PAGE A2, KEIZERTIMES, JULY 10, 2020
KeizerCommunity
KEIZERTIMES.COM
An Eagle has landed
The members of the Peg-
gy & Jerry Moore Community
Garden will be sitting in style
thanks to an Eagle Scout project
by Palmer Snapp.
Snapp and a team of assistants
restored a wrought iron bench
and two matching chairs then
devilered them to the garden
Tuesday, June 30.
With the project complete,
Snapp is eligible for prototion to
Eagle Scout as part of the Boy
Scouts of America.
The garden is located in
Chalmers Jones Park.
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Whiteaker welcomes
new principal
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
After working at Houck
Middle School for nearly a de-
cade, Suzanne Leonard will be
taking over as the new principal
at Whiteaker Middle School for
the 2020-21 school year.
Leonard will be taking the
place of Julia DeWitt, who has
been the principal at Whiteaker
since 2014 — DeWitt is trad-
ing places with Leonard and
will now take on the same role
at Houck.
“I am extremely excited
to be at Whiteaker and to be
around a staff that is so commit-
ted to serving the school and
the community,” Leonard said.
Despite it being a tumul-
tuous time to be an adminis-
trator due to the COVID-19
pandemic, Leonard is entering
the Whiteaker community at a
unique time when part of the
school is getting a structural
makeover.
Whiteaker’s bond construc-
tion started earlier this summer
and features renovations to the
gym fl oor and a science class-
room, as well as safety improve-
ments, including a secure front
entrance, offi ce renovations and
a secured vestibule.
However, the school is also
keeping parts of the original
gym for nostalgic purposes.
“I feel like the work being
done will best utilize the space
that we have and allow us to be
more effi cient and effective,”
Leonard said. “But we want to
preserve the memories of the
old gym and keep the nostalgia
alive for the Keizer communi-
ty.”
When Leonard fi rst started
at Houck in 2012, she was an
instructional math coach, work-
Suzanne Leonard
ing through different strategies
with students and teachers for
desired outcomes.
However, after two years,
Leonard realized that she want-
ed her impact on students to go
further.
“I wanted to strive to reach
all kids with contact and en-
gagement. That’s what motivat-
ed me to get into administra-
tion,” Leonard said.
In 2014, Leonard was named
the assistant principal at Houck.
Three years later, she was pro-
moted to her fi rst head princi-
pal position.
Leonard describes herself as
a detail-oriented thinker that is
big on social-emotional learn-
ing and serving the individual
needs of students. Her math
background also has a heavy
infl uence in how she views
education. But Leonard says
her biggest asset as a principal
is how she is able to develop
relationships with her students
and staff.
“I feel like one of my great-
est strengths is being highly
relational. That will be at the
forefront of this transition,”
Leonard said.
Having multi-tiered support
systems in place is another key
priority for Leonard. While she
doesn’t have any immediate
large-scale plans, Leonard will
be looking for multitudes of
ways to improve the school.
“My job is to come in, see
what we have in place and look
to strengthen it,” Leonard said.
“It will involve a lot of listen-
ing.”
Leonard has lived in Salem
for the majority of her life —
graduating from South Salem
High School in 1981 — so
branching out into Keizer and
serving the community is one
of the things she’s most look-
ing forward to about this school
year.
“I have lived in Salem for a
long time, so I’m looking for-
ward to spread my roots and
become a part of the Keizer
community,” Leonard said “I’m
hoping to join the Keizer Ro-
tary or any other public ser-
vice.”
Pandemic sidelined fl ags on 4th
By LAUREN MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
Several Keizer residents
took to Facebook this week-
end to announce their disap-
proval of the lack of fl ags dis-
played by the city for on the
Fourth of July.
“I was driving River Road
this morning and noted the
absence of our fl ags on this
Independence Day. This was
very disturbing and sadden-
ing, especially on this day,”
one resident commented in a
local Keizer Facebook group.
It was brought to the atten-
tion of city councilor Eliza-
beth Smith, who admitted she
did not know what happened
with the fl ags.
“Thank you for asking
about this. I apologize for
not knowing the answer im-
mediately, but I did fi nd out,”
Smith said in the comments
of the original post. “Due
to Covid related issues- The
[Keizer Fire District] Explor-
ers, who usually do this for
our community, were unable
to put them up...”
Smith continued to say
that it was unfortunate that
it fell through the cracks and
the city would work to pre-
vent future oversights form
happening again. She later
commented that she is cre-
ating a list of volunteers to
serve as a back up plan in case
The Explorers are unable to
do it again. People interested
in volunteering should email
their contact information to
SmithE@Keizer.org.
Mayor Cathy Clark also
commented on the post and
said, “...When we have reli-
able groups who do this year
after year, it does not occur to
us that it won’t happen until it
doesn’t...”
The fl ags are usually put
up by The Explorers, who are
part of the Keizer Fire De-
partment. They are 14-
to 18-years-olds who are
exploring a what a career
with the fi re department
would look like.
“With COVID-19 this
year, they have not been
meeting to protect them
from the higher chance
of exposure here at the
fi re station,” said Deputy
Fire Marshal Anne-Ma-
rie Storms in a statement
to the Keizertimes. “The
job was passed to a vol-
unteer fi refi ghter who is
now in quarantine due to
a COVID-19 exposure
along with six career fi re-
fi ghters. This staffi ng shortage
meant we were scrambling to
ensure our emergency calls
were being handled, and we
overlooked the fl ags going
up.”
Storms said Keizer Fire
District was made aware of
the fl ags not being placed but
were busy responding to the
29 emergency calls they re-
ceived that day.
“When we overlooked
putting the fl ags up, there was
no political motive or an-
“There was no
political motive
or anti-American
or government
stance. We are
just human and
overlooked the
fl ags.”
— Ann-Marie Storms
KFD spokesperson
ti-American or government
stance. We are just human and
overlooked the fl ags,” Storms
said in the statement.
In the city council meet-
ing on Monday, July 6, Smith
apologized to the community
for the oversight, “That was
just a break down in commu-
nication ... I did see a lot of
people were very upset about
that so I personally wanted to
apologize for that and let you
know that we’ll do better.”
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WE TAKE
PRIDE
in being staff ed better than
any other senior living
community
COVID-19
has created a
greater need for
donations to the
Keizer Community
Food Bank
Please consider
donating food or
fi nancial help.
Come See the Finest in Senior Living
CALL (503) 390 -1300
1165 McGee Ct NE • Keizer, OR • VillageAtKeizerRidge.com