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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 2022)
PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, JANUARY 28, 2022 Superintendent says S-K schools to remain in-person despite 'crisis-level' staffi ng shortages The fi ll rate for licensed positions, which are predominantly teaching positions, was 58% for the fi rst two weeks of January. In that period, there were between 75 to 130 unfi lled licensed positions each day, according to the district’s report. Schools were forced to close on Jan. 14 for a non-student contact day due to “cri- sis-level” staffi ng shortages and “higher than average student absences," according to the district website. Staffi ng shortages haven’t improved much since the fi rst two weeks of January either. A snapshot on Jan. 20 showed 767 staffi ng absences. No replacement was found for 64% of those absences, meaning 324 positions went unfi lled. Perry said schools are having to move substitutes around throughout the school to ensure positions are fi lled. “Every day at a school, the principal gets up, looks at their absences and says ‘I’m going to need two hours here, one hour here and three hours here,’” Perry said. Following Perry’s presentation, board members inquired about diff erent ways they, or anyone in the community, could help with the mass staffi ng shortages. “The staffi ng shortages look really dire,” said board vice-chairwoman Ashley Carson Cottingham. “If you have specifi c things that the board can assist with, I think a number of us are happy to help out in schools if there’s the right place as volunteers. Just want to be supportive for all of you that are doing really hard work every day.” Perry said that right now schools are reaching out to specifi c volunteers that can be “trained in all the safety proce- dures, they know when they’re available, they know the rules and procedures of the Students and teachers that have contracted COVID within schools Sept. 8 - Dec. 17: Jan. 3 - Jan. 21: 820 total sudoku 985 total brainfood sudoku answers pg A23 Superintendent Christy Perry told the Salem-Keizer school board Tuesday eve- ning that schools would continue in-per- son learning despite extreme staffi ng shortages and student absences across the district. “Our community needs to know that every person in our organization is step- ping up on behalf of our single most important goal right now, which is to main- tain in person learning fi ve days a week,” Perry said. Perry’s comments came during a Jan. 25 school board work session during which she presented on staffi ng shortages in the district since schools have returned from winter break. The presentation high- lighted just how bad staffi ng shortages have gotten in Salem-Keizer schools, sim- ilar to schools across the state, since the Omicron COVID surge. “The substitutes in the fi rst two weeks of January was over two times what we needed every other month of the year, September through December,” Perry said. “And we are already talking about staffi ng shortages with our substitutes in September through December.” In the fi rst two weeks of January, the district has had over 800 staffi ng absences each day — ranging from teachers, bus drivers, administrators and more — with many of the positions remaining unfi lled. Enter digits 1-9 into blank spaces. Every row must contain one of each digit. So must every column, & every 3x3 square. maze by Jonathan Graf of Keizer BRIAN & APRIL McVAY 503.510.6827 - Call or Text anytime As lifelong residents, we are your Keizer neighbor. We know this market and we are here to help! Enjoying real estate since 1998 3975 River Rd N • Suite 3 • Keizer Oregon Licensed Real Estate Brokers