On this day, April 16, 2013, a European court blocked Britain from extraditing a mentally ill suspect accused of trying to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that sending Haroon Aswat to a prison in the United States would breach his human rights due to the "severity of his mental condition." Aswat was arrested on a US warrant in 2005, and has been fighting extradition ever since.
Celebrated on the anniversary of June 19, 1865, when in the wake of the American Civil War, Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas.
“It’s disgusting how you let these white people in without masksâ€
Comments made during public testimony given at an August 10th Salem-Keizer School Board meeting have sparked controversy in Oregon, and have now led to the school board's August 24th work session meeting to be cancelled. Some observers are noting that this type of division and racism witnessed at the August 10th meeting seems to run rampant in the public school system, supported by the spread of policies such as Critical Race Theory in the class room.
"It’s disgusting how you let these white people in without masks", was heard by one student giving public testimony, and she did not shy away from or try to apologize for the racist statement. Students who seem to be supportive of her statement even gave applause at the end of her short speech, which is seen at the beginning of this video.
The full video of the August 10th, 2021 Salem-Keizer School Board meeting can be seen here.
The Salem-Keizer School Board is chaired by Osvaldo Avila and Ashley Carson Cottingham is the vice chair.
Oregonians have watched from afar as the Senate and House Redistricting Committees, chaired by Shelly Boshart Davis (R-Albany) and Andrea Salinas (D-Lake Oswego) held meetings. Next step is public hearing around the state to begin September 8 in Bend. But, before those meeting start, Oregonians have an opportunity to show their creativity and submit their redistricting maps for consideration.
Redistricting is the once-a-decade process of redrawing United State House of Representatives (Congressional) and Oregon State Senate and State House of Representatives (Legislative) district boundaries to account for changes in population.
On April 26, 2021 the U.S. Census Bureau announced the apportionment results for the 2020 Census. More information related to apportionment can be found on the Census Bureau's website.
Oregon Resident Population: 4,237,256
Average Population per Congressional District: 706,209
Average Population per Oregon Senate District: 141,242
Average Population per Oregon House District: 70,621
The U.S. Census Bureau released the 2020 data on August 12th with the Bureau's press release as well as links to the data. These statistics, which come from the 2020 Census Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171) Summary File, provide the first look at populations for small areas and include information on Hispanic origin, race, age 18 and over, housing occupancy and group quarters. They represent where people were living as of April 1, 2020, and are available for the nation, states and communities down to the block level.
This information has been formatted and loaded into a redistricting application. This application may be used by the public to draw and submit maps for consideration by the Committees. The deadline to submit maps is September 7th at 5:00 PM. Before you dig into your project, a review of the "Redistricting Software Information" manual will get you started on the right path. It includes detailed instructions with illustrations, and offers guidance in building your plan, map selection tools, and understanding the data.
When you are ready to submit your plan, review the "Map Submission Checklist" document. The program will run integrity tests automatically. All this help makes it possible for anyone to submit a plan for consideration by the redistricting committees.
Questions, comments, or suggestions can be e-mail to:
Oregon.Redistricting@oregonlegislature.gov.
Governor Kate Brown recently announced she will be deploying up to 1,500 Oregon National Guard members to support frontline health care workers as Oregon hospitals face a surge of hospitalizations due to the rapid spread of the Delta variant. Today she added nurse strike teams, establishing temporary decompression units to free up bed space, and removing barriers to discharging patients who no longer require hospital-level care. Oregon has also made requests to FEMA and the Biden-Harris administration for additional federal resources and support. The Governor announced she has formed a Hospital Crisis Prevention and Response group consisting of health care stakeholders to problem solve in real time and suggest new measures to aid health care workers and hospitals during the ongoing hospital crisis.
Governor Brown wrenched up her mandates by announcing two new vaccination measures to address Oregon’s hospital crisis, caused by the Delta variant surge, and to help keep Oregon students safe in the upcoming school year and minimize disruptions to in-person instruction:
Oregon’s vaccination requirement for health care workers will no longer have a testing alternative. Health care workers will be required to be fully vaccinated by October 18 or six weeks after full FDA approval, whichever is later.
