Farrington would get more than 61% of the ballots with signature problems.

But there's no reason to think that these voters are different from the pool of voters whose ballots already have been counted. And every ballot with a signature problem that isn't resolved reduces the number of additional school district votes, making it more difficult for Farrington to close the 86 vote gap with Cottingham. 

(For example, if there are only 300 ballots with signature problems that end up being counted, Farrington would need a bit less than 65% of them to surpass Cottingham's vote total.)

So this is why Cottingham is in a better position than Farrington to end up winning the Zone 3 school board seat. Obviously the fewer votes left to count, the harder it is to close a vote gap, even one as small as 86 votes. This requires getting a considerably larger percent of the vote than the 50-50 split in the current pool of 43,026 votes.

Slagle faces a much greater hurdle in his race with Ortiz. Behind by 279 votes with my estimate of 388 potential additional ballots, Slagle would have to get 86% of the 388 to overtake Ortiz' vote total. That isn't going to happen.

It's extremists vs. moderates in school board races

Today the Statesman Journal has an illuminating story by Natalie Pate about the Salem-Keizer school board races that will be decided on next Tuesday's election day, May 18. 

There's two slates competing for votes on opposite sides of the political spectrum.

These are the moderate candidates that I urge you to cast your ballot for if you haven't voted already. (Take your ballot to a drop box, since it is too late to put it in the mail.)

The Statesman Journal story says about them:

Osvaldo Avila (Zone 1), Ashley Carson Cottingham (Zone 3), Karina Gúzman Ortiz (Zone 5) and María Hinojos Pressy (Zone 7) have been endorsed by more politically liberal groups, unions and PACs, such as Community for Salem-Keizer Schools, PCUN and Progressive Salem.

These candidates have focused on issues such as returning to schools safely and raising the district's graduation rates.

Yes, the story correctly notes that Avila, Cottingham, Ortiz, and Pressey have endorsements from more politically liberal groups.

But compared to the very conservative slate of candidates, these four are decidedly moderate.

Kari Zohner (Zone 1), Linda Farrington (Zone 3), Mike Slagle (Zone 5) and Liam Collins (Zone 7) have been endorsed by more politically conservative groups and political action committees, such as Protect Kids, Oregon Right to Life and Marion+Polk First.

These candidates have focused their priorities on immediately reopening schools full-time and bringing back school resource officers.

Oregon Right to Life and the closely associated Protect Kids and Marion+Polk First have pumped a lot of money into trying to make the Salem-Keizer School Board a platform to promote extreme right-wing policies. 

Even though school board members have little-to-no say on reproductive health education in local schools, the Oregon Right to Life's PAC has invested heavily into Salem-Keizer school board elections for the past several races. This year is no different.

Oregon Right to Life and other PACs are helping some of the conservative-slate candidates pay off debts and have paid off tens of thousands of dollars to Intisar Strategies, owned by David Kilada, the former political director of Oregon Right to Life. 

Intisar Strategies, which is running the four candidates' campaigns, is described as a political consulting and marketing firm dedicated to advancing center-right candidates, issues and causes in Oregon.

The Protect Kids PAC, supporting the same slate of candidates, released mailers saying to "vote for our conservative values."

You know, I'm old fashioned. I don't believe students should be held hostage to conservative values.

Growing up in the long ago times (1950s and 60s), back then school boards were focused on, no big surprise, students.  

But now right-wingers have set a goal to bring their Trumpist ideology to local races like school board elections.

It's super important to not let the Oregon Right to Life slate of candidates succeed in making the Salem-Keizer school board a branch of the extreme conservatism that is trying to subvert democracy in states across the nation.

Vote wisely. Again, I recommend Osvaldo Avila (Zone 1), Ashley Carson Cottingham (Zone 3), Karina Gúzman Ortiz (Zone 5) and María Hinojos Pressey (Zone 7).

NAACP calls on Kari Zohner to end her school board campaign

The Salem-Keizer NAACP is calling on a candidate for the Salem-Keizer school board, Kari Zohner, to drop out of the race after she trashed the memory of George Floyd following the conviction of the police officer who murdered him, Derek Chauvin.

The NAACP issued its statement Wednesday night.

