Salem-Keizer Public Schools: Take a look inside the district
Here are some basic facts to know about Salem-Keizer Public Schools.
The Willamette Health Council has awarded nearly $3 million in grants to 34 local organizations in Marion and Polk counties, including three school districts.
Silver Falls School District, Gervais School District and the Willamette Education Service District all received $100,000 grants.
Projects the districts will complete with the funds range from removing barriers and expanding social services, addressing student and community substance use and prevention and helping students access transportation and technology equipment.
Willamette Health Council awarded funding ranging from $25,000 to $100,000 to organizations to support behavioral health, children and families and housing security.
Founded in 2019, Willamette Health Council is a governance body for PacificSource Community Solutions, a Medicaid-providing health insurance agency and coordinated care organization for Marion and Polk counties.
The council’s funding comes from PacificSource profits which are reinvested into the community.
“PacificSource is the only CCO entity that gets money out to the community in this way,” said Josie Silverman-Mendez, deputy director of the Willamette Health Council. “It’s very unique in terms of the amount of local oversight that happens here in our community to help really drive where those investments are going.”
Grant recipients are required to submit updates on project implementation and outcomes, and share experiences and insights. They also must provide visits to the Willamette Health Council staff and committee members.
Here’s what the school districts say they will use the funding for to help improve their communities.
Silver Falls School District aims to remove barriers and expand social services for students
The Silver Falls School District hopes to remove barriers and expand social service access to its more than 3,500 students and their families with the grant funding.
Common barriers people might face when trying to find or receive social services in Silverton include waitlists and transportation.
Silver Falls’ services will be based out of Sequoia Falls Academy, an alternative school in the district. They will offer support for unhoused students without a parent or guardian, behavioral health assessments, substance treatment and food security.
These services come in addition to what the academy already offers: mental and behavioral health support, General Educational Development, college preparation and student mentoring.
The barriers that prevent people from accessing resources can be more difficult in a rural community like Silverton, and housing and food insecurity can be more profound. Oregon’s 2018 state health assessment found that people living in rural communities are more likely to be economically disadvantaged, homeless and food insecure.
Last school year, the district had 126 students registered as unhoused and 26 of them were students without parents or guardians.
Although resources are available, students’ knowledge about them and their ability to access them is what the district’s project hopes to course-correct for students and their families, said Jennifer Hannan, director of therapeutic services at Sequoia Falls Academy.
“We seek to centralize social service coordination and be an access point for youth and families in our school district,” she said.
Gervais School District looks to address student and community substance use and prevention
The Gervais School District plans to hire an administrator to create an initiative addressing student substance use and prevention with the grant funding.
This includes hosting events and providing access to and education about resources. The district also wants to host night classes available to students and the community and motivational speakers.
The school district, Gervais’ largest employer, also wants to implement substance use outreach to the community.
“A rising tide lifts all boats,” said Creighton Helms, the school district’s director of student services and federal programs. “A healthy community supports a healthy school district, and vice versa.”
Helms said Gervais is a health care desert. Coupled with being socioeconomically disadvantaged, there’s a “high likelihood” of the town’s substance abuse issues going unreported or underreported, he said.
This is the school district’s third time receiving funding from the Willamette Health Council. The first came after the COVID-19 pandemic, and the second was implemented in 2024. Both projects focused on initiatives to raise attendance rates, especially in the most vulnerable demographics, such as homeless students.
Oregon’s At-A-Glance profile data shows that from the 2022-2023 school year to the 2023-2024 school year, the Gervais School District improved districtwide regular attendance rates by 6%, on track to graduate rates by 10% and five-year completion by 5%. Regular attendance rates for homeless students improved from 41% to 50%.
“As a rural district, we are a resource-poor district,” Helms said. “To be able to receive grant money that we can apply towards something like this, we stretch those dollars incredibly far.”
Willamette Education Service District will use money to help students at recovery high school
Willamette Education Service District will use the grant funding to help students access transportation and technology equipment for its new Discovery Academy.
The recovery high school is set to open in Salem on April 15 and is meant to support the educational journey and recovery of teens with substance use disorders.
The district wants to ensure students don’t have to worry about transportation to and from school, community activities or activities associated with recovery. They also plan to set up a lounge so students can feel comfortable, and have access to technology.
The Discovery Academy will be the third recovery high school to open in Oregon out of nine expected to operate by 2029.
“We (are) really excited about the opportunity to provide this kind of service for our region,” said Joe Morelock, superintendent of the Willamette Education Service District. “This was the kind of service that was really needed, and we felt that we were best positioned to do that.”
The district has received past funding from the Willamette Health Council for sexual health education and an outreach and awareness campaign for people with disabilities.
Alexander Banks is a news intern at the Statesman Journal. Reach him at abanks@statesmanjournal.com
