WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2020 ❚ SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
Silverton teachers, district still split on terms
Natalie Pate and Bill Poehler
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
After their latest round of mediation, Silverton
teachers and Silver Falls School District officials still
have not reached an agreement on contract negotia-
tions, putting educators one step closer to striking.
Union leaders argue working conditions — not
money — is the largest issue, pointing to major con-
cerns around teacher evaluations and involuntary
transfers.
District officials would not comment to the States-
man Journal on these issues, but said they hope to re-
lease more information in the coming days.
District leadership would like another day of media-
tion. Union leaders said they are considering the re-
quest.
Silver Falls Education Association representatives
and the district’s bargaining team have been in media-
tion since Jan. 13, and in contract negotiations since
last spring.
Teachers in the Silverton-based district have been
working under an expired contract since June.
Wednesday was the final scheduled day for talks
between the two sides.
More than 200 members of the association have
signed pledge-to-strike forms, indicating their inten-
tion to strike over better working conditions for educa-
tors across the district.
By state law, if an agreement is not reached in the 15
days of mediation — by Monday, Jan. 27 — the two
parties will enter a seven-day final offer and coasting
period, followed by a 30-day cooling off period, before
they can formally strike, meaning they could poten-
tially strike in about 40 days.
Association officials argue Wednesday’s meeting
ended with “the district failing to move on issues
around teacher evaluation and appropriate teacher
transfer protections.”
“We cannot in good faith continue to allow for the
mistreatment of teachers, and we continue to demand
a contract that will hold the district accountable,” said
association president Michelle Stadeli.
“What felt like a productive day blew up in the 11th
hour because of issues affecting teachers and students
— not money,” she said. “We stand in our commitment
to our students and the basic protection of the educa-
tors who serve them.”
Concerns: evaluations, transfers
Among their concerns, association members have
asked that a minimum 15-minute formal, annual eval-
uation be written into the contract.
This would align with current Oregon law, and asso-
ciation leaders said it would require collaboration be-
tween the district, teachers, administrators and col-
lective bargaining representatives to “create a sound
system of evaluation for teachers.”
As the contract currently stands, association lead-
See SILVERTON, Page 4A
Sex, lies and
cellphones
Reports of misconduct at Coffee
Creek women’s prison persist
despite promises of a crackdown
Whitney Woodworth
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
A 30-unit apartment complex is under construction in Jefferson on Jan. 22, 2020.
ANNA REED / STATESMAN JOURNAL
Rural cities struggle
with housing prices
Bill Poehler
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Living in Jefferson is becoming less of an option for
many people who work in the city.
Like many rural cities in Oregon, new home con-
struction in Jefferson lags far behind the expanding
population. While the city added nearly 600 residents
from 2010 to 2019 — 22 percent growth — few new res-
idences were built.
Only three or four new homes have been built each
year over the past decade, according to Jefferson May-
or Michael Myers, which has led to soaring prices for
existing properties and a lack of affordable housing in
the rural city.
“There’s only a handful of teachers that actually
live in Jefferson,” Myers said. “When a teacher can’t
afford to live in the community, that doesn’t speak
well for it.”
A long-needed, 30-unit apartment complex is un-
der construction in the heart of the city of 3,200 in
south Marion County on the banks of the Santiam
River, but it won't make a dent its need for housing.
Jefferson isn't an isolated case. To solve the short-
fall of affordable housing in Marion County an esti-
mated 7,215 new affordable units would need to be
built, according to a 2018 Oregon Housing Alliance re-
port.
Jefferson would seem to be the model for a city
primed for rapid expansion.
Jefferson has plenty of developable land since it
annexed 15 acres in the southeast part of the city in
2017, a low tax rate, capacity in its infrastructure in-
cluding new sewer and water treatment plants, a
school district which is building new elementary and
middle schools and easy access to Interstate 5 with a
15-minute drive from larger cities like Salem and Al-
bany.
Myers said Jefferson is starting to look at its pol-
icies to see if it can encourage construction of afford-
able housing, following the lead of nearby cities like
Turner, Lyons, Sublimity and Donald.
“The bottom line is if we have more housing than
people, we would have lower prices for houses,” Mar-
ion County Commissioner Colm Willis said.
See HOUSING, Page 3A
Corban wrestling continues
building culture in first year
Pete Martini
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Keegan Davis has had tremendous success in his
wrestling career.
A two-time OSAA state champion at Sprague High
School, Davis went on in college to qualify for the
NCAA National Tournament twice while competing at
Oregon State.
But in the fall of 2018, Davis took on what might be
his biggest challenge yet in sport — build a college
wrestling program from the ground up at Corban Uni-
versity.
An inmate at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility
says that for months a corrections officer brought
drugs into the prison for her to sell, smuggled her a
cell phone and had sex with her and another female
inmate on two occasions.
The accusations are the latest among dozens of
staff misconduct cases to surface in recent years at
Oregon’s only women’s prison.
The man at the center of the most recent accusa-
tions — 31-year-old Richard S. Alberts II — faces trial
in February on federal drug trafficking charges for al-
legedly smuggling meth and heroin into Coffee
Creek.
An investigation began last spring when prison
staff reported Alberts might be having sexual rela-
tions with inmates. That investigation was reported-
ly dropped, and the inmates were later placed in iso-
lation for refusing to cooperate.
But it led to a drug trafficking investigation by the
FBI.
Sex abuse and misconduct cases, including about
10 active lawsuits against the state, have plagued the
Wilsonville prison since it opened in 2001 and
through seven superintendent changes.
The allegations and convictions have ranged from
rape and sexual assault to drug smuggling and sexual
contact — contact that an inmate can’t legally con-
sent to because of the power dynamics of being in-
carcerated.
The accusations run counter to promises made by
Oregon Department of Corrections officials to crack
down on staff misconduct, adhere to standards to
stop sexual contact and eliminate gaps in surveil-
lance.
In the latest case, the woman reached out to the
Statesman Journal about the alleged misconduct at
Coffee Creek.
She said Alberts seemed to smuggle in drugs and
cell phones with ease and found locations out of
range of prison cameras to engage in sexual contact.
The woman is not being identified because she
fears retaliation, saying she was one of the inmates
placed in months-long isolation in June after police
began investigating Alberts.
The Statesman Journal spoke with multiple rela-
tives and inmates at Coffee Creek about her account.
They confirmed the lockdown that ensued after Al-
berts was investigated, the contact that occurred on
the cell phone and that she disclosed having sexual
contact with Alberts.
The inmate also was able to provide photographs
taken inside the prison and text messages sent on the
smuggled phone.
She said during a sexual encounter in a prison
closet, Alberts allegedly asked another female in-
mate keeping lookout to join them in a threesome
See PRISON, Page 3B
“It did seem like a big undertaking, so I was a little
reluctant at first, but I thought about it, and I thought
about the impact I could have on the guys in that con-
text,” said Davis, who previously had coached at the
high school level. “The more I thought about it, the
more I realized that it was something I needed. The
impact that I’m having here, and the relationships I’m
building, are super rewarding.”
Corban’s wrestling program is 5-7 in its first sea-
son, and Davis, his coaching staff and his wrestlers
are working to establish a culture that will carry on for
years to come.
See WRESTLING, Page 2A
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A corrections officer puts ankle cuffs on inmates at
Oregon Women’s Correctional Center as they get
ready to load a bus to their new home at the Coffee
Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville in 2004.
STATESMAN JOURNAL FILE