Murmurs: OHSU Colleagues Complained About CEO’s Behavior

OHSU COLLEAGUES COMPLAINED ABOUT CEO’S BEHAVIOR: Early this month, Oregon Health & Science University abruptly fired the chief of its health care operations after just a few months on the job. Former CEO Tarek Salaway quickly hit back, saying he’d been retaliated against for raising concerns about workplace culture, patient safety, and resource management. But documents newly obtained by WW show that several people—their names were redacted—made statements describing experiences with Salaway that ranged from obnoxious to “unsettling.” The accounts, given to investigators in early March, touched on similar themes: They describe a CEO who zealously set out to improve OHSU’s health care operations, but could be condescending and arrogant, quick to cast aspersions on matters he still didn’t know much about, and didn’t seem to read emails or onboarding packets or listen particularly well. Some wondered about Salaway’s sense of boundaries. One official recalled Salaway telling him that “we need to get gangster” on Hillsboro Medical Center, whose partnership with OHSU had evidently left Salaway unimpressed. Elsewhere, the documents cite secondhand allegations that Salaway threatened to “strangle” a colleague. And a neighbor of Salaway’s who gave a witness statement recalled how later, when Salaway seemed to be out of town, he’d left his home stereo on loudly 24/7, disrupting the staffer’s sleep. “I truly do believe this is retaliation for giving a witness statement,” the staffer told investigators. In a written response through his attorney, Salaway, whose salary was $1.4 million, declined to comment on these and other specific claims, citing an ongoing legal process. His attorney, Jackie Ford, tells WW that Salaway in January brought several substantive concerns about OHSU to its leaders, who responded with a “rushed and irregular process” that suppressed views of people from “marginalized communities who enthusiastically supported Mr. Salaway’s leadership.” Meanwhile, she added, “allegations were assembled against him, including backdated ‘supporting’ documentation based on hearsay, rumors, and outright lies used to justify Mr. Salaway’s termination.” In its own statement, OHSU said it does not tolerate racism, discrimination or retaliation, “and these were not factors in any decision related to this case.”

PPS INTRODUCES ANOTHER METRIC TO DETERMINE SCHOOL CLOSURES: Portland Public Schools began its community engagement process on school closures with an April 11 forum at Kellogg Middle School. The forum officially kicked off what’s expected to be a monthslong process that Superintendent Dr. Kimberlee Armstrong has estimated could result in five to 10 of the district’s school buildings closing. As WW has previously reported, PPS will consider many factors during the process, from facility condition to transportation and where affordable housing may go in the future. At the April 11 engagement meeting, PPS introduced another metric into the mix: “utilization,” defined as a school’s enrollment divided by its functional capacity. (Sydney Kelly, a PPS spokeswoman, says functional capacity “is a practical estimate of the number of students a school site can accommodate.” It is based on classroom capacity, which is informed by square footage and how often instructional spaces are used.) Utilization rates of different buildings in the district’s portfolio vary dramatically, from 25% at schools like Rosa Parks Elementary and Jefferson High School, to 110% at Winterhaven K–8. Portland School Board Chair Eddie Wang cautions against conflating utilization rates with which schools will ultimately close. “If there are two schools near each other that we are looking to consolidate,” he says, “it does not automatically mean that the lower-enrolled one will be closed. We need to look at a lot of factors.”

LAWMAKER WANTS TO TURN UP DIAL ON FORCED TREATMENTS: On Jan. 1, a new law went into effect in Oregon that was supposed to make it easier for authorities to force someone with acute mental illness into treatment against their will. It remains to be seen whether this is actually having any effect; lawmakers are set in a few months to hear an analysis of the impacts. But either way, state Sen. Lisa Reynolds (D-West Portland) thinks the state ought to lower the bar on civil commitments even more. “The pendulum, for sure, has swung way too far to patient rights,” she said, adding, “If someone is in the fentanyl fold out on the streets, they are not living their best life.” Reynolds, a pediatrician who chairs the Senate Committee on Early Childhood and Behavioral Health, made these remarks during an endorsement interview with WW last week in response to a question about how Oregon should fundamentally rethink how it tackles severe mental illness and drug addiction. Still, the idea of expanding civil commitments has historically raised hackles among libertarian-minded Oregonians, and, especially after a slight expansion already got through the statehouse last year, resistance is likely to be fierce. Opponents argue expanded civil commitments would force many people needlessly into treatment, where they would take up scarce beds better filled by more acute cases.

ADVISERS SUGGEST FEW CHANGES TO PRESCHOOL FOR ALL TAX: County commissioners heard final recommendations April 14 on the Preschool for All tax from a seven-member technical advisory group of economic, demographic and policy experts who have for months weighed the universal preschool program’s financial future. The tax on high earners is a polarizing one. Critics have long called for pausing the tax or indexing it to inflation, and supporters have argued the county needs more money to successfully maintain the program. In many ways, the TAG’s last meeting reflected those tensions. The final report did not change much from a draft WW reported on in February, which most notably suggested that commissioners again pause a scheduled 0.8% tax increase until fiscal year 2029 before reassessing. The report also recommended that commissioners study actual child care costs and how many children are going to use the program. But at an April 1 TAG meeting, six members voted to approve the recommendations “with reservation” as a number of members said they supported postponing the tax increase for much longer. One TAG member, Mary King, a professor emerita of economics at Portland State University, went so far as to vote against the group’s recommendations, citing concerns about recession and saying she thought the county had underestimated the true cost of running Preschool for All. “We can’t afford to delay, and I think it’s irresponsible to delay given the promise to the voters, families, and small business providers,” she said. County commissioners must make any changes for tax year 2027 by late August.