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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 25, 2020)
SEPTEMBER 25, 2020, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5 COUNCIL: ‘There’s more work to be done’ (Continued from Page A1) cover pretty consistently. It is important to build from a foundation of values, perspectives and issues rather than jump straight into drafting a document,” Clark said Calls for the city to adopt an inclusivity resolution date back at least two years. The City of Salem and the Salem-Keizer School District have both adopted similar resolutions, but most Keizer leaders have balked at every turn. The only councilor adamantly supporting the issue is Councilor Roland Herrera. “It’s frustrating when the city doesn’t make it a high priority,” Herrera said. “We’ve done some good things, but there’s more work to be done and we can’t just keep it on the back burner.” One of the council’s short term goals is looking at diversity among the employees of the city. “The staffi ng goal to address diversity came from both a desire to have city staff attract and retain employees from the same racial and ethnic background as the people of our community as well as remove barriers in recruiting and retaining talented staff,” said Clark. “Action for the city will likely be around how we add steps to ensure we pause and consider how city policies and practices impact the diverse situations of people in our community.” In some ways, the city is moving toward a broader lens in how it approaches city services already. Earlier this year, a group of car enthusiasts were meeting at Keizer Station. It became a concern because some attendees were burning out as they left the gathering. Rather than sitting in the parking lot and issuing tickets, which Keizer Police Chief John Teague felt would only trigger animosity, a Keizer police offi cer tracked down the organizer and discovered he was already attempting to discourage such behavior. “We want to take that ‘equity lens’ approach to how we provide services to the maze people of Keizer and make sure city processes and services are getting the expected benefi ts for everyone,” Clark said. “Will that specifi cally address problems with systemic racism? Yes, because people create and change systems. We can do that” Will this address problems with people behaving in a racist manner toward their neighbor? Partly. By being intentional about considering the diversity of people in our community in how we conduct the business of the city, I hope we send the message that the lives of people of all races and ethnicities matter a great deal.” City Councilor Laura Reid took part in an National League of Cities online conference and made a point of attending a presentation on how cities can make a meaningful impact on issues of race, diversity and inclusion. Reid said the city might be able to make a more concerted effort to “invite local professionals to address civic leaders to help us understand all perspectives, make sure we have equitable economic response and recovery plans for our local businesses, and to look at and gather the Keizer ordinances and policies that are related to this issue and bring them to bear in a concise statement that is easily accessible to the public.” But, Reid said, demonstrating Keizer’s commitment to issues of equity might pop up in other unlikely areas. “We will be looking at our policies surrounding Local Improvement Districts (most notably streetlights and sidewalks) to see if there is a way we can make those more equitable,” Reid said. “Driving all our efforts is the belief that the best approach is to identify what needs to be done and do it and not just do something to make ourselves feel better. By making life fair for our citizens, we make a better Keizer for all of us.” INCLUSIVE, continued from Page A1 agree with those that verbally or physically harass them. • In eastern Oregon, the City of Hermiston has a His- panic Advisory Committee that meets monthly to provide touchstone “the city's His- panic community can contact with their issues, concerns, and problems which relate” to mu- nicpal actions. It also provides recommendations regarding city actions and informs city leaders on potential impacts on the Latinx population. • Fairfax, Cailf., formed the Racial Equity Committee comprised of city councilors, residents and youth members focused on “actively disman- SKPS, continued from Page A1 resignations of Marty Hey- en and Paul Kyllo. Heyen has been accused of being a part of white supremacist groups and Kyllo has been heavily criti- cized for holding up a card- board mask of Cliff Robinson, a former Portland Trail Blaz- ers player, during a March 30 meeting. “We have asked numerous times for the resignations of Marty Heyen and Paul Kyllo. They have not resigned and we want to know why. Your silence to this question has demonstrated that not only have you ignored us, you have a lack of empathy and a lack of respect to our community,” said one commenter. Another commenter add- ed that he believes that SROs contribute to the