PAGE A12, KEIZERTIMES, OCTOBER 15, 2021
Salem-Keizer’s increasingly diverse students
continue to be taught primarily by white teachers
100
KEIZER SCHOOLS
100
WHITE PEOPLE
P E R C EN T D UR IN G 2 02 0-2 1 ACADEMIC Y EAR
S-K SCHOOL DISTRICT
92
87
80
80
58
60
60
48
52
42
40
40
20
13
20
8
0
0
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
& ADMINS
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
Students and a teacher at Weddle Elementary School in Keizer.
come from a whole lot, but with him being
there and modeling that, ‘Hey, education
could be something for you and you can
have a good life.’”
Representation in Keizer’s elementary,
middle and high schools is even worse
than the overall district’s. Of the 300
teachers in Keizer’s 11 schools, only 24 are
not white. Two schools, Gubser
Elementary and Optimum Learning
Environment Charter School, have
all-white teaching staff s.
Additionally, of the 300 teachers,
only one teacher is Asian and no
teachers are Black.
“Pointing to the data, have we
made all the progress we'd want? Of
course not. If we could wave a magic
wand and it'd be proportional to the
amount of students we have in the
district, that would be great,” said
Larry Ramirez, the district’s director
of high school education. “For now,
obviously we continue to recruit
and we're just honestly having dif-
fi culty getting a full staff no matter
what their background is.”
At McNary High School, the
largest school in Keizer with 1,811
PEOPLE OF COLOR
body versus the percentage of our employ-
ees, it's a continuing issue and we continue
to battle it every day,” said Brian Turner, the
director of staffi ng and recruiting for the
Salem-Keizer district.
According to the 2020 Oregon Educator
Equity Report, matching students of color
with teachers of the same race or ethnicity
not only has positive academic and social
impacts for those students but it also
leads to improved perceptions of teachers
of color for white students, which is “a key
facet in developing anti-racism in today’s
schools and society.”
Turner, who is Black, talked about how
representation impacted his own journey
towards becoming a teacher.
“One of the most infl uential African-
Americans in my life was a fourth grade
teacher, Mr. Brown. He instilled in me that
I could be something,” said Turner. “I didn't
ANDREW JACKSON, Keizertimes
By JOEY CAPPELLETTI
Of the Keizertimes
Data released last week by the Oregon
Department of Education for the 2020-21
school year showed the gap between the
amount of students and teachers of color
has continued to grow in the Salem-Keizer
School District.
While 58% of the district is made up of
students of color, only 13% of teachers and
administrators are people of color— a gap
that has grown by 5% since the 2017-18
school year.
The discrepancy in representation
between Hispanic students and teachers is
especially large. While Hispanic students
make up the largest demographic in the
district at 45%, only 10% of all teachers and
administrators are Hispanic.
“We have a long way to go. When you
really look at the percentages of our student
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FILE PHOTO, Keizertimes
students, 38% of students are Hispanic com-
pared to only 5% of teachers. That means for
approximately every 170 Hispanic students
there is one Hispanic teacher at the school.
McNary Principal Erik Jespersen said he
knows that McNary has struggled in years
past to diversify their staff but that they are
continuing to try to improve representation
among teachers and administrators.
“When you post a (teaching) position,
you're going to cast this net out and you're
going to get applicants that apply,” said
Jespersen. “Sometimes you're able to hire
diverse, amazing candidates. And some-
times those candidates may not be there. So
the other piece of that is if you're really com-
mitted to diversifying your staff , you have
to think outside the box.”
One strategy McNary is using, accord-
ing to Jespersen, is hiring a more diverse
classifi ed staff . Classifi ed staff includes
positions such as offi ce staff , custodial,
transportation, educational assistance and
other positions that don’t require the certifi -
cation that teachers do.
The school then works with classifi ed
staff towards becoming certifi ed and, hope-
fully, a teacher at McNary.
“When (classifi ed staff ) say they want to
be a teacher or something like that, that's
a bonus for us because we're hoping that
we can get them into our system and then
support them in a professional goal,” said
Jespersen.
Using this strategy, Jespersen said the
school hired three of their own classifi ed
staff members as teachers last year. All
three of those hires were teachers of color.
Turner said recruiting a more diverse
staff within schools is diffi cult in a state
that is as white as Oregon. To combat this,
according to Turner, the district will often
recruit from outside Oregon, in states such
as California, to create a more diverse pool
of applicants.
While this may initially increase diver-
sity, Turner said it can be diffi cult to keep
these people of color around at schools
located in predominantly white towns.
“Where do you receive your culture and
your cultural norms in a city that's pre-
dominantly white? That's probably one of
the biggest challenges for anybody, any
minority that moves to an area where they
become a micro-set, like one or 2% of the
population,” said Turner.
Turner related his own story of being
recruited to work in Oregon from out of the
state.
“I was 30% of the population and then I
became 2% of the population. It takes a dif-
ferent kind of resolve to stay and be fi xated
on change to make it better for folks that
look like yourself,” Turner said.