SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 39, NO. 4
SECTION A
OCTOBER 27, 2017
$1.00
Let’s talk about
Students,
teachers
united
against
reporting
changes
District 'clarifi es' mandatory reporting guidelines
is defi ned in the statute as
sex abuse, so you see our
dilemma,” Perry said. “The
remedy is about clarifi cation
to the law. We're doing our
best to interpret it the way we
think it should be interpreted
but what we can't do is put
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
An expansion of mandatory
reporting policies in the
Salem-Keizer School District
isn't sitting well with teachers
or students at McNary High
School.
Teachers were notifi ed in
the second week of October
that they would need to take
an additional mandatory
reporting training online and,
by early last week, teachers,
students and even parents
were challenging the new
rules in private and through
petition and protest.
“It's really nice to be able
to go to our teachers because
there are some things you
aren't comfortable talking
with your parents about.
The teachers at McNary are
genuinely caring. They want
to help you succeed and be
there as an ear,” said Kimberly
Schott, a McNary junior and
an organizer of a protest in
downtown Salem Monday,
Oct. 23.
“The district wants a safe,
healthy environment, but I
don't feel safe if I can't talk
about some of these issues
without getting reported,”
said Schott.
Schott also initiated an
online petition at change.
org (http://bit.ly/2y1ayDY)
Please see DISTRICT, Page A6
Please see UNITED, Page A6
sex , maybe
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Christy Perry, superinten-
dent of Salem-Keizer Public
Schools, told the Keizertimes
that a state law requiring
teachers to mandatory report
if they have reasonable cause
to believe that two students
under the age of 18 are having
sexual contact isn't new.
The 13 slides sent to
teachers in the Salem-Keizer
School District last week were
a clarifi cation from a question
about mandatory reporting
recently asked by a member of
the community.
“That question came about
so we spent quite a bit of time
with many of our partners in-
cluding law enforcement, de-
partment of human services
and the district
attorney's
of-
fi ce,” Perry said. “ That's probably not the intent of the law but
“We really tried
it's also not our job to guess what the intent
to be careful
of the law is.”
and thoughtful
and really take
— Lillian Govus, Director of Communications, Salem-Keizer School District
scenarios to our
partners and talk
The law comes from
“The
child
abuse
about them before we rolled
this out. Really it's just a clari- Oregon statute 163.315, which mandatory reporting statute
fi cation and for students it says a person is considered is the statute we live under
seems big, I know that, but it's incapable of consenting to a and the defi nition that says a
a clarifi cation for a law that's sexual act if they are under 18 person under the age of 18
is incapable of consenting
years of age.
existed for a long time.”
Couple paves local path
for refugee resettlement
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
In 2015, Keizerites Anya
and Doug Holcomb were
part of a relief team with
the Christian Missionary
Alliance at a refugee
camp near the border of
Greece and Macedonia.
The number of refugees
fl ooding into the camp
was overwhelming, but
stories connected them to
individuals amid the chaos.
Sitting in the dusty camp,
Anya spoke with a young
man who wept as he talked
about having to leave his
elderly parents behind. On
another day, fi ve children
died attempting to cross the
Mediterranean Sea on a raft
and sorrow swept through
the camp.
“They were kids that
many people in the camp
knew,” Anya said.
Anya was struck by the
stories of the hardship the
refugees had endured, but
also by how similar their
families were to hers. The
families
in
the camp har-
bored
hopes
and dreams for
themselves and
their children
not unlike hers
and many, she
realized, never
wanted to leave
their homes.
“It's so easy to just think
of the refugee as an other,
but they are just like us,”
Anya said.
When they returned to
the U.S., the couple expected
to land in the Portland
Submitted
Anya and Doug Holcomb established Salem for Refugees as
an extension of the Salem Leadership Foundation.
area and continue working
with refugees stateside, but
they soon learned that the
organizations working with
refugees were looking for an
alternative (read: cheaper) to
Portland and they found it in
Salem-Keizer.
The offi ce of the United
Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees estimates there
are currently more than 65
million forcibly displaced
people around the globe.
About 22.5 million of those
are registered refugees who
fl ed their home because of
war, persecution, or violence.
More than half of those with
refugee status
are under the
age of 18.
Since 2015,
C a t h o l i c
Charities
and Lutheran
Community
S e r v i c e s
Nor thwest,
which contract
with the federal government,
have resettled about 160
refugees in Keizer and Salem.
They've come from nine
different countries – primarily
from the Middle East and
Please see REFUGEE, Page A8
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
McNary High School students
held a protest of the changes
on the steps of the state Capi-
tol Monday, Oct. 23.
Suspect sought
in 3 burglaries
Keizer Police Department
is seeking help in identifying a
suspect in a string of crimes that
occurred on Sunday, Oct. 22.
At 5 a.m., Keizer offi cers
were called to the scene of a
burglary in the 5800 block
of Kate Lane Northeast.
Investigating offi cers learned
a suspect had entered the
garage rummaged through two
vehicles that were parked inside.
At 6:20 a.m., Keizer offi cers
responded to the report of a
theft from a vehicle in the 6200
block of 11th Avenue Northeast.
A resident awoke to fi nd a man
inside his vehicle parked in his
front of his home. The resident
confronted the suspect and a
physical altercation ensued,
both men were injured in the
scuffl e. The suspect fl ed on
foot and eluded a police search.
Further investigation found that
the suspect had entered the
dwelling and burglarized it.
At 7 a.m., while offi cers
were still on the scene at 11th
Avenue, KPD received a report
of another burglary in the
1200 block of Harmony Drive
Northeast. An investigation led
police to suspect the same man
in both burglaries.
All three burglaries took
place within a fi ve-block area
on the west side of the Gubser
neighborhood.
The suspect is described as a
white male adult, with dark hair
and a dark beard. He is believed
to have entered the 7-Eleven
at 5550 River Road N. about
7:35 a.m. and police are hoping
someone can identify the
suspect from security footage.
Anyone having information
Soccer teams
head to
playoffs
PAGE A11
Pearson
contests
sentence
PAGE A2
For love of
Disney
Submitted
Keizer police are looking for
the man in theses photos in
connection with three Keizer
burglaries, one that included
a physical altercation.
Gridders face
Titans at
home
PAGE A11
is asked to send an email
to Tips@keizer.org or contact
Detective Andrew Phelps
at 503-390-3713, ext. 3497.
Additional video stills are
available on the Keizertimes and
KPD Facebook pages.