The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Sisters schools have experienced a high rate of turnover this year. According to Human Resources Director Tim Comfort, 32 of the district’s 152 employees this year are new. That’s 22 percent of the 142 on the payroll last year, compared with a normal annual turnover of 10 to 15 percent.

Nearly the same rate was evident within the teaching staff. Among the 69 teachers this year, 14 are new to the district. Only three of the 14 hold positions that were added this year; the rest are either temporary or permanent replacements for teachers who were on the staff last year but retired or resigned. Measured against last year, the new teachers represent a change of 21 percent.

The three teaching positions that were added for 2005-06 are in the second grade, the sixth grade and high school language arts.

In percentage terms, the unit experiencing the greatest change this year is the alternative education department of the high school. Three of the four positions there are being filled by new people. The total number remains the same as last year.

Among the 15 “paraeducators” or instructional assistants in the system, six are new this year, for a turnover rate of 40 percent. These are part-time people who work in all three buildings, predominantly with special education students.

Several other staff members who are not new to the district nonetheless occupy positions different from those they held before. These intra-district transfers include Comfort himself, who was principal of the elementary school for 10 years before moving to a multifaceted job in the central administration office this year.

Comfort is one of the district’s six administrators. Two other members of the administrative team are new to the district this year: Mark Stewart, assistant principal of the high school, and Jan Silberman, who took Comfort’s place as principal of the elementary school.

By contrast, Comfort said, the internal unit with the least turnover is the transportation department. It has no new staff members among its 12 employees — a supervisor, a mechanic and 10 drivers. “That’s kind of noteworthy,” Comfort commented.

The new teachers this year are: High school — David Atherton, language arts; Michelle Hammer, alternative education; Gary Hedin, special education; Bill Rexford, social studies; Janie Sampson, alternative education; Sally Taylor-Pillar, advanced math; and Mary Thomas, language arts.

Middle school — Karla Barton, sixth grade; Carolyn Platt, art; Susan Werts, special education; and Marti Dale, job-sharing a physical education position.

Elementary school — Toni Coleman, Talented and Gifted/English Language Learners; Jennifer Hopp, fifth grade; and Clara Hughes, second grade.

Comfort confirmed that the school district is the Sisters area’s largest employer, on a full-time-equivalent basis.