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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 17, 2017)
PAGE A2, KEIZERTIMES, NOVEMBER 17, 2017 Origin of new school reporting guidelines found in court docs presented by DRIVE A LITTLE – SAVE A BUNCH! 3893 COMMERCIAL ST SE • SALEM MORE INFO AT NORTHERNLIGHTSTHEATREPUB.COM Lights, Comedy, Laughs! Saturday, NOV 25, at 11:00 am FILM: D ESPICABLE M E 3 [P G ] Sensory Sensitive Show ONLY $4 Special showing for kids and adults with Autism or other sensory sensitivities. LIVE STAND-UP COMEDY! SATURDAY, NOV 18 Mike Masilotti & Richard Chassler 7 pm & 9 pm (21 & Over) Admission only $10. Reserved Seating for this show. UFC218 - Sat, Dec 2 Holloway v. Edgar FEATHERWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT 9 FIGHTS IN ALL ON THE HUGE SCREEN Live Fights at 5:00 (21 & Over) - Tickets $13 Reserved Seating Available Now Online. Today in History Peoples Temple founder Jim Jones leads hundreds of his followers in a mass murder-suicide at their agricultural commune in a remote part of the South American nation of Guyana. Many of Jones’ followers willingly ingested a poison-laced punch while others were forced to do so at gunpoint. The fi nal death toll at Jonestown that day was 909; a third of those who perished were children. — November 17, 1978 Food 4 Thought “Longevity conquers scandal every time.” — Shelby Foote, author The Month Ahead Through Sunday, November 19 The Music Man 10:30 a.m. Nov 9, 7:30 p.m. Nov 10-11 and 17-18, and 2:30 p.m. - Nov 19, The Psalm Center at Corban University, 500 Deer Park Dr Salem. $15 for adults, $12 for students (with ID) and ages 62 and older and $10 for children. Through Saturday, December 2 Pentacle Theatre presents A Christmas Carol, from the classic story by Charles Dickens and adapted by John Mortimer for The Royal Shakespeare Company. Tickets cost $23 for weekday performances and $24 for weekend shows. pentacletheatre.org. Friday, November 17 – Sunday, January 21 Salem’s Riverfront Park will be home to the fi rst seasonal ice rink 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. 116 Marion St. NE. Cost is $12 ages 3 to 12 and $15 13 and older for each 90 minute session (includes skate rental). Saturday, November 18 Pet food drive at Copper Creek Mercantile, 4415 River Road N., 10 a.m.-noon. Co-sponsored by Keizer Veterinary Clinic. Enjoy refreshments as you drop off donations. McNary Athletic Booster Club presents the annual Holiday Bazaar 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at McNary High School. Over 100 local artisans and vendors, food and drinks, raffl e drawing every hour (extra entry into the raffl e drawing) by bringing two items (canned food or hygiene products). Willamette Valley Genealogical Society will meet at noon in Anderson Room A at the Salem Public Library, 585 Liberty St. SE. Pam Vestal will talk about fi nding what you need and making the most of what you fi nd.503-363-0880. Saturday, November 18 – Sunday, November 19 2017 Old Fashion Christmas Show, Jackman-Long Building, Oregon State Fairgrounds. Crafts, art, antiques, food, live entertainment, Candyland Maze to Santa. Hourly drawings. Admission is $5, bring a canned good to benefi t Marion-Polk Food Share. Children under 6 are free. centraloregonshows. com. Empty Bowls, the annual pottery event to support hunger relief at Willamette Art Center in the state fairgrounds in Sa- lem. More than 1,200 handcrafted pottery pieces are on sale to the public, and all proceeds will go to Marion-Polk Food Share. Saturday hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday hours are noon until 4 p.m. while supplies last. By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes Ever since the Salem- Keizer School District issued new guidelines on mandatory reporting, one of the burn- ing questions has been what prompted the change. Keizertimes was able to track a partial evolution of the deci- sion through a series of court documents and a special meet- ing held by the Salem-Keizer School Board in August (see related story, Page A1). Prior to the changes pushed out to teachers in early Octo- ber, SKSD teachers were re- quired to report incidences of suspected neglect or any type of abuse to the Department of Human Services, but the new guidelines expand reporting to most sex-related issues. New instances that require report- ing include: a student inquir- ing about birth control options after admitting to sex with a partner; reports of a pregnancy; a student confi ding in a teach- er after being kicked out of his home for divulging a sexually active, same-sex relationship. Questions about the man- datory reporting guidelines, and how the district should interpret state statutes deal- ing with the issue arose over an incident that took place at McNary High School in May 2012. It would eventually lead to the dismissal of a counselor for allegedly failing to report abuse, a dismissal that was later overturned. After a student diagnosed with autism arrived at school one day, she refused to enter her classroom in the Learning Resource Center. The student was crying and reported a fi ght with her mother as the cause. The 17-year-old was then