“We understand and support the First Amendment right to free speech. However, this hateful rhetoric is founded in racism and has no place in the auspices of the Salem-Keizer School board or any elected office. We must hold our leaders accountable and make clear that this behavior will not be tolerated in any form. The Candidate for School Board Zone 1 must rescind her candidacy immediately,” the statement said.

It was Zohner's comment on an Oregon State University Facebook post that got her in trouble.

That's a really nasty comment for anyone to make. Yet Zohner isn't just anyone, she wants to guide the education of many thousands of students from a Zone 1 school board position. 

UPDATE: Just got this screenshot of a Facebook comment from a former West Salem High School student who has some serious accusations about bad behavior from Zohner when she was a coach at the school. The student also asks Zohner to give up on running for the school board.

Zohner's lack of compassion and racial insensitivity should cause voters to cast their ballot for a much better Zone 1 candidate, Osvaldo Avila. 

Here's Avila's background. 

Osvaldo is the son of Mexican immigrant farmworkers who had few opportunities in life. His father had to drop out of school in the third grade. Growing up, teachers dismissed Osvaldo’s potential, and called him “a future ditch digger.”

Yet, he believed in his education, and ultimately earned a Master’s in Educational Leadership and Policy from PSU. He has had an 18-year career in Higher Education, focusing on helping Latinx students gain access to and succeed in college.

He is now a Talent, Innovation, & Equity Administrator with the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission. To learn more go to: https://www.osvaldo4skboard.com/.

By contrast, here's the full statement from the Salem-Keizer NAACP about Kari Zohner.

Salem-Keizer NAACP Condemns School Board Candidate Statement
Equating the Honoring of Justice for George Floyd to the Eulogizing of a Criminal

The Salem-Keizer NAACP condemns the recent remark made by School Board Candidate Kari Zohner that equated the memorializing of George Floyd, in the wake of the rare moment of justice in the conviction of his killer, to that of eulogizing a criminal. It is critical that we as a community make a clear and unambiguous statement denouncing these hateful remarks and call on this candidate to step down from the race for Salem-Keizer School Board.

In comments, since deleted, made on an Oregon State University Facebook post April 20, 2021, Candidate for School Board Zone 1, Kari Zohner, remarked “And now I’m no longer following you. My Alma Mater. Eulogize a criminal..great.” Candidate Zohner then proceeded to reply to individuals responding to her remarks by belittling them, such as a reply to an educator with the remark, “ah.. an educator. Shocking that you have such an eloquent stance.”

We understand and support the First Amendment right to free speech. However, this hateful rhetoric is founded in racism and has no place in the auspices of the Salem-Keizer School board or any elected office. We must hold our leaders accountable and make clear that this behavior will not be tolerated in any form. The Candidate for School Board Zone 1 must rescind her candidacy immediately.

School board chair Chandragiri insults student journalist

Hard to see how this action by Salem-Keizer School Board chair Satya Chandragiri is anything short of flat-out outrageous. 

Eddy Binford-Ross is editor-in-chief of South Salem High School's paper, the Clypian.

After getting national recognition for covering Black Lives Matter protests last year, she spent months researching and writing a tell-all expose of how screwed-up the school board is, "Scandals, Special Interests and Dysfunction Plague School Board."

Binford-Ross won a richly deserved 2021 Oregon High School Journalist of the Year award. She was set to be recognized at the April 13 school board meeting.

But Chandragiri decided to put off the recognition of Binford-Ross until after the May school board election, conjuring up a highly dubious excuse in an attempt to disguise his disdain for how Binford-Ross revealed the sleazy, stinky mess that calls itself the Salem-Keizer School Board.

A Salem Reporter story has a right-on headline.

Excerpt from that story:

The board had Binford-Ross’ recognition on a draft agenda for Tuesday following a planning meeting earlier this week, said Chandragiri.

He said the article largely recapped existing information about the board and that he didn’t take issue with it. But Chandragiri said after the agenda was drafted, a community member sent him a screenshot of a March 24 Facebook post by the Salem Democratic Socialists of America. 

The page shared Binford-Ross’ article, saying “This in-depth article shows why we need (to) take back our school board!” and endorsing the liberal slate of school board candidates in the May election.

Chandragiri said that made him concerned that honoring Binford-Ross now would be seen as endorsing the board candidates mentioned in the post. He said he didn’t want politics to detract from Binford-Ross’ recognition and intends to spotlight her after the May election.

