PAGE A06, KEIZERTIMES, JANUARY 14, 2022
Salem-Keizer cancels classes on
Jan. 14 due to staffi ng shortage
BY RACHEL ALEXANDER
Of Salem Reporter
Oregon’s second-largest school dis-
trict canceled all classes Friday, Jan. 14
because of staffi ng shortages.
Christy Perry, superintendent of the
Salem-Keizer School District, announced
the decision in a Tuesday afternoon
email to district employees and families.
“We have reached a critical point
where we need to shift operations,” Perry
wrote in an email to district employees.
With the Martin Luther King Jr. Day
holiday Monday, that means a four-day
weekend for students.
Perry told Salem Reporter she acted
in hopes a longer weekend would give
school employees and students a chance
to recover from widespread illness that
has pushed the number of people absent
from school higher over the past week.
“It’s just knowing how long you can
hang on,” she said of the decision. “It just
creates maybe a little breather for kids
and staff who are sick and trying then to
be well-prepared into next week.”
Perry said she didn’t see another
option given the high rates of illness
and said she expects the choice won’t be
popular with some parents.
“I’m sure they will be frustrated and
I can’t blame them. I don’t know how to
make the decisions any quicker or any
diff erent,” she said.
The decision comes as schools across
the U.S. and in Oregon have increas-
ingly struggled to keep enough teachers,
classroom aides and bus drivers on the
job to maintain school operations.
A severe shortage of substitute teach-
ers which has challenged school dis-
tricts all year is now being compounded
by higher rates of illness among employ-
ees as the omicron variant has pushed
COVID infections in Oregon to record
levels.
In Salem-Keizer, 236 teachers and
licensed employees – more than 10% of
the district total – were out on Jan. 7, pri-
marily due to illness, according to dis-
trict data.
Just over half of their absences were
covered by available substitutes, leav-
ing other teaching jobs to be covered by
school counselors, principals and other
of the Week
presented by
MARY
MARY BAUER
BAUER OPRA
OPRA
Where and how do you
volunteer?
McNary students prepare for the first day of in-person school in September.
Photo by MATT RAWLINGS of Keizertimes
administrators.
On Monday, Perry was in a west
Salem fi rst grade classroom, teaching
math for two hours so the school’s coun-
selor, who was substituting for an absent
teacher, could take a break and return to
his normal duties.
Perry said she considered closing just
a few schools that have seen higher rates
of absences. McKay High School, for
example, had just 65% of students attend
class Monday, she said.
But she ultimately decided the
impacts of employee absences on the
school system were too widespread.
“Every time there’s an unfi lled posi-
tion, that means somebody else, whoever
that somebody else is, is doing that job
on top of their own job,” she said.
The district is also working on a
new bus schedule to consolidate routes
because of a shortage of available
drivers.
Perry said she expects those routes
to be in place for about four weeks and
decided to consolidate so families can
have a consistent bus schedule rather
than notifying families individually that
their bus will be late because of a driver
shortage.
School athletics can continue Friday,
Perry said, though many games and
practices have been canceled because of
illness as well — McNary's boys' basket-
ball team plays West Salem at 7:30 p.m
while the girls' teams hosts the Titans
during the same time.
“We're just trying to keep some level
of activities for kids going in the safest
way possible wherever we can because
we do know our kids’ mental health is
suff ering,” she said.
"Looking back I have enjoyed
volunteering most of my life which
has allowed me to volunteer with
many Salem-Keizer School District
projects and as an active parent with
Gubser, Whiteaker and McNary. I
also served in leadership roles with
the Keizer Merchants Association,
which later became the Keizer
Chamber of Commerce, the Keizer
Iris Festival, the Distinguished Young
Woman Scholarship Program, the
Oregon Community Foundation, the
Oregon State Alumni Board and the
Keizer Community Foundation."
Why do you volunteer?
"My father was a man of faith, a great
leader and a family man and above
all he believed that “you should not
find fault unless you are willing to
be involved in the solution” so…I
suppose you could say I was born
into volunteering and had some
exceptional role models in my father
and brothers. When others would
say “why do you volunteer?" I would
usually say “why don’t you?” I never
knew it was an option"
What does volunteering
do for you?
"The people I have met and the
lessons learned through my years
of volunteering have truly shaped
my life both personally and
professionally. Volunteering has
given me the ability to teach my
children (who are now adults) the
importance of taking accountability
for yourself and your community and
given me lifelong friends.
How would you get
others to volunteer in
their community?
"Instead of thinking you don’t have
time, remember we all have the same
Sam Goesch
Ins Agcy Inc
Sam Goesch CLU, Agent
3975 River Road N - Keizer, OR
Bus: 503-393-6252 - Web: SamGoesch.com
State Farm , Bloomington, IL
(1211999)
24 hours in a day so it starts with
making it a priority. Simply start
small with something that interests
you with a group of people you
enjoy spending time with. To make
volunteering a priority we have to feel
it is important and I know for sure
that one person really can make a
difference."