SINCE 1979 • VOLUME 40, NO. 19
SECTION A
FEBRUARY 8, 2019
$1.00
Keizer has a reading problem
Roughly 45% of
McNary freshmen
can’t read at
grade level
Remedial
classes nixed,
catch-up falls
to regular
teachers
By MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
It’s no secret low-literacy
levels are a problem in the
United States.
According to ProLiteracy,
more than 30 million adults in
the country cannot read, write
or do math above a third-
grade level.
The issue is now hitting
close to home at McNary
High School with 45 percent
of 501 incoming freshman
reading below grade level,
which caused McNary ad-
ministration to take action.
“We saw that as a challenge.
We wanted to fi gure out ways
to get kids caught up,” Mc-
Nary principal Erik Jespersen
said. “We’re always going to
have kids below grade level,
it just is a little more elevated
this year.”
The issue was discovered
by McNary vice principal Su-
sanne Stefani.
Every year, middle school-
ers in the Salem-Keizer
School District take a Scho-
lastic Reading Inventory Test
(SRI). However, the numbers
were not initially made acces-
sible to McNary administra-
school classes they should be
placed in.
At the start of the school
year, McNary had literacy tu-
torial classes for students who
were defi cient in reading and
By MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
At the start of second se-
mester, which was Jan. 28, the
Salem-Keizer School District
made the decision to discon-
tinue the literacy tutorials, or
any English elective that was
a substitute for students that
were below grade-level in
reading and writing.
“The rest of the district
shifted away from this when we
transitioned to the Common
Core State Standards,” said
Lillian Govus, who is the di-
rector of community relations
and communications for the
Salem-Keizer School District.
“(McNary) had been tracking
kids into a below-grade level
course that they are discontin-
uing next year.”
While McNary Vice Prin-
cipal Susanne Stefani was a
bit caught off guard, she un-
derstood why the decision was
made.
“The concern was with lit
tutorial, but it was also im-
portant to the district that
(students) have access to
[grade nine] English curricu-
lum along with their peers so
Please see READ, Page A6
Please see CATCH-UP, Page A6
KEIZERTIMES/Candace Johnson
Reading inventory scores from the McNary High School incoming freshmen class
show that 45 percent of students can’t read at grade level. Only profi cient and
advanced level scorers were at grade level or above.
tion, much to the dismay of
Stefani.
“It was diffi cult to pin
down someone who could get
me a report,” Stefani said.
In the spring of 2018, Mc-
Nary held a forecasting ses-
sion where students sign up
for classes for the next school
year. Eighth-graders preparing
for their freshmen year would
have their middle school En-
glish teachers send course rec-
ommendations for what high
Celts upset
Saxons on
road
PAGE A14
No Adults
Allowed:
Love is in
the air
PAGE A2
Comment on River
Road future Tuesday
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
First Citizen Vickie Jackson’s dedication to the Keizer community is much more than lip service.
An open house and public
comment workshop on the
Keizer Revitalization Plan is
scheduled Tuesday, Feb 12, at
the Keizer Civic Center.
“This is not a formal work
session, just an opportuni-
ty to see what is being talk-
ed about,” said Nate Brown,
Keizer development director.
The Revitalization Plan
is focused on Keizer’s com-
mercial corridors – River
Road North and Cherry
Avenue North – and what,
if any, action should be tak-
en to streamline aesthetics
and transportation. The plan
is being developed with con-
sultants from OTAK, Inc.,
Johnson Economics and Kit-
tleson and Associates. The
open house will run from 6
to 8 p.m.
“There isn’t a formal pre-
sentation. You can spend as
much, or as little, of your time
as you desire checking out
what you are interested in.
We really want people com-
fortable giving feedback in
an informal and comfortable
setting,” Brown said.
Please see RIVER RD, Page A10
Keizer’s First Citizen
(Wo)man with a plan
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
There is a framed note
inside the meeting room of
AccurAccounts, that explains
why its owner, Vickie Jackson,
was selected as Keizer’s newest
First Citizen.
To paraphrase, it states:
Jackson doesn’t make appoint-
ments between noon and 1:30
p.m. on Thursday because that
time belongs to her commu-
nity.
“It was given to me on the
day I joined Rotary,” Jackson
said. “It’s important to me.”
That is the fi rst thing the
note signals. Jackson joined
the Rotary Club of Keizer
in 1990, and she was just the
sixth female member of the
longstanding Keizer group.
At the time, Jackson was an
employee of AccurAccounts
and she went to her boss to
ask permission.
“She paid for my dues and
we thought it would be a way ry. Jackson was sixth months
to promote the business, I pregnant at the time and an-
might have known otherwise. other member of the club said
You join Rotary to give back he expected her to become a
stay-at-home mom in the near
to the community,” she said.
In her 29 years as a Rotar- future.
“There’s one way to take a
ian, Jackson served as treasur-
er, president (twice, including statement like that, but I heard
being the fi rst female presi- I didn’t need to stay home
dent of the Keizer club) and to be part of my child’s life,
I needed to
has a legacy of
be involved,”
fi nancial do-
Jackson said.
nation
that
After buy-
amounts
to
ing the busi-
$5,000 in sus-
ness from her
tained giving.
boss,
She also led
— Vickie Jackson former
Jackson started
an effort with-
volunteer ing
in the Rota-
ry Club to donate $10,000 one full day a month at Gub-
toward a game room at the ser Elementary School after
Keizer chapter of the Boys & her oldest son, Nicholas, be-
Girls Club on Noren Avenue gan attending there.
“I would help teachers,
Northeast.
However, those accom- read to kids, have lunch with
plishments barely scratch the them and go outside for recess
surface, which also goes back with them. That was part of
to her induction into Rota- Please see JACKSON, Page A10
McNary club
advocates for
inclusion
PAGE A3
It snowed!
“I needed to
be involved.”
South snaps
McNary girls’
win streak
PAGE A11
Submitted
Amelie Bell tosses snow in the air after waking up to discover
she had the day off school Tuesday, Feb. 5. Check out more
reader-submitted photos on Page A4.
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