“If there is a controversy in these weeks before the election that would really distract us,” he told Salem Reporter. “Our board should be only focused on students.”

Hey, Chair Chandragiri, you've just manufactured a much bigger controversy than going ahead with recognizing Eddy Binford-Ross at next Tuesday's school board meeting would have created.

What Chandragiri has done is make it even more abundantly clear why the conservative cabal of school board members factually criticized in Binford-Ross' expose needs to be tossed out of office.

A Statesman-Journal story contains an astoundingly hypocritical and misguided quote from Chandragiri. 

"Is there a risk that (the) district will be perceived as actively endorsing the democratic socialist of America party?" Chandragiri wrote in an email. "I would like our public schools to remain non partisan and stay focused to what we should be doing. Even the appearance like conflict of interest can be misinterpreted."

What a bunch of B.S.

Chandragiri supposedly is worried about the school board looking like it has a conflict of interest because -- don't try to follow the logic here, because there isn't any -- a socialist group cited the Binford-Ross expose in calling for a fresh slate of school board candidates to be elected in May.

No one on the school board, including Chandragiri, has called into question the accuracy of what Binford-Ross wrote about the school board.

This includes the fact that "In 2019, Chair Satya Chandragiri received over $11,500 from Oregon Right to Life and the Oregon Right to Life PAC for his school board campaign."

Also, "Many of the current school board directors ran for the school board after they failed in political campaigns for public office at the state level. Chandragiri ran for and lost the Republican primary for Oregon House of Representatives District 19 in 2018, right before his bid for school board."

So Chandragiri should be mocked for his ridiculous assertion that the school board can't recognize Eddy Binford-Ross because it needs to remain non-partisan.

Actually, the Salem-Keizer School Board already is highly partisan.

Chandragiri and other members accept big bucks from Oregon Right to Life, a hugely partisan special interest group. And Chandragiri tried to be elected to the Oregon legislature as a Republican, an obviously partisan political party. Binford-Ross documents other partisan activities of school board members in her expose.

It seems clear that Chandragiri is punishing Binford-Ross because she did what all good journalists do: speak truth to power.

Chandragiri doesn't like that truth coming out before the school board election because it threatens his ability to keep promoting his right-wing views along with the current conservative majority on the board.

Christy Perry, the Superintendent of Salem-Keizer schools, saw through Chandragiri's game. 

Chandragiri texted Salem-Keizer Superintendent Christy Perry Friday saying he wanted to pull the item from the agenda and delay it until after the election.

...Perry responded that she and communications director Sylvia McDaniel would notify Binford-Ross and her principal.

“This feels really wrong. I just need you to know that,” Perry said in her message.

I'll end by pointing out that the Salem Democratic Socialists of American group wasn't alone in publicizing the Binford-Ross expose and calling for a new slate of school board members.

A link to the expose was shared on the Salem Resists Pacebook group. I shared the expose on three Facebook pages that I manage. So Chandragiri was just making stuff up when he claimed to be upset that the Democratic Socialists post would somehow taint the upcoming election.

Again, what Chandragiri has done is draw attention to what he doesn't think deserves attention. Which is why I'm sharing a screenshot of that post.

Latinos Unidos Siempre wins school resource officer fight

Congratulations to Latinos Unidos Siempre (Latinos United Always) for succeeding in their battle to have School Resource Officers -- police -- removed from Salem-Keizer schools.

They're celebrating on their Facebook page.

We have won!! After 25 years of resisting the school to prison and deportation pipeline today we have made a huge stride into being closer to abolishing it. The School Resource Officer contract will not be renewed thanks to the work of youth leaders in Latinos Unidos Siempre and to the many community members who have supported and fought alongside us.

 

During the March 9th Salem-Keizer School Board Meeting, Superintendent Christy Perry announced her decision to not renew the School Resource Officer contracts between the school district and the Salem and Keizer Police Departments as well as the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, effectively removing all School Resource Officers (SROs) from schools.

 

Though historic, our work does not end with this win. Unfortunately, during the board hearing the superintendent and school board directors continuously emphasized that they believe there is still a role for police in schools. This is wrong.

 

Police traumatize, criminalize, and harm us. We will not stop our work until we have genuinely police free schools. We know that we are still far from realizing our vision for the types of schools our young people deserve. We seek the absolute abolishment of the school-to-prison-and-deportation pipelines.

