We have been concerned about safety issues at school all year long! Our children are our most precious possession! Everyone wants schools to be safe!

In 2021, the Oregon Legislature passed a new gun bill, SB 554, which banned guns in the state Capitol and the terminal of Portland International Airport, whether or not a person has a concealed handgun license. It also gave public schools, colleges and universities the option to implement their own bans. It took effect on September 25, 2021. However only 13% of the states 197 school districts have chosen to do so. However, with the recent tragedy at Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school, some school districts are reconsidering a ban, including Salem Keizer Public Schools.

According to an OPB report by Dirk VanderHart on May 31, 2022,

Salem Keizer School District will be having a work session on June 28th at 6:00pm and you can email the school board your thoughts on this issue. Here are some sample talking points to give them about why banning concealed weapons is not a good idea.

"I know that gun violence is a problem," state Sen. Fred Girod, R-Lyons, said during a debate on the gun control bill, Senate Bill 554, last year. "CHL holders are not the problem."

WOULD GUN-FREE ZONES ON SCHOOL PROPERTY KEEP KIDS SAFE?

• The law allowing law abiding, licensed parents the ability to drop off and pick up their children at school, attend a school event, or meet with a teacher, has been in place since 1989. Thirty-three years of experience has shown us that those parents are no threat and are not dangerous.
• The proposed rule would prohibit responsible adults from being anywhere on school property while legally armed. That means not only inside the school, but on playing fields, driveways and parking lots.
• What we have seen in Broward, Florida, and now again in Uvalde, Texas is the painful and undeniable reality that our schools are NOT protected by police even when their intentions are good. 
• Concealed carry deters crime, keeps individuals and the public safer, is protected by the Second Amendment, and protects women and minorities who can't always rely on the police for protection.
• At a time when criminal behavior is largely unchecked and unprosecuted and when School Resource Officers are being excluded from our schools, it seems wrong to take away what seems to be the last bastion of protection from children at schools.
• The law has allowed responsible, discreet possession of life saving tools on school grounds for 33 years. The parents in your community have not suddenly become dangerous criminals because the legislature granted school boards the power to strip them of a fundamental right.
• Find out more at https://www.sportsmans.com/learn/gun-laws/oregon-gun-laws

Last week we told you about the inappropriate comic book found at several of our school libraries about how to have better gay sex, called Gender Queer. Although a parent went through the reconsideration process for questioning this material, the school district has not been forthcoming about who was on the reconsideration committee and what their reasoning was to leave the book at school.

This lack of transparency and willingness to listen and involve the parents is an ongoing critical issue at Salem Keizer Public Schools.

A Salem Keizer parent told us:

Schools are supposed to "prepare children for a successful life" which is actually the SKPS motto. Yet, identity politics is ruining the innocence of our children....We are labeling children in the name of equity and failing to prepare them for the future. Public schools are following a world view that ignores objectivity such as biological gender and instead puts an emphasis on feelings through "social-emotional learning and gender inclusive classrooms”

"The possibility that clinicians are providing treatments with permanent consequences to address what may be transient identities in youth poses a serious ethical dilemma. (https://www.hhs.gov/answers/mental-health-and-substance-abuse/what-does-suicide-contagion-mean/index.html)

• Parents are the decision maker for their child and it is not right for the school system to try and take their place.
• "Safe & Welcoming" is a euphemism for Gender Inclusive Classrooms that take a back seat to learning how to read and write effectively.
• Training children to follow their emotions and cement into place their immature notions — is reckless and foolish!
• The transgender policies were put into place behind parents backs. There is no excuse for the lack of transparency and honesty by the school district.
• All tax payers have a right to know what is being taught to children because what children learn at school affects everyone in the community.

It's time to take a stand and just say, NO!
Please email the school board your concerns.

(The books featured here are all readily available at a SKPS library near you.)

Copy and paste the email addresses below, EXACTLY as they are, directly into the "TO" section of your email. For your convenience, we've included all of the school board members as well as a few recommended media contacts; (the commas help them to populate perfectly):
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

GET ENGAGED:

• Starting June 29, 2022, 4:00-5:00 PM (NOTE CHANGE IN TIME) – "Park Talks" at Riverfront Park

While the kids play, join SKWST members each Wednesday at a picnic table by the playground, weather permitting. If it's wet, we'll move to Broadway Coffeehouse. Questions? Call Linda at 503-910-3609.

• July 19, 6:00-8:00 PM – SKWST Summer Social at Gilgamesh, The Woods (W. Salem)
• July 20, 7:30-8:30 AM – Breakfast Bites at The Rec
• August 25, 6:00-8:00 PM – SKWST Summer Social at the Beehive Station (South Salem)