Salem Political Snark

Wacko group fails to recall Salem-Keizer school board members

The good news is that Salem Keizer We Stand Together, a wacko group that sees "wokeness" as the biggest problem in our children's education, failed to get enough signatures to recall three school board members who didn't conform to the group's extreme right-wing agenda.

None of the three Salem-Keizer Public Schools governing board members targeted in a recall effort will be removed since petitioners failed to collect enough signatures before the deadline.

Casity Troutt, vice president of the parent advocacy group Salem-Keizer We Stand Together, filed paperwork on Aug. 25 to recall board Chairwoman Ashley Carson Cottingham, former Chairman Osvaldo Avila and co-Vice Chairwoman Karina Guzmán Ortiz.

Brian Van Bergen in the Marion County Clerk's Office said none of the three proposed recalls was able to collect enough signatures before the deadline.

The bad news is that Salem Keizer We Stand Together (the gr0up doesn't use a hyphen) almost certainly is going to continue to meddle in the education of children in our area, having drunk the Trumpian Kool-Aid fantasy that our nation's schools are a hotbed of Critical Race Theory, LGBTQ grooming, and socialist propaganda.

Back in February of this year I wrote, "Salem Keizer We Stand Together is a wacko school group." Here's how that post ended.

After reading the Statesman Journal story, my initial inclination was to write about how wrong Salem Keizer We Stand Together is on issues involving racial justice, LGBTQ rights, public health/Covid, and such.

But I changed my mind about this after realizing that Salem Keizer We Stand Together isn't interested in bringing reasonable conservative views into discussions of school policies.

To echo the Free Oregon web site, it seems clear to me that Salem Keizer We Stand Together is a group of power thirsty ideologues who care much more about promoting their Trumpist political agenda than in improving local schools.

So don't be fooled into believing that Salem Keizer We Stand Together is a bunch of reasonable conservatives who want to bring some balance to the current progressive leaning of the school board. If that was what they wanted, they'd work harder on winning school board elections.

No, Salem Keizer We Stand Together is very much in the mold of Moms for Liberty, the subject of a fascinating story in the November 7, 2022 issue of The New Yorker, Class Warfare: School boards are being attacked by partisan saboteurs.

That story on The New Yorker web site is titled: The Right-Wing Mothers Fueling the School-Board Wars. It has the apt subtitle: "Moms for Liberty claims that teachers are indoctrinating students with dangerous ideologies. But is the group’s aim protecting kids—or scaring parents?"
Download The Right-Wing Mothers Fuelling the School-Board Wars | The New Yorker

Basically Moms for Liberty made up crap about the English and Language Arts curriculum in a Tennessee school district (Wit & Wisdom) that had been carefully reviewed before being adopted, and was well liked by  both teachers and students.

But just as Salem Keizer We Stand Together sees the mirage of Critical Race Theory and woke leftism wherever they cast their Fox News loving eyes, so did Moms for Liberty. Resistance eventually surfaced to the Moms for Liberty agenda, as described in the story.

Moms for Liberty members were portraying Wit & Wisdom as “critical race theory” in disguise. Garrett found this baffling. C.R.T., a complex academic framework that examines the systemic ways in which racism has shaped American society, is explored at the university level or higher. As far as the board knew, Williamson County Schools had never introduced the concept.

...The Antis jeered at speakers who expressed support for Golden or the district’s diversity efforts. They mocked a woman whose daughters had experienced anti-Asian slurs at school. The mom told the board, “I’ve heard people say that teaching these parts of our history is ‘racist’ or ‘traumatic.’ What’s traumatic is Black, Latino, Asian, and L.G.B.T.Q. kids going to schools where they face discrimination and don’t feel safe.”

A local psychologist, Alanna Truss, said, “I’m yet to see a child in my practice who’s been traumatized by our county’s curriculum choices. I have, however, seen many students experiencing trauma due to being discriminated against and bullied within our schools, related to race, religion, gender, and sexuality.”