 

In 1996, students of color came together in Salem to combat the racist profiling they were experiencing by their schools and local law enforcement. For 25 years, youth have fought through LUS. For 25 years, many have fallen victims to this system. Many of us have parents, siblings and friends who cannot get their lives back. Many of us are still being thrown into this system.

 

This victory is in honor of all of the youth who have fallen victim to the school to prison and deportation pipeline and in honor of today's youth who continue to resist. Our ancestors live through us!

It's inspiring to see these young people speaking truth to power with such persistence.

 

They've had to face a Salem-Keizer School Board with a majority of right-wing members who don't reflect the diversity of our community.

 

Yet in the end, police have been removed from schools, as the Latino students and others demanded. Hopefully this won't be a temporary victory, but a permanent one. 

 

Our local police departments now have more officers available for duties that are actually desired by the people they serve, which clearly wasn't the case with the School Resource Officer program.

 

The Salem Reporter has a story about this, "Salem's former school resource officers will be permanently reassigned after district declines to renew contracts." Excerpt:

Eight Salem police officers who used to patrol local schools will be permanently reassigned to patrol and emergency call response, Salem Police Chief Trevor Womack said Wednesday.

 

The officers haven't been at local schools for nearly a year because of the shift to online classes last spring.

 

Now, they won't be coming back as schools reopen. Superintendent Christy Perry said Tuesday night that the Salem-Keizer School District would not renew its contracts with local law enforcement agencies to station officers in schools.

 

The district previously had contracts with the Salem Police Department, Keizer Police Department and Marion County Sheriff's Office to station 11 officers in middle and high schools across the district. Eight of those officers were Salem police.

The Statesman Journal also has a story, "Salem-Keizer Superintendent Christy Perry ends school resource officer contracts." Excerpt:

School resource officers will not be stationed in Salem-Keizer Public Schools for the foreseeable future.

Superintendent Christy Perry announced Tuesday during the Salem-Keizer School Board meeting that she will not renew SRO contracts with local law enforcement for the remainder of this year or next.

The district's most recent contracts expired in June of 2020. With continued community conversations, unclear accountability between the school board and superintendent, and closures from the pandemic, the decision of whether to renew moving forward stayed in limbo for several months.

...Activists with Latinos Unidos Siempre, known as LUS, have been advocating locally against the "school-to-prison pipeline" for more than 25 years.

Since June of 2020, in the wake of George Floyd's death, dozens of people have spoken at Salem-Keizer School Board meetings, and hundreds have signed petitions to remove officers from area schools.

Testifiers have shared personal experiences or pointed to statistics showing how students of color, students who are low-income and students with disabilities are disproportionately likely to be given suspensions and expulsions, have school-related arrests or be put into juvenile detention. 

Jesse Lippold and Kathy Goss are school board hypocrites

Don't be fooled by what school board members Jesse Lippold and Kathy Goss said in today's front page Statesman Journal story, "Salem-Keizer School Board election process considered discriminatory by some."

The story is about a proposal to have school board members elected by people who live in one of seven zones, rather than by everyone in the Salem-Keizer school district. 

This would make school board elections similar to Salem City Council elections. The person running for office would have to live in the zone they are seeking to represent, and only residents of the zone could vote for that person.

Lippold, who is going by Jesse Lippold Peone now, favors that change to the election process. OK, good for him, as that change makes sense.

Not good is the hypocrisy shown by Lippold and another school board member, Kathy Goss. Here's quotes from the Statesman Journal story. I've boldfaced parts for emphasis.

Lippold Peone said under this system, candidates would focus on campaigning to about 20,000-30,000 people from their own neighborhoods, instead of 200,000 across Salem and Keizer.

"You'd have better relationships with the schools in your area, with the parents in the area, because you can spend your time knocking on the doors of your neighbors and not on the doors of people most likely to vote off a list given by a political organization," he said.

...Member Goss argued in January that zone voting would create more special interest groups and go against the statewide directive for elected officials to work for the interests of the entire population they serve. 

Wow. Hypocrisy on display.

Lippold says he doesn't want a political organization involved in campaign door-knocking. Goss says she's worried that zone voting would lead to the involvement of more special interest groups.

Yet in 2017 the school board election campaigns of Lippold and Goss were backed by Oregon Right to Life, a highly political special interest group. 