All teachers, educators, support staff, and volunteers in K-12 schools will be required to be fully vaccinated by October 18 or six weeks after full FDA approval, whichever is later.
"The Delta variant has put enormous pressure on our health systems, and health care workers are being stretched to their absolute limits providing life-saving treatment for the patients in their care," said Governor Brown. "I am devoting all available resources to help, and we must proactively implement solutions right now. We need every single frontline health care worker healthy and available to treat patients."
Hospitals are well stocked with equipment, so will Governor Brown’s announcement of vaccine mandates cause mass resignations?
Nurses and locals protested on August 10 and again today against mandating staff be vaccinated. Breanna Jarmar, Executive Director for Oregonians for Medical Freedom, was interviewed by Rick Dancer, reporting that nursing homes that care for COVID patients receive less financial assistance if their staff is not fully vaccinated, so Peace Health will lose money without full compliance. She says, “It’s more about money than caring for people.†Rick Dancer reported that Bob Sneed, a constitutional lawyer is preparing to represent the nurses. Your rights belong to you, not the government.
The Governor said, “In both cases, health care workers and educators who are not yet vaccinated are urged to speak with their doctor or primary care provider to get their remaining questions about vaccination answered immediately, so they can begin the vaccination process in time to meet the new requirements. In the case of educators, the Governor outlined the importance of masks and staff vaccinations to protect students: because children under 12 are still not yet eligible for vaccination, masks are a critical mitigation measure to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Ensuring all the adults around students are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 adds another layer of protection for students as well.â€
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Update Governor Brown ignores: as of July 16, 2021. 11,000 Americans have died from the vaccines, and 48,000 seriously Injured as of July 9. The death toll averaged nearly 100 persons per day for the period from April 23 until July 9, 2021. In total, 118,902 adverse event reports had been filed, that’s about 30 people per day are dying from the shots, and these numbers have grown. CDC is trying to use the decrease in cases to justify the vaccine deaths, but the survival rate for both vaccinated and unvaccinated is 99%. When you add the chance of being disabled and unemployable, it goes way up for the vaccinated.
When Rick Dancer interviewed nurse Magen, she said medical freedom is a dangerous slippery slope. We are shutting down the science, FDA has not completed the challenge trial so they have not approved the vaccines. Vaccines do not stop a person from getting or spreading COVID. When asked what the answer is, she said we need to talk about health, diets, and exercise - 96% of all COVID-19 patients that die are overweight.†Vaccinated deaths don't discriminate.
Changes in criminal law will go into effect September 25 (90 days after the session closed) that will increase healthcare costs while making lawyers more lucrative. SB 193 requires a unanimous jury for a guilty verdict, and removes the cap on non-economic damages to an injured party based on two court cases.
In 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States in Ramos v Louisiana, 140 S. Ct. 1390 found that guilty verdicts in criminal cases must be a unanimous jury verdict. The same year, the Oregon Supreme Court found that the cap on the amount of noneconomic damages that could be awarded to an injured party in a bodily injury case deprived the party of their right to a remedy under Article 1, Section 10 of the Oregon Constitution.
Administration of justice. No court shall be secret, but justice shall be administered, openly and without purchase, completely and without delay, and every man shall have remedy by due course of law for injury done him in his person, property, or reputation.
SB 193, based on the two court decisions, updates ORS 136.450 to require unanimous agreement of jurors for a verdict of guilty and concurrence of at least 10 of 12 jurors for a verdict of not guilty. The measure also removes the statutory cap on noneconomic damages for claims for bodily injury, but retains the $500,000 cap on noneconomic damages for wrongful death claims.
Representatives Janelle Bynum (D-Clackamas) and Maxine Dexter (D-Portland) both expressed that jury verdicts less than unanimous is a significant element of racism and disproportionate impact on Black and brown defendants. Rep. Dexter goes further to say it suggests “efforts to dilute the influence of racial, ethnic, and religious minorities on Oregon juries†traced back to the 1930s. But, is that correct?