taken to the counseling offi ce Wednesday, November 24 – Friday, November 26 Visit Santa at Salem’s Riverfront Carousel, 101 Front Street. From noon to 6 p.m. Event is free. Photos with Santa are $10. For more information go to www.salemcarousel.org. Tuesday, November 28 Keizer Public Arts Commission story pole design meeting, 6:30 to 8 p.m. Keizer Civic Center, 980 Chemawa Road N.E. Target audience: middle and high school students. (Continued from Pace A1) Dakolopos said his concern was the introduction of re- porters needing to determine whether sexual gratifi cation was part of a reported incident. “We have never trained, nor has any school district ever trained, mandatory reporters to ask that question because sexual gratifi cation is what law enforcement would have to prove in a sex abuse case,” Da- kopolos said. “There were spe- cifi c words spoken and gestures made in this case. Are the facts as described enough to trigger mandatory reporting? Should the reporter inquire regarding sexual gratifi cation? It’s a com- plicated question that the court of appeals has added: the idea that a reporter could dismiss a report because the touching was not for sexual gratifi cation. That’s a change for all manda- tory reporters. ” 3893 COMMERCIAL ST SE THIS WEEK’S MOVIE TIMES The Mountain Between Us (PG-13) Fri 6:50, 9:00, Sat 8:25, Sun 6:40 All Saints (PG) Fri 6:25, Sat 4:20, Sun 12:20 Flatliners (PG-13) Sat 8:30, Sat 3:50 Dunkirk (PG-13) Sat 12:00, Sun 8:45 Intake day for Keizer Art Association’s December show: Fire and Ice. 3-7 p.m.keizerarts.com. Home Again (PG-13) Fri 4:45, Sat 6:30, Sun 4:10 Friday, December 1 – Saturday, December 23 American Assassin (R) Fri 8:45, Sat 8:45, Sun 4:30, 8:10 Enlightened Theatrics presents A Charles Dickens Christmas. Previews Nov. 29 and 30. Opening night Dec. 1, closing day Dec. 23. Reserved seating admission is $20-$30, youth under 18 are 10 % off. Preview night only, admission is $10. Oregon Thespian Members/Cardholders are free. Friday, December 1 – Tuesday, December 26 Keizer Miracle of Christmas Lights Display, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Gubser neighborhood. Free admission but cash and food donations for the Marion-Polk Food Share are welcome Saturday, December 2 Countryside Christian Church 11th annual holiday bazaar, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.. More than 30 vendors, bake sale and raffl e. Free. 5775 McLeod Lane NE. Santa arrives via helicopter at the Volcanoes Stadium. Free photos and a visit with Santa. Noon to 3 p.m. the father was not included in the contacts and DHS was not contacted. On Nov. 1, 2012, the coun- selor was placed on paid ad- ministrative leave. On Nov. 20, then-Superintendent Sandy Husk recommended dismissal on the grounds including ne- glect of duty and insubordina- tion. The Salem-Keizer School Board upheld the dismissal in January 2013 for neglect of duty and insubordination, but rejected the other reasonings Husk included in her recom- mendation. Members of the Oregon Fair Dismissal Appeals Board sided with the counselor when the matter was appealed citing the counselor’s “reasonable” conclusion that no abuse or sexual contact had occurred based on what the student dis- closed. The board said that the use of the word molest alone was not enough to trigger a mandatory reporting and that the counselor had considered multiple other factors. With- out “reasonable cause” to ex- pect the child was being ne- glected or abused and because the choice to not report was not an act of defi ance, DFAB members concluded that the counselor should be reinstated with back pay in August of 2013. A month later, the school district fi led a petition for re- consideration with DFAB, arguing that the mandatory reporting guidelines had been misinterpreted. However, DFAB stuck with it’s original conclusions. The DFAB decision was then appealed to the Oregon Court of Appeals, which took up the case in March 2017. The appeals court sided with the counselor in a 2-1 decision. In an opinion, Judge James Egan found that while the student told the counselor that she had been inappropri- ately touched, there was not reasonable cause to believe it had been sexual in nature. Egan wrote that reasonable cause was equivalent to reasonable suspi- cion, “a very low evidentiary threshold for deciding that a complaint is founded,” and that there is space for a counselor to exercise personal judgement in determining whether a claim rises to the level of reasonable suspicion. However, the opin- ion also suggests that sexual abuse requires motivation in regard to the arousal or gratifi - cation of sexual desires on the part of either party. A dissenting opinion, writ- ten by Judge Scott Shorr, states the counselor erred when jumping “to the conclusion of ‘horseplay’” in regard to the incident the student reported. Shorr concludes that the coun- selor did not provide enough testimony to substantiate that conclusion. Schorr wrote that the counselor’s conclusion was not based on the student’s de- scription of the contact, how it occurred or where it occurred. After a fuller investigation was launched at the behest of the student’s father, the student provided more graphic and specifi c details to a school re- source offi cer. The mixed message from the court led to special meeting of Salem-Keizer School Board in August 2017. Teens: Help Keizer mold story poles REPORTING: ‘We have never trained ... reporters to ask that question’ Tuesday, November 23 Turkey Dash, presented by the Keizer Chamber of Commerce. 