PAGE A10, KEIZERTIMES, DECEMBER 15, 2017
Fire District invites Santa for breakfast
A
B
C
D
The Keizer Fire Dis-
trict served up hun-
dreds of breakfast plates
on Sunday, Dec. 10, as
part of the annual Santa
breakfast.
The Man-in-Red
returns this Saturday,
Dec. 16 to hand out
candy canes while rid-
ing along with district
crews on ambulances
and fi re trucks.
A: KFD volunteers and
staff cook up breakfast.
B: Dane Gage tries his
hand as a driver.
C: Matthew, Jackson
and Katie mug for the
camera.
D: Ezra Goode gets a
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald photo with Santa.
School board get fi rst look at fi nal bond
By HERB SWETT
Of the Keizertimes
First reading of a $619.7
million general obligation
bond proposal, scheduled for
the May 2018 election, was
approved by the Salem-Keiz-
er School Board on Tuesday.
The bond would pay for
easing crowding in class-
rooms and infrastructure,
prioritizing health and safety
projects, special education
classrooms in the compre-
hensive high schools, seismic
assessment, land acquisition,
and other program consider-
ations.
Michael Wolfe, district
chief operating offi cer, re-
viewed the history of the
proposal. A district task force,
he said, started work on a
bond proposal in Novem-
ber 2016 and fi nished it in
March of this year with rec-
ommendations totaling $766
million.
After meetings with staff
at 28 schools and board ses-
sions with the community,
the board held several work
sessions and directed staff to
prepare a recommendation
for a bond not to exceed
$620 million. After consid-
ering several program addi-
tion and reduction propos-
als, staff arrived at a total of
$627.7 million that would be
partly matched by an $8 mil-
lion grant from the Oregon
School Capital Improvement
Matching program award.
Safety measures in the
proposal include addition of
a sidewalk on the east side
of Cummings Elementary
School and redesigning of
the main entrance to Mc-
Nary High School.
In other business, the
crossword
board approved an Oregon
School Boards Association
resolution to reorganize
OSBA as a nonprofi t corpo-
ration and adopt a new set of
bylaws. It also voted for one
of its members, Jesse Lippold,
to be the Marion region’s
member of the OSBA Leg-
islative Policy Committee.
The board accepted four
grants, including $1,014,172
from the Oregon Depart-
ment of Education to devel-
op language skills for English
learners. Another ODE grant
provides $133,110 for educa-
tional programs for migrant
school children. The remain-
ing grants are $886,264 from
the state Department of
Human Services for opera-
tion of the Youth Transition
Program and $1,900 from
the Siletz Tribal Charitable
Contribution Fund for In-
dian Education’s Graduation
Celebration Ceremony.
Personnel actions ap-
proved by the board included
the following in the McNary
attendance area:
Temporary full-time con-
tracts for Joseph Berends at
McNary and Linda Wilson at
Kennedy Elementary School.
Retirement of Kathleen
Roberson, McNary.
Resignation of Matthew
Williams, Claggett Creek
Middle School.
The Spotlight on Success
portion of the meeting hon-
ored Addison Symington,
fourth-grader at Clear Lake
Elementary School, as the
City of Keizer 2017 Holiday
Card Art Contest winner.
Don’t grieve
alone this
holiday
Grief and depression can
hit hard during the holidays,
especially if you’ve lost a loved
one — whether it was recent-
ly or years ago.
The Salem Health Foun-
dation will host its second
annual Longest Night of the
Year, A Candlelight Vigil of Re-
membrance on Dec. 21 (Winter
Solstice) from 7 to 8 p.m. in
the courtyard between Build-
ings A and C on the Salem
Hospital campus.
The free outdoor event
features readings, music and a
candle-lighting ceremony. All
are welcome and should dress
for cold weather.
“While everyone experi-
ences grief differently, healing
happens best in community,”
said Salem Health Spiritual
Care Supervisor Ken Morse.
“This event will bring us to-
gether in healing and remem-
brance.”
The Community Health
Education Center (CHEC)
library has many resources to
help with holiday depression
and grief. Call 503-814-2325
(CHEC) for more informa-
tion.