ORS 136.450 was originally passed as ORS 136.610 as a “verdict of a trial jury in a criminal action shall be unanimous†until 1973 when it was amended and renumbered to ORS 136.450 to read: “Except as otherwise provided, the verdict of a trial jury in a criminal action shall be by concurrence of at least 10 of 12 jurors except in a verdict for murder which shall be unanimous.†In 1997, the exception was reworded to: “Except when the state requests a unanimous verdict, a verdict of guilty for murder or aggravated murder shall be by concurrence of at least 11 of 12 jurors.†So, it was only in 1997 and not the 1930s that ORS 136.450 was revised in its entirety to: “The verdict of a trial jury in a criminal action shall be by concurrence of at least 10 of 12 jurors.†As of September 25, ORS 136.450 will read: “(1) A jury in a criminal action may render a verdict of guilty only by unanimous agreement. (2) A jury in a criminal action may render a verdict of not guilty only by a concurrence of at least 10 of 12 jurors.â€
Rep. Bynum understood that “an interim workgroup would be the place where we would take up case review…†She was not satisfied that the bill didn’t go further. “This bill and its language regarding non-unanimous juries is rather empty to me. I believe it used the racial equity lens to garner support for the other parts of the bill rather than actually doing anything to help people of color on this issue. Using us as a sweetener to deliver on policy goals that should stand on their own merit is morally wrong. I hope our bodies are not ever used in this way again.â€
The removal of the compensation cap in injury cases was an issue from prior sessions. The addition was based on an Oregon Supreme Court ruling in Busch v. McInnis Waste Systems, Inc. in July 2020. The ruling did away with a cap on non-economic damages in one case. However, the ruling, like other rulings of this type, should not deem all non-economic damage caps unconstitutional.
Representative Lisa Reynolds (D-Portland) as a physician expressed concern that, “non-economic damages are quite variable as they are unquantifiable. Half of the states in the US have placed limits on non-economic damages for medical malpractice. These limits, or caps, are one type of tort reform, and reign in the risks of doing business and the cost of insurance. In the realm of healthcare, these caps lower the overall cost of healthcare and increase physician supply. This then improves access to healthcare.â€
It seems she is voicing the consensus of the opposition that “the legislative mechanism to remove this cap, coupling it with the important work to clean up the statute on non-unanimous juries, is a shortcut around a more comprehensive process to address reform on non-economic caps.â€
When you match lawyers against healthcare providers in a single bill, there are no winners for Oregonians. Is Rep. Reynolds trying to protect her practice? Might she be protecting her practice against law suits after she responded in a tweet, “We will force vaccines. We will make it a prerequisite, though, for indoor dining, working in your office and furthering your education.†Do lawyers really care that a victim gets a higher award or is it their percentage they want to increase? And, if Rep. Bynum has her way, lawyers will see a lot more cases retrying criminals that didn’t receive a unanimous jury verdict that will come with a high price tag for the state.
Former Oregon National Guard Soldier Alek Skarlatos, who served in Afghanistan has released the following statement:
"As a former infantryman who served in Afghanistan, we were taught to never leave a man behind.
"As a result, it’s time for President Joe Biden, our commander and chief, to authorize the Pentagon to take back Bagram Air Field.
"This will give our military additional power and another route for Americans and our allies to evacuate the country.
"Then, President Biden needs to expand the security perimeter around the Kabul Airport, and allow our military to go out and rescue every American and as many Afghan allies as possible so they do not need to go through these Taliban checkpoints, where they are being beaten, whipped, and denied access.
"Once we complete that mission, which should not have any self-imposed artificial deadlines, then we can work to draw down our presence in Afghanistan."
Skarlatos is a former Oregon National Guardsman, who served in Afghanistan. In 2015, while traveling on a train bound for Paris, he, along with four others, jumped into action to stop an Islamic Terrorist who tried to open fire on a passenger train. His heroism earned him several awards and medals around the world including, the United States' Soldier’s Medal.
