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Six candidates in the race for three Salem-Keizer School Board spots

A psychiatrist, electrician, university student and the business group executive are among the citizens seeking seats on the Salem-Keizer School Board.

Filing for the May 21 election closed Thursday, and six candidates have put forward their names for three seats representing northeast and south Salem, and Keizer. School board positions are volunteer jobs with no salary, and are nonpartisan.

School board members oversee Oregon’s second-largest district, a nearly billion-dollar agency with about 4,600 employees.

They supervise Superintendent Christy Perry, help develop and approve the district’s budget and vote on major decisions like changing school boundaries.

Over the next term, they’ll oversee the negotiation of a new contract with Salem-Keizer teachers and the implementation of $620 million in school construction.

Though candidates must live in a particular zone to run, all board directors are elected district-wide.

In zone two, representing northeast Salem, Raul Marquez is challenging incumbent Marty Heyen.

Heyen, a retired state information technology worker and stay-at-home parent, is seeking a second term on the board. She’s a supporter of alternative forms of education, including career and technical education and charter schools, and said she’s especially concerned about bullying.

Marquez graduated from McKay High School in 2018 and is currently a freshman at Willamette University. As a senior, he led a campaign with United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley to raise funds for Taylor’s House, a shelter for homeless teens that opened late last year. He wants to focus on equity in the district and be a voice for Latino students and families on the board.

Zone four is the portion of south Salem including Sprague High School. Jim Green has served two terms on the board but is not running for re-election, leaving the seat open. Two filed to replace him.

Satya Chandragiri is a psychiatrist who’s made student mental health the focus of his campaign. He’s had two children graduate from Salem-Keizer schools and said he wants to look at the district’s systems for preventing suicide and assessing risk.

David Salinas is the parent of four students, three at Sprague and one at Crossler Middle School. He’s an electrician who grew up in a family of farm workers and wants to focus on career technical education, mentoring programs and equity. He decided to run after serving on the district’s boundary review task force, which helped craft a new set of attendance boundaries.

In zone six, Keizer Chamber of Commerce director Danielle Bethell is challenging the district’s longest-serving board member, Chuck Lee.

Lee is president of the Mountain West Career Technical Institute, which runs Salem-Keizer’s Career Technical Education Center in partnership with the district. He said he wants to focus his next term on student behavioral issues, which are becoming more of a concern for teachers and staff.

Bethell said she wants to do a better job representing Keizer and would do more outreach with teachers and parents to address their needs. She believes the current school system micromanages teachers in a way that’s not helpful.

Citizens can register to vote up to three weeks before the election on the Marion County Elections website.

Previous coverage:

Chuck Lee seeks fourth term representing Keizer on school board

Keizer Chamber director Danielle Bethell announces run for school board

Salem psychiatrist seeks seat on school board with platform focused on student mental health

Sprague parent and electrician David Salinas seeks school board seat to focus on career education, mentorship

We’ll be publishing profiles of zone two candidates next week.

Reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.

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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.