EIZER times
$1.00/ ISSUE
Vol. 43 • No. 12
JANUARY 7, 2021
SKPS has no plans to suspend
extracurricular activities
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
Even with the exorbitant amount of
COVID-19 cases in the state due to the omi-
cron variant, Salem-Keizer Public Schools
(SKPS) will continue to engage in sports
and other extracurricular activities.
On Monday, Jan. 3, the Oregon
Department of Education (ODE), along
with Oregon Health Authority (OHA),
released a new school health advisory that
recommended that schools bring extracur-
ricular activities to a halt, or ensure they
follow the same layered mitigation safety
protocols practiced during the school day
(use of face coverings, screening and diag-
nostic testing, encourage vaccination, fre-
quent hand washing, etc.).
“If schools and other organizations
proceed with extracurricular activities,
especially as these activities move indoors
and individuals are unmasked, they should
expect rapid transmission of COVID-19
that will prevent students from participat-
ing in in-person learning due to isolation
for those that contract COVID-19 and
lengthy quarantines for those that come
into close contact with infected individ-
uals,” the health advisory message says.
“This risk should be clearly communicated
to families participating in these extracur-
ricular activities."
The department said the advisory was
“the most critical and urgent issued to
date,” and came one day before the state set
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SUBSCRIBER ADDRESS :
a new record for COVID cases reported in a
single day with 4,540 infections.
“As Oregon fully experiences the
impacts of the omicron variant over the
next several weeks, student access to
in-person instruction is under serious
threat,” the health advisory states. “While
early data indicate that the Omicron vari-
ant may result in less severe disease than
previous variants, it is increasingly clear
that the omicron variant spreads much
more quickly and easily than all previous
variants.”
SKPS Director of High School
Education Larry Ramirez said the district
understands the risk that continuing sports
and activities poses, but that they aren't
willing to cancel extracurricular events for
the second time in as many years.
“We're going to continue to give kids
that opportunity. When we didn't have
athletics, we felt the negative impact in dif-
ferent ways, including performance in the
See SKPS, page A2
New
Laws
coming
to
Oregon
in
2022
Evan Cornell tries to get to the hoop off the dribble. Sports in the Salem-Keizer School District
will continue in spite of the large amount of COVID cases in the state.
Photo by MATT RAWLINGS of Keizertimes
No more selling catalytic
converters
Theft of catalytic converters has sky-
rocketed in recent years. The average num-
ber of catalytic converters stolen in the
US each month jumped from 108 in 2018
to 1,203 in 2020 according to the National
Insurance Crime Bureau.
The reason so many catalytic convert-
ers are stolen is because the converters,
which function to clean a car’s emissions,
contain precious metals such as palladium
and rhodium. Rhodium is currently valued
at around $21,000 per ounce and palladium
at $2,500 an ounce.
Oregon’s new Senate Bill 803 attempts
to curb these thefts by making it illegal for
scrap metal businesses to buy or receive
converters except from commercial sellers
or the vehicle’s owner.
These businesses will also be required
to obtain a photocopy of the seller’s driv-
er’s license, a photo of the seller, the car’s
license plate number and more information
pertaining to whom is selling the converter.
Remote meeting will continue
Some things are not going to return
to how they were pre-COVID — and
sometimes that’s good.
When the pandemic hit in March of
2020, many government agencies were
forced to begin conducting their public
meetings remotely by video or audio.
Thanks to House Bill 2560, that won’t be
changing. Government agencies will be
required to continue providing remote
access to public meetings for members
of the public through telephone, video
or other virtual means when possible.
Additionally, these agencies will be
required to give members of the pub-
lic an opportunity to submit written or
orally testimony electronically.
The city of Keizer has a deal with
Keizer TV until at least the end of 2022
to broadcast all city council meetings,
all planning commission meetings, all
parks board meetings and all budget
committee meetings
The new law will exclude executive
sessions and other meetings not open
to the public.
See LAW, page A2