Salem Keizer Educators Learn About Layoffs Today

SALEM, Ore. —Salem Keizer School District teachers and staff will learn today whether their jobs are the ones lost to budget cuts.   They’ll also learn if their union’s pushback has had any impact.

Teachers are coming into empty classrooms this morning. The district has made this a day off for students to give staff time to process about 200 layoffs. They’ll learn by email whether they’re among those cut.

Tyler Skella Lakeburg, the president for the Salem Keizer Education Association, criticized the plan, saying it focused too much on teachers, too little on administration.  “Is it a position in our school? Is it a position that directly works with students? If so, the choice should be simple. That position should remain,“  she told the school board in April.

School Superintendent Andrea Castaneda says her district’s feeling the pain of a 71 million budget shortfall, in part due to less federal pandemic money.

  “We need the services, we need the people, but we no longer have that money,”  said Castaneda.