Here's the evidence that I included in my April 2019 blog post, "Oregon Right to Life trying to take over Salem-Keizer school board."
That photo came from a July 2017 Oregon Right to Life blog post where this special interest anti-abortion, anti-Planned Parenthood organization celebrated the school board victories of Jesse Lippold and Kathy Goss (Marty Heyen already was on the board.)

Here's the rest of the Oregon Right to Life blog post. Keep it in mind when you've voting for Salem-Keizer school board members in the May 2021 special election. As before, I've boldfaced parts for emphasis.

Pro-life voices on school boards are important for several reasons. Not only do school board members affect education policy, they become community leaders with influence beyond their offices. Most importantly, their efforts keep Planned Parenthood away from our children.

On May 16, pro-lifers made a difference in several school board elections. Here are the highlights:

* In the past few years, the Salem-Keizer School District, Oregon’s second largest, allowed Planned Parenthood employees into children’s classrooms. The contract ended, but we’ve been concerned about it being reinstated. Apparently, voters were as well because they rejected a Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon board member who ran for school board. Instead, pro-life candidate Kathy Goss won this seat!

* Also in Salem-Keizer, 21-year-old pro-lifer Jesse Lippold beat a candidate with more experience.

* These victories were only possible due to the strong turnout of pro-life voters in both parties. In Salem-Keizer, pro-lifers returned close to one-third of all ballots, with over 20 percent of those coming from Democrats.

* Across Oregon, pro-life candidates were elected in other school districts. Several defeated incumbents, while others were reelected to continue their good work.

These victories prove that more are possible. Last year, Dennis Richardson shattered the myth that a staunch pro-lifer can’t win a statewide election in Oregon when he became Secretary of State. Pro-life victories in school board elections show the state that the pro-life vote matters on a local level.

The best way for you to help us expand on these victories is to identify pro-life school board members who need Oregon Right to Life PAC’s support and other members who need to be challenged. It’s never too early to prepare for future victories!

Jesse Lippold, a school board member, ignores Covid rules

We're used to elected officials doing outrageous stuff, but shouldn't a Salem-Keizer school board member -- Jesse Lippold -- understand that breaking Covid rules Oregonians need to follow so schools can safely reopen isn't a smart thing to do?

Sure seems so. Thus let's give Lippold a "F" for failing to act like a responsible school board member. Hopefully voters will keep this in mind, since Lippold is one of four school board members up for re-election in May 2021.

The image above is from Lippold's Facebook account. It's been shared widely on social media by people who object to Lippold attending a New Year's Eve party where masks weren't worn and social distancing wasn't practiced. 

The Oregon Health Authority has been saying that private parties like the one Lippold attended with his girlfriend are a big reason Covid cases have been markedly increasing in our state. 

A Salem Reporter story, "Salem-Keizer board member criticized for violating state Covid rules with maskless New Year's party," lays out the cluelessness of what Lippold did. Here's how the story starts out.

A Salem-Keizer School Board Director is facing criticism after attending a maskless New Year’s party with about a dozen friends.

Jesse Lippold posted photos on his Instagram page over the weekend showing him, his girlfriend and other friends at a party.

Gov. Kate Brown and public health officials have frowned upon these types of gatherings and said that holding them would delay the reopening of schools and local businesses. Since November, social gatherings of more than six people who do not live together have been prohibited in Marion County under the state's Covid restrictions.

Lippold's post described the event as a “modern speakeasy” and said the group didn’t social distance but “were still less packed than every mall, Walmart or Costco.”

Screenshots of the post have been shared by Salem parents and teachers on Facebook, with many criticizing Lippold’s choice to ignore state rules.

Health officials in Marion County and at Oregon Health Authority have said for months informal social gatherings are a driver of the virus’ spread.

“It’s unacceptable that a public schools official is doing this while the rest of us are desperately abiding by rules in an effort to try and get our kids an opportunity to attend school,” wrote Stephanie Koski, a parent with an 8th grader in the district who has advocated for school reopening.

“While so many cry out for leadership, this isn’t it. Our kids are literally suffering, our community is hurting, and businesses are closing. You have officially lost my respect and vote,” wrote Reid Sund, a former candidate for Salem City Council, on his Facebook page.

