Salem-Keizer School Board Gets Down to Business

The good news from Tuesday’s meeting is the ratification of a four-year teacher contract agreement between the teacher’s union and the school district.

Photos by: Lela Taylor

(SALEM) - Tuesday night’s Salem-Keizer School Board Meeting opened on time and with a current of positive enthusiasm. Chairperson Krina Lemons opened the meeting with the usual preliminaries and welcomed the Board back to the beginning of a new school year.

Superintendent Sandy Husk

Superintendent Sandy Husk began the early evening meeting by highlighting a new award program, Spotlight for Success. This award is given in recognition to individuals and groups for their outstanding work and/or contributions to the Salem-Keizer School District.

Glenn Gelbrich, Assistant Superintendent, presented the award to the following student body presidents:

· Gord Nicodemus of McKay High · Skyler Meeks of McNary High · Roberto Rios of North High · Rebecca Schaub of Sprague High · Rachel Kraft of West High · Anna Edmonds of South High (Richie Day, SBVP, stood in for Anna, who was out of town)

Other Spotlight for Success awards went to:

· Jon Yoder, Science teacher, North Salem High School, in the educator category, received the Citizenship Award from the Stop Oregon Littering and Vandalism organization.

· Pete Byeman, Chief Accountant, Fiscal Services, received the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in financial reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association and the Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting Award from the Association of School Business Officials International.

After the awards and the updates on Board committees, the floor was opened to audience communications. Richard Bernard Costa, Chairman of the Salem Education Association, thanked the School Board for their efforts in helping reach a resolution between the two sides.

Since the end of June, the District and the SEA have been bargaining for a new agreement, of which it was confirmed this evening that both sides have ratified this new proposed four-year agreement.

These contract negotiations were concerning the number of and specific months in which Association membership dues and other authorized annual voluntary payroll deductions are made.

The highlight of this issue was when Chairperson Krina Lemons got up out of her seat, walked to the front of the audience, motioned for Mr. Costa to come up, and she gave him a big hug. What better confirmation on a ratification agreement than that!

For further information regarding this information, please contact Joe Weiss, Executive Director, Human Resources, 503-399-5583.

Another top issue for Tuesday night’s meeting was the request for acceptance of a proposal to replace the current Financial and Human Resources software system. They say the current system has been in place since 1993 and is due for an update.

State Statute requires a bidding process for projects of this size, and bids were received from three different sources. Tyler Technologies was the winner, based on a three-tiered evaluation process.

The meeting continued on with the usual business items, too many to mention in this news article, but this reporter does want to finish with saying she left the meeting feeling positive about the commitment this Board has made to serve the Salem-Keizer School District.

The only thing that needs to be attended to for the rest of this school year, and years ahead for that matter, is for all parents to get actively involved with school issues and to make sure the Salem-Keizer School District fulfills its promise of making this year one with a “higher degree of public engagement and public accessibility.”

For further information concerning the Salem-Keizer School District, follow this link:

http://www.salkeiz.k12.or.us/contactinfo/index.htm