I invite you to check out the Salem Keizer We Stand Together web site. It's filled with so many lies I had difficulty choosing one to share in this post. I settled on an excerpt from a Daily Caller story that's featured on the home page. Here's how the story starts out. Like I said, lies piled upon lies.

It’s back to school! You bought all the school supplies and new clothes, but what about insulating your children against school indoctrination? Sadly, indoctrination resistance is now part of going back to school so you must stay vigilant and teach your children personal boundaries.

Lesson plans about “social identity,” which may be called Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), Critical Race Theory, cultural competency, or other names, obliterate the personal boundaries of children in order to break down kids emotionally and build them back up as social justice activists.

The process involves forging emotional bonds to influence children to become political proteges of the teachers and peers that emotionally manipulated them. Adopting leftists’ mindsets and behaviors becomes an act of loyalty to a collective identity that is prioritized over individual human value.

Three Salem-Keizer school board members targeted for recall

Thanks to the Salem Reporter, which scooped the Statesman Journal on this important story, we know that an effort is underway to recall three progressive Salem-Keizer school board members elected in 2021.

Here's how the story by Rachel Alexander starts off.

A Salem parent is seeking to recall three members of the Salem-Keizer School Board, alleging they have been dismissive of parents with differing political views and failed to prioritize the education of students.

Casity Troutt filed petitions to recall board Chair Ashley Carson Cottingham, former Chair Osvaldo Avila, and Second Vice Chair Karina Guzmán Ortiz with the Marion County Clerk on Aug. 25. All three were elected to four-year terms in 2021.

Her petitions reference all three board members voting in August to ban people with concealed carry permits from carrying firearms on school grounds, board members’ support for retaining challenged books about gender and sexuality in school libraries and their handling of public comment during school board meetings.

So one big problem Troutt has with Avila, Carson Cottingham, and Ortiz is that they were against people carrying firearms on school grounds and in favor of keeping books in school libraries. Sounds good to me.

Sure seems like these aren't the sort of transgressions that justify recalling school board members, but then I don't have any sympathy for right-wingers who are trying to control school boards around the country in an effort to force their archaic view of America onto students who, by and large, reject their outdated attitudes.

The Salem Reporter story includes copies of Troutt's recall petitions. See:
Download Osvaldo-avila-recall-petition
Download Ashley-carson-cottingham-recall-petition
Download Karina-guzman-ortiz-recall-petition

They make for entertaining reading, because they provide a peek into the mindset of someone who wrongly sees horrendous things happening to students because the school board members have a reasonable 21st century approach to education.

For example, Avila is accused of saying that educators have the primary responsibility for educating students, not parents. Given my own educational experience and that of my daughter, who attended Salem-Keizer schools from first grade until she graduated from South High, Avila is absolutely correct. 

Carson Cottingham's infractions include being in favor of school based health centers and equal rights for transgender students. Again, this strikes me as entirely appropriate. But then, I don't subscribe to conspiracy theories about how "woke" liberal notions are ruining schools.

Ortiz' sin against the restricted view of reality favored by extreme MAGA Trumpists is that she views racism as being part of the structure of American society. There's room for disagreement about how extreme this structural racism is today, but little or no doubt that it exists.

Look: I'm completely in favor of conservatives having just as much say in how Salem-Keizer schools are run as liberals do. If the school board hasn't made conservatives feel welcome at board meetings, that's a problem which needs addressing. 

However, it doesn't make sense to recall these three school board members for simply acting in accord with their conscience, not for any sort of wrongdoing. In 2021 the conservative slate of school board candidates was rejected by voters.

The right way for conservatives to rectify this is to work harder to win school board elections. The wrong way is to attempt a recall of three duly-elected school board members just because their progressive views rub conservatives the wrong way.

Salem Keizer We Stand Together is a wacko school group

Today the Statesman Journal ran a lengthy subscriber-only story by Natalie Pate, "School boards in the Mid-Valley and beyond have become political battlegrounds." 

