DECEMBER 10, 2021, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A8
PUBLIC SQUARE welcomes all points of view. Published submissions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Keizertimes
The rush
to electric
To the Editor:
Are we rushing to a mostly all elec-
tric automotive fleet too fast? Possibly
as there are unknowns that need to be
resolved sooner rather than later. For
example:
• Where will the electricity to charge
electric fleets come from and what will
be the cost of this electricity to vehicle
owners and the impact to general rate
payers?
• The quantity of batteries required
for the electric fleets is going to be enor-
mous and currently there is not a battery
recycle industry operating at the scale
that is going to be required to handle all
of the batteries that wear out. Further,
many of the materials used to make the
batteries are hazardous and will require
special (and expensive) disposal and rec-
lamation strategies.
• If additional wind, solar, hydro and
geothermal sources are not brought on
line, we may find that the required elec-
trical power will be produced via fossil
fuels which sort of negates the promise
of the program in the first place. Or we
may see a rush to develop more nuclear
fueled power plants and this option
should be of grave concern.
Bringing electric vehicles to the fore-
front is a good idea and it will contribute
to reducing greenhouse gases and will
greatly improve urban area air pollution.
But maybe we should proceed in small
steps which will allow the power supply
and battery recycle-disposal issues to be
resolved first. Otherwise we could end
up, as history has shown time after time,
with an environmental and safety mess
on our hands. For once let’s get more
of the processes up and running ahead
of time. In other words, lets actually be
ready.
Jim Parr
Keizer
Bethell needs
to clarify views
To the Editor:
We are regular readers of the
Keizertimes. We believe in supporting
the local newspaper, aware of its import-
ant to us in terms of what’s going on in
our own community. Most recently, a
story by Joey Cappelletti on Keizer’s
school board director most directly
caught our attention.
The article quoted several views of
Salem-Keizer School Board director
Danielle Bethell. We were left confused
from what she was quoted as saying, only
able to guess at what she wants to have
taught in our schools here. For exam-
ple, is she coming from a personal posi-
tion of general disappointment with our
schools and ways to improve them or is
she a devout follower of former President
Donald Trump and his ideas for lessons
to be taught in our schools?
We know that Trump has little regard
for persons who’ve come to the U.S. from
Mexico. Trump has referred to them
Letters
mostly as “people with a lot of problems,
bringing drugs and bringing crime while
they are also rapists.” Trump made it
clear that only persons coming here
from Norway are acceptable while the
only true Americans are the whites or
Caucasians.
Trump also worked diligently to keep
children brought here by their parents
from Central America from becoming cit-
izens. He also does not like immigrants
who practice any religion other than
Christianity. Further, he’s opposed to
immigrants who seek refuge in America,
coming here, as they often do, to escape
the brutality and general oppression of
those nations where dictators rule with
an iron hand and freedoms do not exist.
Then there are all members of the
LGBTQ+ community who are on Trump’s
list of undesirables and by whom Trump
has denied participation in the American
military and other occupational pursuits.
American journalists are unacceptable,
unless they serve by praising Trump,
providing him only positive recognition.
Perhaps most egregious is his disdain for
facts in presenting U.S. history lessons:
Trump being against open and honest
recognition to treatment directed at
indigenous peoples, African-Americans
and others.
We’d very much appreciate a clearer
and more specific set of statements
regarding Bethell’s views on public edu-
cation. This effort on her part would
either reassure that she has legitimate
concerns and can define them, or con-
firm a waywardness, an out of step with
what’s perceived to be majority views on
the pressing issues of our time.
Gene H. McIntyre
Keizer
SHARE
YOUR
OPINION
School safety is
everyone's responsibility
guest
OPINION
By SATYA CHANDRAGIRI, MD
“How many more children do we sacri-
fice before we can be honest, transparent
and do the right thing for our students’ and
staff safety?”
I raised this question in a Salem-Keizer
School board meeting. It is unethical to fall
into the spiral of silence and pretend every-
thing is okay. The pandemic, school clo-
sure, disrupted attachment, social unrest
and division in our community is perhaps
fueling some of the emotional and behav-
ioral turmoil.