After serving as a National Guardsman for 5 years, Skarlatos left military service in November 2017. Upon completing his service, Skarlatos voiced his inspiring experience by authoring 15:17 to Paris: The True Story of A Terrorist, A Train, and Three American Heroes describing the events that led up to the attack on the train ride to Paris from Amsterdam. He worked with legendary director Clint Eastwood on the film 15:17 to Paris that portrayed the harrowing attack in which Skarlatos starred as himself.
Skarlatos ran for US Congress in Oregon's 4th Congressional District against Peter DeFazio and is expected to run for Congress in 2022.
National news reports a shortage of school bus drivers. Another fallout of COVID-19? The lockdown put an increasing demand on delivery services, Amazon, UPS and FedEx, and now schools are scrambling to find drivers. You don’t have to drive far to see a Bus Driver Wanted sign.
Mid-Columbia Bus Company, serving Northeastern Oregon schools, is offering bonuses to applicants. Besides a high turnover, they have a problem finding enough drivers that pass the drug test requirements. The problem has increased with the legalization of marijuana and COVID-19 has added to the difficulty.
Jefferson County is twenty percent short of having enough business drivers to start school. They cite a problem of pay. The district can’t match what Amazon pays drivers.
Prior to the pandemic, Portland metro has repeatedly had problems with scheduling and delays, so much so that parents have questioned the safety of their children. Parents that call about delays get connected with First Student headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio, leaving parents uncertain. Corvallis, Medford, Phoenix-Talent and Central Point school districts as well as districts in Josephine County also contract with First Student and are struggling finding enough drivers even with signing bonuses. Other districts are redrawing bus routes, asking parents to help and hiring charter bus services.
Parent are saying that when buses are delayed their children miss out on breakfast. They don’t know how long the delay will be to feed them, then they get to school to late for what the school serves. A survey by the National Association for Pupil Transportation in both 2016 and 2017 the number one concern of parents was the shortage of school bus drivers.
Transportation directors cite another issue. The strengthening economy makes part-time jobs less attractive, and the job isn't for everyone. It’s odd hours and requires some training.
On top of stress placed on drivers due to shortages, returning drivers are questioning the inclusion of a critical race theory type training required for the training on in-service day. The agenda says, they will find out if they “unconsciously are treating others differently.â€
One thing for sure, most districts will be eliminating and consolidating routes. But shortages won’t delay starting school.
“Portland Public Schools and its labor union partners are outlining the detailsâ€
In a press release dated August 18, 2021 sent to colleagues, Chief of Human Resources Sharon Reese at Portland Public Schools has announced that all Portland Public Schools staff will be required to be vaccinated, unless they have an approved exception. It is not clear what the approved exceptions will be or if there will be any exemption for COVID-19 survivors who can be presumed to have natural immunity.
"The public health guidance is clear -- vaccines are the best way to prevent the spread and the severity of COVID. Today we are announcing a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for all PPS staff.
"Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have followed the guidance of public health experts to best ensure the health and well being of our students and staff members. The State of Oregon has communicated that local school districts are in the best position to determine further measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. In alignment with public health experts’ recommendations, Portland Public Schools, along with its labor partners, is committed to taking every step possible to ensure the health and safety of our students, employees, and community.
"Today, as we prepare to welcome students back to school for full-time in-person instruction on September 1, PPS, the Portland Association of Teachers and the Portland Federation of School Professionals have agreed with the concept that we will require all employees -- including classroom teachers, school-based and central office staff -- to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
"PPS and its labor union partners are outlining the details of this vaccine requirement for the 2021-2022 school year. More information will be made available to all PPS employees by Monday, August 23.
"In short, all PPS employees will be required to submit proof of full vaccination by August 31, unless they have an approved exception. PPS employees who do not provide proof of vaccination by August 31 will be required to be tested regularly, or until proof of vaccination is submitted.
This shared commitment and announcement to require the COVID-19 vaccine for all PPS staff is another important, safe and effective way to protect our students, staff and community and towards our path to ending this pandemic.
