PAGE A2, KEIZERTIMES, NOVEMBER 17, 2017
Origin of new school reporting
guidelines found in court docs
presented by
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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. ”
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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
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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.