It's well worth reading.

In looking the story over again before writing this blog post, my attention was hijacked by a mention early on about Salem Keizer We Stand Together, a group dedicated to the false conspiracy theory that our local schools are hotbeds of leftist teachers and administrators pushing students to embrace critical race theory, premarital sex, Marxism, and a LGBTQ sexual orientation.

But the story almost makes Salem Keizer We Stand Together sound reasonable. 

What curriculum is taught, how schools respond to the ongoing pandemic and where educators stand on issues of race, gender identity and sexuality are increasingly being debated in board rooms across the United States.

And though Salem-Keizer school board members are elected as nonpartisan representatives, more and more political action committees and organizations have been throwing tens of thousands of dollars into these races, hoping candidates who hold the same values win. 

While those in Salem Keizer We Stand Together see themselves as a group of concerned individuals fighting for the safety and wellbeing of their students, others see many of the things they're advocating for as dangerous.

For the full Statesman Journal story click here.

Yeah, count me in that group. I definitely think this group is dangerous.

Not because they're conservative, since even though most conservatives these days have joined the fact-free Cult of Trump, there's still plenty of reasonable people who inhabit the right side of the political spectrum.

What instantly turned me off about Salem Keizer We Stand Together after I visited their web site was the invitation at the top of the home page to come to a forum today, February 6, featuring Jeanette Schade. 

Since this screenshot is rather hard to read, I've copied in below how Schade is described. I've boldfaced the especially crazy parts.

As you read what follows, ask yourself if you want students in the Salem-Keizer School District taught in line with how Schade views the world.

Jeanette Schade | Chief Intelligence Officer  

Jeanette has been in public school education, in multiple states, for more than 24 years as a certified classroom teacher. As an advocate for American values and equality, she has been fighting against Marxist indoctrination throughout her career. In May 2021 she ran a nationally recognized Beaverton school board campaign in fierce opposition to Critical Race Theory (“CRT”) and Comprehensive Sex Education (“CSE”). She was featured on Fox News, News Max and the Glenn Beck show.
 
She was publicly doxed by Antifa and teachers’ unions but refused to back down. While her race for Beaverton School Board was lost, among legitimate indications of election fraud, her message to parents in the Beaverton area was a huge success. Post-election, Jeanette focused her energy to expose corruption and indoctrination in the Beaverton School District deploying FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) and Public Records Requests. As a result of her efforts she mastered the PRR process, exposing scandalous (and illegal) financial activities by district administrators and undeniable institutionalization of Marxist ideologies.
 
Jeanette is the Founder of Build Back Basics in Education. In her activism she has trained numerous parents and concerned citizens, across the state of Oregon, to successfully execute the Public Records Request process. She leads the team of analysts at Free Oregon as the Chief Intelligence Officer and is our leading expert on public school policy.

My rule of thumb is that one mention of Marxism brands you as a crazy right-winger, but Schade squeezed in two mentions in three paragraphs, so she earns my Wacko Right-Winger designation.

 

Her association with Free Oregon confirms that designation, since that group's web site says: "Upon decades of Marxist indoctrination in our government schools, power thirsty ideologs [sic] have used Covid-19 to springboard the 'Great Reset' on American civil liberty."

OK. But I doubt it was Marxist indoctrination that caused the folks at Free Oregon to not learn how to spell "ideologues."

After reading the Statesman Journal story, my initial inclination was to write about how wrong Salem Keizer We Stand Together is on issues involving racial justice, LGBTQ rights, public health/Covid, and such.

But I changed my mind about this after realizing that Salem Keizer We Stand Together isn't interested in bringing reasonable conservative views into discussions of school policies.

To echo the Free Oregon web site, it seems clear to me that Salem Keizer We Stand Together is a group of power thirsty ideologues who care much more about promoting their Trumpist political agenda than in improving local schools.

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.