school-to- prison pipeline for Black, In- digenous and people of color (BIPOC). “We must think differently about the way we discipline our students… We must use a new approach to keep our students safe, our classrooms orderly and all of our students succeeding in school.” tling and eradicating systemic and individual racism, bigotry, and discrimination within our town, in an effort to create a Fairfax that is explicitly anti- racist, equitable, and inclusive in both word and deed.” • The City of Madison, Wis., had department leaders and teams of city employees meet with residents to address how services are delivered. One tan- gible outcome was providing lighting to basketball courts for evening usage. • Focusing on transit-ori- ented community develop- ment. Moving toward growth that focused on moving resi- dents around without automo- biles has allowed the metropol- itan areas around Washington, D.C., to create housing in the space recouped from vehicle storage. Fairfax County, Va., works with developers to en- sure that 20% of all residential units are affordable to those making 50% to 120% of the area’s median income. • The City of Boston part- nered with a non-profi t to conduct a six-month series of race dialogues in neigh- borhoods throughout the city. Trained facilitators were brought in to guide conver- sations and arrive at potential solutions. While each city is on a path tailored to its residents, The National League of Cities, in a report titled Advancing Ra- cial Equity In Your City, cites making a public declaration of commitment to racial equity as one of the necessary fi rst steps to meaningful change. A few people also were asking for the resignation of Kathy Goss as well, and many others cited how Portland Public Schools, the largest dis- trict in the state, announced in June that they would no longer have SROs patrol the hallways. Before public testimo- ny, board chairperson Satya Chandragiri asked for civility and respect from callers. While most abided, there were a few callers that dismissed Chandra- giri’s plea — one commenter called Heyen a “raggedy white supremacist.” The caller was cut off before he could fi nish his insult of Kyllo. Chandragiri cut off a num- ber of callers, some of whom were students, for either not sticking to the agenda or for not keeping the conversation civil, which led to even more criticism of callers and a pub- lic scolding from fellow board member Sheronne Blasi. “I am very saddened and disappointed by the way our students have been treated this evening when they called in. I don’t know if I have ever seen students cut off during their conversations during their time,” Blasi said. “To have our students of color’s voices si- lenced tonight, that is why they are calling, because that has been what is happening. Our students of color and our families of color feel as though this board is not listening. We have to do better.” Winning the Superinten- dent award didn’t make Perry immune to criticism either. “I don’t understand why this is happening. Why is she getting praised for saying only words of anti-racism but not actually doing anything,” one caller said. Later in the meeting, the board offi cially adopted a res- olution regarding safe and wel- coming schools — this resolu- tion was fi rst initiated as part of policy in January 2017, with the action to include annual affi rmation of the resolution. “This resolution is perhaps the most important resolu- tion. There is no equity with- out safety,” Chandragiri said. “When safety gets compro- mised, people get polarized.” The board also approved the time from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 as Hispanic Heritage Month, celebrating the contributions of Americans whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and South America. Assistant superintendent Kraig Sproles addressed the board and went over many of the issues that have gone on during the fi rst week of online learning. The district originally in- tended on beginning their CDL program on Tuesday, Sept. 15. But due to Salem-Keiz- er area being engulfed with smoke because of the wild- fi res in east Marion County, the fi rst day of school for the vast majority of students didn’t come until Thursday, Sept. 17. Sproles admitted that the district experienced a bumpy fi rst few days of distance learn- ing. Hardware issues, power and network outages, district phone systems being overload- ed, Chromebook start-up is- sues and Zoom problems were just a handful of the issues the district experienced while try- ing to facilitate online learning. “A lot of these issues are not unique to Salem-Keizer. They are issues that are being expe- rienced across several districts,” Sproles said. Sproles told the board that some of the issues with Chromebooks and Zoom have been resolved and that they are currently in the process of securing more phone lines, which should be fi nalized next week. sudoku Maze by Jonathan Graf of Keizer crossword Enter digits from 1-9 into the blank spac- es. Every row must contain one of each digit. So must every column, as must every 3x3 square.
