The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

The Sisters School Board was to conduct final interviews Wednesday with the two men and one woman who are still in the running to be Sisters schools next superintendent. The interviews were to be held in closed, executive session.

The three finalists are: Elaine Drakulich, the current assistant superintendent of the North Clackamas School District in Milwaukie; Dennis Friedrich, who is superintendent of the Rainier School District in Rainier, Washington; and Andy Sommer, the principal of Wilsonville High School in Wilsonville.

According to Betsy Miller-Jones, the Oregon School Boards Association consultant hired by the Sisters School Board to assist with the superintendent's search, the final interviews are normally reflective of what the candidates have seen in the district the previous day.

The three finalists spent Tuesday, April 11, in Sisters meeting district parents, residents, staff, administrators and students. A public forum was held at the high school. The candidates, stationed in the library/conference room, the lecture room and the choir room, spent the two-hour session greeting the public and entertaining questions.

School board members were available at the session for community members to share their input and impressions directly. Additionally, a format was provided for the public to submit comments and critiques in writing.

According to Miller-Jones the final interviews are the board's last chance "before they make a decision to ask any lingering questions that they have of the candidates based on what they know from reference checks and site visits, but it's also a wonderful time to be able to ask the candidates about what they have seen while touring the Sisters schools and what their thoughts are on it, so you get a little bit more of the candidates' ideas of what they might do when they come to Sisters and their visions of Sisters...."

The board was to deliberate in executive session after the interviews and determine to whom they wish to offer a contract.

"We usually word it: 'Who's your first choice? Who's your second choice?' And then the attorney is designated or sometimes the board member does it to contact the candidate and begin the process of negotiating a contract," Miller-Jones said.

Miller-Jones said that the process of initiating negotiations with one of the three candidates is not a final decision on the part of the board. No public announcement will be made until a contract is actually signed.

"You can expect it to be a week later," Miller-Jones said, meaning an announcement is unlikely before next Wednesday, April 18.

The school board can choose to offer a contract to all three candidates in order of preference. If a contract agreement with the first choice candidate cannot be reached, the board has the flexibility to offer a contract to its second choice or to neither of the remaining two finalists.

Should all candidate decline or should the board choose not to offer or sign a contract with any of the candidates, the board has two options. It can either immediately reopen its posting and search for a permanent superintendent or find an interim superintendent.