Superintendent calls out Salem-Keizer school board for not being anti-racist

Wow! Last night, for the first time, I watched a Salem-Keizer school board meeting. It was gripping, almost like a soap opera, filled with emotion, inspiration, and, yes, aggravation.

It was clear that the school board is dysfunctional under the inept leadership of chair Marty Heyen. There were more than 180 people signed up to testify at the meeting, where the district budget was to be approved, including money for the highly controversial school resource police officers.

Yet at the beginning of the meeting Heyen took the time to engage in a pity party for herself, talking about how unjust it was for her to be accused of being a racist and white supremacist by students and others involved in the Black Lives Matter protest movement. 

Well, someone sent me this photo of Heyen supporters, with some observations about who those people are.

There’s the guy making the “Three Percent” sign in the lower right corner. There’s Angela Roman who you can Google and see all her White Nationalist affiliations (to the left of the little boy). Marty Heyen is in the very back right in the blue t-shirt. Her husband Jeff is second from the left. I think that’s Denise Quinn Nanke next to Jeff. I think there are other White Nationalists in the picture that I can’t identify, but others have.

 

Heyen claimed not to know many of these “volunteers” who came out to wave signs for her. Right. it might be true that her husband is more cozy with the White Nationalists than she is, but she’s close enough to deserve the criticism she is getting. Dr. Satya needs to answer for this too.

The good news is that after the low point of Heyen's self-absorbed opening remarks, I was mesmerized by a powerful statement from Salem-Keizer Superintendent Christy Perry. 

It was amazing.

I've included the entire statement at the end of this post, boldfacing parts that stuck out for me. Perry courageously criticized the school board for their weak-kneed responses to student demands in the wake of weeks of Black Lives Matter protests here in Salem.

Here's a few excerpts to whet your appetite for reading the whole statement.

We have provided opportunities to help understand our own biases. Our board members barely engage in the training. We have instances of social media display of white supremacy, a black face mask and mockery over that mask. All actions I can’t defend.

... I will advocate for Director Blasi as your next board chair because she is one of the few leaders who have at least the embers of trust from our communities of color.

... I am so committed to this, that I will only continue to do this work if I can have will and the strength to do this even if it means calling you out.

... I commit to the vision for creating the conditions for safe and welcoming schools, especially for our students of color, which includes an antiracist agenda and truly listening to our communities of color. I urge you to reaffirm your commitment to my contract as well knowing full well my support for anti-racist learning.

Really gutsy of Perry.

The school board hires and fires superintendents. Yet she was willing to publicly call them out for failing to do their duty to protect and serve students of color and other disadvantaged students. I liked her statement that she wants the board to reaffirm their commitment to her contract.

Here's a You Tube video of the school board meeting that starts with Perry's statement if you'd prefer to listen to it rather than read it.

Perry's reference to a school board member wearing a black face mask is in regard to Paul Kyllo holding up a photo of a Black man in front of his face during almost an entire meeting. Astoundingly, no member of the school board asked him why he was doing this or if it was appropriate.

Student activists have a petition signed by over 2,600 people so far that calls for the resignation of Kyllo and Heyen, given Heyen's connection to white supremacists. I urge you to sign it. Here's their demands. [UPDATE: There's another petition explicitly calling for Marty Heyen's resignation. I just signed it. Hope you will also.]

The community asks for your support in calling for:

 

1. The District to remove police from schools

2. School Board Member, Paul Kyllo, to resign from his position

3. The removal of any school board members aligned with white supremacy beliefs/groups

4. All the other school board officials to issue a clear apology and indicate their stance on white supremacy

KOIN TV in Portland has a story about this, "Superintendent calls out Salem-Keizer board over blackface." It includes a video and this image of Kyllo. Excerpt from story: (In a very partial defense of Kyllo, it looks to me like he was wearing a black "virus" face covering under the cutout of the Black man, who I believe is ex-Trailblazer Cliff Robinson, rather than actual blackface.)

The black face mask was worn during a 97-minute school board meeting via Zoom on March 30, 2020. In that meeting, board member Paul Kyllo holds up a black face mask for nearly the entire time. When he put the mask down, Kyllo is seen with black face from his nose down through his neck.

When it came time to hear public comments, both via phone and video, I was hugely impressed by the passion and coherence of the student activists who gave the school board well-deserved criticism in the course of calling for the defunding of school resource officers and the resignations of Kyllo and Heyen.