When incidents of school violence, sui-
cide and bullying occur, it harms everyone
and has disparate impact on those from
vulnerable communities. Let’s include all
to uphold safety—students, parents, staff,
educators, mental health professionals,
policy makers and child serving agencies
including law enforcement. It is important
to intervene before lives are changed or
lost. School safety is essential for learning.
Our community and youth have asked
us to address this.
We cannot change what we don’t mea-
sure. The best practice calls for estab-
lishing good indicators, transparent data
sharing, understanding the root causes and
using data to inform the policy changes
and accountability, not some external agen-
das, or biases.
Vision of safety without implementa-
tion plan is just a fantasy.
Within the challenges, I see
opportunities:
Dismantle structural barriers
Parents worry about the safety of their
children. They read media reports of high-
risk situations yet feel excluded from
participation.
The Oregon Department of Education
should start publicly sharing the data on
exclusionary discipline and make the pub-
lic domain data easy to access, understand
and use by the community. Lack of public
access of this data risks timely identifica-
tion of any suicide or violence contagion,
save lives or support those who need addi-
tional help or early detection.
In 2018, Marion County lost 20 youths
to suicide, and many were from our schools.
That year the Salem-Keizer school district
expelled 140 students, 1,385 students had
out-of-school suspensions and 1,892 stu-
dents had in-school suspensions, which
was the highest among all Oregon school
districts. Unfortunately, this has been the
case for our district as far back as 2011 to
2016.
Those from vulnerable communities
often face additional barriers as they are
unaware of protections afforded under the
law, policies, or ways to appeal.
Exclusionary discipline
is harmful for all
Exclusionary
discipline—including
expulsions, out-of-school or in-school
suspensions, and classroom removal dis-
proportionately affects students from vul-
nerable communities. It leads to negative
outcomes including poor grades, absen-
teeism, drop out rates, lower graduation,
adult mental illness, and incarceration. A
middle school student who receives an out-
of-school suspension is 34% less likely to
graduate high school on time, risks future
suspensions even after four years. Even the
bystanders are harmed and traumatized
when high risk behaviors occur.
There is no profile of a student attacker.
It needs both, a timely threat-risk assess-
ment along with risk mitigation such as
therapy, social work intervention and refer-
ral for additional services. Often students
can incur disciplinary actions for many rea-
sons—bullying, violence and involvement
with drugs, bringing weapons to school,
or criminal behaviors such as sexual vio-
lence, gang violence, fire setting. They may
have multiple underlying factors including
emotional difficulties, thoughts of suicide,
desperate feelings or some face setbacks in
personal life or community, sudden losses,
relationship breakups, have multiple social
adversities, are victims of abuse, violence,
bullying. Some have special needs and may
be reacting to changes or sensory overload
that perhaps triggers some of their behav-
iors. When children are hurting, some act
out while others harm themselves. Trauma-
informed schools and addressing underly-
ing causes prevents high risk incidents.
Oversight matters
In April, 2021, the school district com-
mitted to undertake important operational
changes to address student safety while
rethinking their approaches to student
discipline. They planned using restorative
practices and not having regular presence
of law enforcement officers in the school.
The fiduciary oversight duty of the school
board was to ensure it closely monitored
the safety of the students, which was del-
egated to the district. District agreed to
share historical and monthly reports in the
school board meetings which best captured
the school climate and safety. Thus, com-
munity could hold the board and district
accountable.
With many challenges adding up as
our students returned to school, the num-
ber of suspensions this year jumped from
130 through June 2021 to over 1,300 just
between September and November 2021.
Some schools saw big surge in suspen-
sions culminating in high-risk incidence,
reported fights between groups of students
and violence contagion, students getting
arrested and many missed opportunities.
It's time to be transparent, honest,
accountable and realize that school safety
is everyone’s responsibility.
(Dr. Satya Chandragiri is a member
of the Salem-Keizer School Board.)
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