Salem-Keizer school district

We live in polarized political times. School board elections are part of this dynamic. Sure, it'd be nice if candidates for the Salem-Keizer school board positions on the May 2025 ballot all could be judged individually. But that's not the world we live in. As has been the case recently, there are two slates of candidates, progressive and conservative. A Salem Reporter story about the Zone 7 candidates for the upcoming school board election says: As has become standard in Salem, two ideologically opposed slates of school board candidates are running in the nonpartisan races. Mel Fuller is endorsed by…

I've listened to a lot of talented speakers at Salem City Club programs. Fewbhave impressed me as much as Andrea Castañeda, the superintendent of the Salem-Keizer school district who said that she's been on the job for 81 days as of last Friday. All I can say is, Salem and Keizer are super fortunate to have her heading up the school district. Castañeda came across as deeply caring, highly competent, and most importantly, genuine. That's a quality that can't be faked. It isn't something that can be taught, or pretended, because it springs from the root of who a person…

These days even local elections reverberate with echoes of national controversies. That certainly was the case with yesterday's special district election where three seats on the Salem-Keizer school board were up for grabs.  Two slates of candidates faced off, one progressive and one conservative. The stakes were high, since in 2021 four progressive candidates beat their conservative opponents, putting control of the school board in their hands. There are seven members of the school board, so 4-3 is a majority. This year the three seats occupied by conservatives in 2021 were up for election, though only one was occupied by…

It's sadly predictable. A few weeks before a local election where conservatives face off against progressive candidates, right-wing attack ads sprout like daffodils in the spring -- except the ads are a lot uglier. The May 16 Special District Election is no different.  Last Friday I wrote a post, Sexual assault claim spices up school board candidates forum. After the forum, someone told me that they saw two of the conservative candidates talking with the man who claimed that progressive candidate Cynthia Richardson, a Salem-Keizer schools employee, didn't take seriously a sexual assault that he says happened to his eight-year-old…

Once upon a time school board elections were a sleepy affair. Mostly the problem was finding candidates willing to serve in a position marked by long hours, boring meetings, and no pay. That time has passed for the Salem-Keizer School District. Recent elections have been marked by competing slates of candidates: progressive and conservative. This makes what used to be a nonpartisan election highly political. Politics definitely was on display at today's forum for school board candidates vying for three positions in the May 16 Special District Election. The forum was jointly sponsored by the Salem City Club, Salem Chamber…

Two years ago, four progressive candidates were elected to the Salem-Keizer School Board. As I said in a a blog post congratulating them on their victories, this was a big win for quality education. 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. ...With the four Salem-Keizer school board victories (assuming Cottingham survives the recount), progressives will end the nightmare…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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.…

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…