Fully vaccinated and still COVID positive from another fully vaccinated individual
Representative David Brock Smith (R-Port Orford) was fully vaccinated back in April with his colleagues at the Oregon State Hospital, now has tested positive for COVID-19, although contact tracing shows he contracted the coronavirus from another fully vaccinated individual.
“I watched the Governor’s Press Conference today in disbelief, appalled at her mandating vaccines and at the fear mongering tactics of Oregon Health Authority Director Allen (who has no health degree) and State Epidemiologist Sidelinger (who is a pediatrician and has no degree in epidemiology). Once again, Portland dictates the mandates across the state, as earlier this week Portland Public Schools mandated vaccines for all teachers and staff and now the Governor forces the rest of the state to comply.â€
“With urban democrats tweeting vaccine mandates for Oregonians to be able to dine in restaurants to their shaming of those; specifically calling out rural Oregonians, who choose to be unvaccinated, when is enough – enough? Where and at what profession do the vaccine mandates end? I am living proof that vaccinated individuals can still contract Covid from another vaccinated individual. Where is this data? Why is there not a concerted effort to learn and collect data on the “breakthrough†cases that I and others are a part of? Where is the Governor’s efforts on dealing with hospital capacity? A 2018 Kaiser Family Foundation Study; reported again in December of 2020, shows that Oregon has fewer hospital beds per capita than any other state in the U.S. and yet our healthcare institutions had to practically beg for financial help during the last surge of the pandemic. Where is the democrat supermajority’s action on funding to increase our hospital capacity in Oregon when we know that no matter how many Oregonians are vaccinated, Covid will always be with us?â€
“I fear forcing vaccinations on teachers, health care workers and staff is only the beginning and the Governor must stop these tyrannical mandates now. She must also hold our School Districts harmless and at minimum, fund them at 2019 levels as her mandates will surely drive more children and staff out of our classrooms. This will be especially true for our smaller school districts that can barely keep, let alone attract, teachers and staff.â€
“Covid is here to stay. I and my family are vaccinated by choice. I have and continue to encourage Oregonians to be vaccinated against Covid. I and thousands of others like me are proof however that you can still contract and spread Covid even if vaccinated. Forcing these vaccines on Oregonians is wrong. Forcing these vaccines on Oregonians based on their profession is worse. These actions are none other than a symptom of Oregonians lack of trust in their Governor, her leadership and the rollercoaster of agency mandates over the last year and a half of ‘14 days to flatten the curve’.â€
Representative David Brock Smith represents House District 1, which includes Curry, Coos, Douglas and Josephine counties.
“In less than 7 months, Biden has surpassed Jimmy Carter as the worst Presidentâ€
Jo Rae Perkins, Republican Candidate for the United States Senate, has condemned President Joe Biden for the disastrous withdrawal policy that has led to the collapse of Afghanistan and the return of the Taliban to power.
“President Biden’s decision to rapidly withdraw our troops has led to the collapse of Afghanistan. He has squandered our military’s decades of work and their lives sacrificed. Due to his failed leadership, there is now no hope for stability in Afghanistan. There is no doubt that Biden is incapable of leading our country on foreign policy and militarily,†said Perkins.
Perkins noted that Biden withdrew the troops so recklessly that now our military equipment is falling into the Taliban’s hand and paving the way for the return of Al-Qaeda.
“The Taliban will be back in power by the 20th anniversary on 9/11. Burning our embassy on that painful day will be a national embarrassment to our nation,†said Perkins. “We have left countless souls to be taken by the Taliban in retribution. Our country’s credibility has been severely damaged. In less than 7 months, Biden has surpassed Jimmy Carter as the worst President in our nation’s history.â€
Perkins is concerned that China has announced that they will recognize the Taliban, giving China a major foothold in the region, further eroding America’s influence internationally.
