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.