What struck me was how the students had their act way more together than the school board did. They spoke clearly and calmly with a consistent message. That included promises by several students that they wouldn't be attending classes in the fall if the school board didn't meet their demands.

This needs to be taken seriously by the school board, because based on their actions over the past weeks, the students sure seem to be ready and willing to engage in a student strike come September if the board continues to downplay their concerns.

At the end of the meeting, another unusual thing happened. 

The board members were blathering on about how to address the controversy over school resource officers, trying to figure out what to do without actually doing much of anything. At one point the attorney for the school district reminded them that they had to approve a $1.5 billion budget at this meeting, so maybe they should get to that at some point.

Then, when the Heyen-led board seemed poised to pass a motion about how to deal with the school resource officer issue, the attorney spoke up, saying he'd never done this before, but needed to do it now -- remind them of board rules specifying that action items are to be part of an advance agenda so the public can be aware of the proposal and have a chance to weigh in on it.

Pretty amazing that the board of a billion-dollar-plus organization is so clueless about elementary ways of doing their business. I didn't watch until the very end of the meeting, but I've read in news stories that the board wants to have the school resource officer issue wrapped up by the end of August, prior to the start of the school year.

That may be, but from what the attorney said, seemingly that desire will need to be codified in a motion at the next school board meeting. Which I'm confident will generate more controversy, since as you can read below, Superintendent Perry says, "You’ve centered every conversation around how we will get the voices in the room who share your perspective."

That was my impression also. The board seems to want to engage in outreach to the Salem community mainly to get input from those who want to keep school resource officers in order to justify what seems to be a clear majority on the school board who want to do this.

In fact, while board member Satya Chandragiri talked a lot about wanting to have a broad community discussion about school resource officers, his recent Facebook post indicates that he's already made up on his mind on this subject. 

Here's the statement from Christy Perry. Again, I've added the boldfacing for emphasis.

Full Statement from
Salem-Keizer Superintendent Christy Perry

Chair Heyen, Vice Chair Lippold and Members of the Board,

On May 28, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, I asked every employee in our school district one question: How are you actively antiracist? Our staff responded, and they also committed to growing in their path of antiracism. So, tonight I feel I can no longer challenge my staff without truly demonstrating the same. As the single employee of you, our seven-member board, I cannot sit quietly any longer. On behalf of our 42,000 students and over 5,000 staff members, I must stand up. If i can’t do this and speak truth to power, how can I expect it of everyone else in our organization?

Over the past week, I’ve been asked why I sit quietly. Parents are texting my staff asking why I don’t stand up for them in the Board room. I find myself quietly explaining why a seven-member board who is elected by the people is in charge of my employment. Over the past week, as we’ve met with students from our district who have experienced real traumas in our classrooms because of racism, I’ve shared that my ability to keep the equity work moving means I must keep the real issues out of the Board room. That goes against the very principles that I’ve been sharing with my staff – I am not being actively antiracist. Instead, I tell my team that we are going to show up the next day after a Board meeting to do what we’re here for – the right things for kids. Tonight, the right thing for our students is to use my position of power to do what’s right for all of our kids – our transgender students, our Black students, our queer students, our Latinx students, our Indigenous students, our students with disabilities, our Micronesian students, our immigrant students and every other child that comes through our doors.

And to all of those who are saying, “It’s about time!” I agree. And I’m truly sorry. This moment is a long-time coming, and I’m committed to getting it right. And there are thousands of educators in Salem-Keizer who share that commitment along with me.

As a cis gendered white female, I must first acknowledge that I have all kinds of privilege. While I grew up with alcoholism and a volatile household, I ultimately grew up in a world where white feminism, although new and strange, still was acceptable. I had female white role models, like my mom who was a school board member for many years and my grandmother who fought for full-day kindergarten. I could see myself as a leader because I was white. I saw myself in books, movies, and within my own family. While female leaders still face challenges including challenges in the superintendency, we don’t face the challenges that our leaders of color face.

I have quietly worked behind the scene to help you be better. But I need our community to know publicly the challenges you face as a board and what our community faces as we know better so we can do better. Being antiracist is more than the adoption of an equity lens and then using it as a hammer on district staff. It’s about examining your own biases and how you show up for not all students but specifically our historically underserved and marginalized students whose achievement does not match that of our white students. It’s about understanding racism and what it means to be a student of color in our district. And it’s about actively understanding the culture and community in which you serve, beyond adopting an annual safe and welcoming schools proclamation.