Portland Public School District Superintendent Guerrero has sent out a press release in part stating:
“The State of Oregon has communicated that local school districts are in the best position to determine further measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. In alignment with public health experts’ recommendations, Portland Public Schools, along with its labor partners, is committed to taking every step possible to ensure the health and safety of our students, employees, and community.â€
By “labor partners†Guerrero means the Portland Association for Teachers. There were no “labor partners†at the August 4, 2021 work session with a panel called “public health experts†one from Washington, D.C. where eleven-year-old children can be vaccinated without parental knowledge or consent. See previous Northwest Observer report on that session where some elected school board members valiantly attempted to get parents and the public’s questions answered to no avail.
The July 27, 2021, Portland Public School Board meeting included an announcement of a vaccination clinic to happen that week at Franklin High School. The day of the clinic only 15 students showed up to be vaccinated. Students do not want to be vaccinated. Black Americans do not want to be vaccinated. In parts of New York only 28% of Black Americans got vaccinated.
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“Dr. Reed Tuckson, a founding member of the Black Coalition Against COVID (BCAC), believes the increased resistance of Black Americans to take the vaccine comes from a long-time distrust in U.S. societal institutions.â€
Black Americans’ intuition, experience and distrust of American institutions is well founded in history. The Public Schools created by the 1854 Congress (a Congress that feared the coming freedom of Black men) brought in institutional racism that even the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown vs the Board of Education that desegregated the schools could not reform.
Samuel Blumenthal’s 1984 book outlines the history of that government education system patterned off the Prussian school system and how it was and is set up to bring in socialism. It’s the reason Kindergarten is a German word. America has had a German compulsory government school system beginning in 1854.
“Jim Crow was the name of the racial caste system which operated primarily, but not exclusively in southern and border states, between 1877 and the mid-1960s. Jim Crow was more than a series of rigid anti-black laws. It was a way of life. Under Jim Crow, African Americans were relegated to the status of second-class citizens.â€
Jim Crow came into Portland, Oregon with the 2020 masking. Those who couldn’t or wouldn’t wear a mask were told to stay outside like what was done to Black Americans for almost one hundred years. The Democratic Party created the Klu Klux Klan (KKK), that party brought in Jim Crow. Now it’s the same party and the teachers’ unions who repeat this kind of history, but now attempt to do it on everyone.
The Tuskegee experiment on Black American men ran from 1932 to 1972. There was no informed consent. Just as in today in 2021 the Oregon Health Authority (OHA), Oregon Health State University (OHSU) and Portland Bureau of Emergency Management (PBEM) refused to give NW Observer the “fact sheet†on the vaccine with the PBEM employee overseeing the Franklin High School vaccine clinic stating that pulling up your sleeve to get the injection “…was informed consent.†These various institutions continue in the same mindset that created the Tuskegee experiment.
A long history, for forty years the Public Health Service used, abused, caused further injury and death to Black American men. The study only stopped in 1972. Historical memory remains in the Black Community of institutional abuses and taking of their rights and health. But the superintendent of the Portland Public School District repeatedly says that he will follow the Public Health experts; under the guise of public health, he deems he can take away the rights of students, parents, and the Black community.
Citizens viewing the recent PPS board meetings noticed that the school board directors elected by the voters in Portland, Oregon are not the boss of the Superintendent, Guadalupe Guerrero, that he and his administrative staff are the boss of the school board. In the August 4th work session when board members were presenting too many questions from parents emailing them, Guerrero interrupted them about “...getting too much into the nitty gritty…†He and his staff’s repeated mantra was to do what the “public health experts†say.
Historically it is the young people, it is the teens who opened the modern-day civil rights movement in 1955. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr get the credit, but it was teens and young Black men coming back from World War II who said, “Hell no we are not sitting at the back of the bus, and we will eat at the lunch counter.â€
Claudette Colvin is why in the Portland area public school systems they not only will not teach about Claudette’s role in starting the 1955 civil rights movement (and her case and other teens’ cases went to the US Supreme Court, but not Rosa Park’s also), but one year when a substitute, in February, for Black History month put up Claudette’s photo and the photo of the college kids at the lunch counter the school district took them down. The remark to the substitute was, “It’s hard enough controlling these kids and you put that up there?â€
Teens today, students today should learn about Claudette Colvin. Fifteen-year-old Claudette by her actions pushed adults like Rosa Parks to, nine months later, act. Some in Portland see in the current population of young people, that there are some Claudette Colvin teens who are standing up for their rights.
