Salem principal, 2nd grader hit by student at McKinley Elementary School

The principal and a student at McKinley Elementary School in Salem were struck by another second grader during class Monday.

The student reportedly hit a peer and the principal when the child was unable to regulate their emotions, according to a voicemail sent to parents.

Principal Michelle Nelson's message said:

Dear families of Mrs. Ramirez's class,

This is Principal Michelle Nelson. While we've recently had great growth in our students' abilities to regulate (their behaviors), I'm calling to let you know that unfortunately today we had a set back and a student struck another student, as well as me, in the classroom.

While there were no injuries, this was a public display and I know it could have upset your child. We've been in touch with both families and disciplinary actions are already underway for the student who was unable to self-regulate. 

Our staff responded quickly to support and your child was safe. If you have any questions, we're happy to address those. Just call our school office at 503-399-3167.

Thank you and have a nice evening. 

These disruptive incidents are not specific to this school, district or state. 

"Situations like what happened are exactly why we've created an Office of Behavioral Learning with embedded behavior cadres in the schools," said Lillian Govus, director of communications for Salem-Keizer Public Schools.

"It's why teachers walked out to bring attention to fully funding the quality education model," she said, "and it's why it's so critical that we continue to focus on trauma-informed care."

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Because of privacy laws, district officials were not able to give more information.

With the passage of the Student Success Act in the Oregon Senate Monday, Govus said the school district will have more resources — about $35 million each year — to address behaviors and social-emotional learning from both staffing and class size standpoints.

Govus said the district is also exploring a partnership with Kaiser Permanente and the RISE Initiative to support social-emotional learning in 15 of the schools this fall, though they have not signed an agreement with them yet.

For more information, go to https://salkeiz.k12.or.us/.

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Contact reporter Natalie Pate at npate@StatesmanJournal.com, 503-399-6745 or follow her on Twitter @Nataliempate or Facebook at www.Facebook.com/nataliepatejournalist. To support her work,become a Statesman Journal subscriber and get unlimited digital access to stories that matter.