I have a fundamental belief that the best learning happens behind the scenes and that difficult equity work is hard to tackle in the board room. I remember the work session where we listened to our educators of color about their experiences and differences. It was one of the most compelling meetings we’ve had… and then you went right back to work worrying about things like who would be the next board chair and how would you tackle any concerns about policy governance.

As I’ve engaged our students and families these past 10 days, I’ve tried to help you understand the experiences of our students of color, but you have discounted the students’ experiences in a multitude of ways. After 71 comments in public testimony – the most we have ever had in my memory as superintendent – two of our members made it clear that those comments fell on deaf ears. Instead, you asked people who share your perspective to submit comment. Through that process, you white-centered the process and systematically discounted the very real experiences of our students of color even when a black man with a doctoral degree attempted to tell you it was true.

What we’ve seen from our Board in the SRO process isn’t unique. It’s been prevalent, from wanting to rewrite the equity lens to failing to stand up for our transgender students when a small portion of our community wasn’t ready to recognize Transgender Day of Visibility. Even reading the Pride Month Proclamation becomes a hot-button issue, with it always falling to Director Blasi, because she’s the only member who isn’t afraid to say the words.

We saw this systemic failure with our budget committee process, when you almost chose to prevent Levi Herrera Lopez from serving on the committee, despite him having the experience of chairing our budget committee in the past, and doing a really remarkable job of it. The membership of both Levi Herrera Lopez and Adriana Miranda bring perspective and strength to our budget committee that we don’t have when they are not there.

We have provided opportunities to help understand our own biases. Our board members barely engage in the training. We have instances of social media display of white supremacy, a black face mask and mockery over that mask. All actions I can’t defend.

We have worked to understand that when students come to us with experiences of racism in our schools, we listen. And after we listened this week, we have continually had to defend to you the experiences of our students of color. You’ve centered every conversation around how we will get the voices in the room who share your perspective.

On behalf of our students of color and our educators of color who experience racism every day in our classrooms along with their white anti-racist allies, I need you to commit to moving forward with antiracism as your guiding principle. You won’t get it it perfect. You won’t, I won’t. But we can commit to being ongoing learners together. Our youth have initiated a powerful conversation, and we applaud them. Now, together with their support, we need to develop a positive relationship that focuses on constructive results.

Moving forward:

• • I will take on my own views on as a learner and ensure that you also have that opportunity.
  • I will advocate for Director Blasi as your next board chair because she is one of the few leaders who have at least the embers of trust from our communities of color.
  • I commit to continuing to learn about racism, the racism our students experience and my own biases, and I will ask you to do the same.
  • I will learn what antiracist work is and what it requires, and I will create space for you as our Board members to learn too.
  • I will denounce Board member affiliations to groups that are considered hate groups, organizations that are discriminatory or have a specific agenda that perpetuates systemic racism.
  • I commit to apologizing specifically for my mistakes and to doing better as I will make more mistakes. But I will tend to this impact every time while centering reparation.
  • I am so committed to this, that I will only continue to do this work if I can have will and the strength to do this even if it means calling you out.
  • I commit to the vision for creating the conditions for safe and welcoming schools, especially for our students of color, which includes an antiracist agenda and truly listening to our communities of color. I urge you to reaffirm your commitment to my contract as well knowing full well my support for anti-racist learning.

I know that you want the process of SRO contracts to be yours as a board. I commit to providing you a deliberate community-centered process related to related to SRO contracts that supports ALL students, specifically our Black students, our queer students, our Latinx students, our Indigenous students, our students with disabilities, our transgender students, our Micronesian students, our immigrant students and every other child that we have the privilege to welcome into our schools. Be learners with an open heart in that process.

I want to thank a number of leaders of color who show up in our communities every day from the NAACP, Mano a Mano, the Coalition for Equality, Causa Oregon, PCUN and Latinos Unidos Siempre. Their leadership pushes me to be better. Certainly, we owe tremendous gratitude to our educators of color – licensed, classified and administrators – who experience racism in our community every day but never let that waiver in their commitment to our students. We must all follow their lead.

Christy Perry, Superintendent