6th Annual 5K fun run-walk. Registration opens at 7 a.m., race starts at 8 a.m. Pre-registration adult $27, youth $15. Day of race registration adult $37, youth $20. Visit www. keizer-chamber.com for more information. where she met with a guid- ance counselor who had been with the district for seven years “who regularly fi led formal re- ports of suspected abuse with no criticism about her reasons or methods for doing so,” ac- cording to a document from the Fair Dismissal Appeals Board of Oregon (FDAB). The counselor asked the student what she needed to talk about and the girl said that her brother molested her “a little more than a year ago.” The counselor wanted to be certain the student knew what she meant by the word “molested” given lower-than- average cognitive abilities. The girl replied that her brother had touched her. When asked where, the student waved her hand in a circular motion from her neck to her stomach. The counselor pressed the issue to fi nd out if there had been any sexual contact, but the student never said anything to make the counselor believe sexual contact occurred. The counsel- or determined that the brother was being a nuisance or simply acting out and did not report the matter to the Depart- ment of Human Services. The counselor did contact the girl’s mother, the custodial parent. Once the counselor and the mother connected, the coun- selor encouraged the woman to talk with both children and the kids’ father. In October 2012, the girl told her father and stepmother that her younger brother had sexually abused her, and told them about the conversation with the counselor in May. The father and stepmother ac- cused the counselor of failing her mandatory reporting du- ties and discrimination against a noncustodial parent since Kingsman: The Golden Circle (R) Fri 6:00, Sat 6:00, Sun 5:30, 7:20 Despicable Me 3 (PG) Fri 2:20, 4:10, Sat 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, Sun 12:00, 1:50, 2:40, 3:40 The Emoji Movie (PG) Fri 3:00, Sat 2:05, Sun 2:25 Leap! (PG) Fri 2:00, 4:30, Sat 12:30, 2:25, Sun 12:45 FOR ALL SHOWTIMES GO TO NORTHERNLIGHTSTHEATREPUB.COM Jim Green, Sheronne Blasi, Jesse Lippold and Chuck Lee supported asking the Supreme Court for additional clarifi ca- tion. Kyllo and Kathy Goss op- posed. Marty Heyen abstained. Keizertimes asked Kyllo how district offi cials got from the vote for judicial clarifi cation to the issuance of new mandatory reporting guidelines. Kyllo responded: “The re- porting guidelines are not new. If you looked at the manda- tory reporting videos required to be watched in other school districts you would fi nd that it is mentioned in those videos. Salem-Keizer has just taken a position to follow the law. No one is being hounded to report the abuse, no one is being mon- itored, and no one is excused from not reporting if there is a complaint or later allegation of abuse made by someone on behalf of an underage student, Is your newspaper advocating that the school district employ- ees be exempt from following the law?” No other school district in Oregon has yet moved to in- clude consensual sex between students in the list of reportable incidents. sudoku The Keizer Public Arts Commission is looking for middle and high school stu- dent to help fl esh out the story on its latest project: the carving of story poles outside the Keizer Civic Center. Commissioners will meet with interested students on Tuesday, Nov. 28. The meeting is scheduled from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The commission is reach- ing out to specifi c target audi- ences with a series of design meetings at the civic center, 980 Chemawa Road N.E. lookinc back in the KT 5 YEARS AGO Chancinc of the (barkinc ) cuard Enter dicits from 1-9 into the blank spaces. Every row must contain one of each dicit. So must every column, as must every 3x3 square. Buster, the new K-9, was in- troduced to a crowd of several dozen people at KPD open house and will be offi cer Ste- phen Richardson’s new part- ner and replaces Axel, who will be the Richardson family pet. 10 YEARS AGO Funcus killinc fowl at Staats State biologists believe a fungal infection caused the deaths of some two dozen geese and seagulls so far at Staats Lake. Wildlife offi cials say this type of thing is not uncommon at all and it’s not something to be alarmed about. 15 YEARS AGO State orders Keizer woman to halt witch website raffl es Crystal Wheeler, 26, agreed to pay a $5,000 penalty. Wheeler operates Witches R Us, an online catalog. Wheeler said she had not known that only tax-exempt, not-for-profi t organizations are permitted to hold raffl es under Oregon law. 20 YEARS AGO Keizer council OKs larcer foster homes - with restrictions By a narrow margin, the Keizer City Council approved new zoning rules to allow larger foster care homes for children.