It may be the teens and Black Americans who once more end up reminding the community and the world that the US Constitution was written for all to use to acquire and ensure their rights in America.
Health care workers, teachers, staff, and volunteers required to be fully vaccinated
Governor Kate Brown has announced two new vaccination measures to address Oregon’s supposed hospital crisis, caused by the Delta variant. The governor claims this is to help keep Oregon students safe in the upcoming school year and minimize disruptions to in-person instruction.
Oregon’s vaccination requirement for health care workers will no longer have a testing alternative
The governor announced that health care workers will be required to be fully vaccinated by October 18 or six weeks after full FDA approval, whichever is later.
All teachers, educators, support staff, and volunteers in K-12 schools will be required to be fully vaccinated by October 18 or six weeks after full FDA approval, whichever is later.
"The Delta variant has put pressure on our health systems, and health care workers are being stretched to their absolute limits providing life-saving treatment for the patients in their care," said Governor Brown. "We need every single frontline health care worker available to treat patients."
"Our kids need to be in the classroom full-time, five days a week, and we have to do everything we can to make that happen," said Governor Brown. "While we are still learning about the Delta variant, we know from previous experience that when schools open with safety measures in place, the risk of transmission is low. That’s why I’ve directed the Oregon Health Authority to issue a rule requiring all teachers, educators, support staff, and volunteers in K-12 schools to be fully vaccinated."
The Governor also outlined the steps Oregon is taking to support hospitals during the ongoing surge in cases and hospitalizations, including deploying the National Guard and nurse strike teams, establishing temporary decompression units to free up bed space, and removing barriers to discharging patients who no longer require hospital-level care.
Oregon has also made requests to FEMA and the Biden-Harris administration for additional federal resources and support. The Governor announced she has formed a Hospital Crisis Prevention and Response group consisting of health care stakeholders to problem solve in real time and suggest new measures to aid health care workers and hospitals during the ongoing hospital crisis.
The Salem-Keizer School Board work session scheduled for August 24, 2021 has been canceled. Please refer to the following statement released by school board leadership:
It is with deep regret that due to ongoing public safety concerns within our community, the Salem-Keizer School Board meeting for August 24 is canceled. This was to have been an opportunity for the board to hear from staff and students about the amazing partnership between our school district and Chemeketa Community College, including the redesign of our alternative education program. Our goal was to interact with students and staff while seeing the new agriculture complex at Chemeketa. We will reschedule at a time we can accomplish this in person. To the students and staff who prepared for this meeting and to our partners at Chemeketa, we apologize.
We are seeing a continual call in our community to create disruption to our board and our schools with divisiveness that has no place in the lives of our students. At our last board meeting, we witnessed disrespect, racial and transphobic comments, and a disregard for health and safety protocols. We believe our communities of Salem and Keizer are better than this, and board leadership does not want any person to be in an environment where they will not feel safe or welcome.
As a board, we remain highly committed to our goal of getting our students back to school for five days a week of in-person instruction. Getting students in school physically and having them remain in school is our single focus.
Please join us as a community in our commitment to get our students back in school, and support our healthcare workers who are working around the clock taking care of our critically ill community members.
Be safe, mask up, get vaccinated and support the safe return of our students to school!
Samuel Blumenthal’s 1984 book outlines the history of that government education system patterned off the Prussian school system and how it was and is set up to bring in socialism. It’s the reason Kindergarten is a German word. America has had a German compulsory government school system beginning in 1854.
Historically it is the young people, it is the teens who opened the modern-day civil rights movement in 1955. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr get the credit, but it was teens and young Black men coming back from World War II who said, “Hell no we are not sitting at the back of the bus, and we will eat at the lunch counter.â€
