News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
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Bela Chladek, a sophomore at Sisters High School (SHS), finished fourth overall in the combined results at the unofficial Alpine State Championships held March 4-5 at Mt. Hood Ski Bowl. Chladek led the Outlaws in completing a very successful alpine ski season. Due to the pandemic, the Oregon Interscholastic Ski Racing Association (OISRA) opted out of having an official season, so coaches and volunteers stepped in to make a season happen for the teams interested in taking... Full story
Sisters middle and high school students began in-person learning in late January under Oregons “hybrid model,” while Sisters Elementary School has been operating largely in person since September. For many citizens of Sisters Country, confusion and some frustration remains regarding the variations in the “hybrid” schedule among the three schools and the reasons for the differences. The key reasons for the variations in the three schools’ plans stem from the limiting factor of physical space in relation to the number of studen... Full story
The Sisters School Board’s monthly meeting took place Wednesday, March 3, 2021 at Sisters Middle School with all board members in attendance. • Board member David Thorsett expressed concern about the comparatively limited time that middle school students are in real-time contact with teachers while acknowledging that he understood that it is largely due to lack of physical space in the building to meet distancing requirements. Board member Jeff Smith posed a question about how effective the “at home” days are for stude... Full story
The Sisters Outlaws alpine ski girls and boys teams both won league titles based on performances over four meets during the regular season of Oregon Interscholastic Ski Racing Association. The Outlaws came out on top against squads from Redmond, Albany, Corvallis and Eugene and will finish the season with a strong contingent of skiers competing at the state championships scheduled for March 4 and 5 at Mt. Hood Meadows. State qualification for teams is based on cumulative perfo... Full story
The long wait is over for the Sisters High School cross country teams; they have official meets on the schedule for the first time in months and are ready to test their training. A strong core of experienced runners return for the Outlaws and they look ready to make the most of the shortened season offered up by the OSAA during this pandemic-impacted year. On the boys team, seniors Ethan Hosang, Will Thorsett, John Peckham, Sam May, Vicente Rebolledo, along with junior Max... Full story
A year after the Sisters School District announced that Sisters High School Principal Joe Hosang would be moving to a position at the district office, the plan is coming to fruition. The move was scrapped last spring after it became clear that COVID-19 would continue to wreak havoc into the 2020-21 school year, and that Sisters High School (SHS) would need the stability of keeping Hosang at the helm. Hosang will move to direct the human resource and curriculum departments for... Full story
Sisters voters will be asked May 18 to pass a bond for the construction of a new elementary school to replace the current building that is undersized and in need of major renovation. A 2001 bond that was used to build Sisters High School is “retiring,” which means that if the levy is passes the tax rate of 93 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value would simply continue, allowing the creation of a $33.8 million fund for construction of the new school and renovations and upgrades on other district property. Population gro... Full story
A six-week class during the presidential election, and the tumult and upheaval that followed, gave Sisters High School teacher Gail Greaney’s Advanced Placement Government Politics and Policy students a chance to study history in the making. A January 21 article published by the state’s largest paper, The Oregonian, featured her class and focused on the challenge and strategies of teaching a course of this nature during an eventful political period. The Nugget followed up with Greaney and two of her students to uncover mor... Full story
Sisters High School football players, coaches and fans got a welcome message last Friday, when Governor Kate Brown announced that outdoor contact sports for the upcoming “fall” season will be allowed for many teams in Oregon, including Sisters. Not surprisingly, there are strings attached, including the need to offer on-site responsive testing for symptomatic individuals and close contacts, protocols in place for contact-tracing purposes, and written waivers identifying hea... Full story
Everyone has been impacted in some way over the past year as a result of COVID-19 and much has been written about the challenges in regard to emotional well-being among school aged-children, whose “normal” lives have been taken on a wild ride. From school closures to the shutdown of activities, from the shortage of social opportunities to being cooped up at home, young people have been asked to adapt in unprecedented ways. For some these difficulties have taken a significant toll leading to feelings of depression and iso... Full story
The coronavirus pandemic has wiped out sport seasons for nearly a year now, and along with it many of the goals and dreams of high-school athletes. But some members of the Sisters High School cross-country team have continued to train in hopes of racing in the upcoming weeks during a truncated, six-week season that begins officially February 22. The Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA), the governing body for Oregon high-school sports and activities, has created a calen... Full story
The Sisters High School (SHS) Key Club is sponsoring a drive to collect hygiene products to be donated for future use at Sisters Warming Shelter or distributed through the Family Access Network. The drive is set to begin on Wednesday, February 11, and run through Thursday, March 11, according to Susie Seaney, club advisor and teacher at SHS. Key Club is a junior organization of Sisters Kiwanis Club, which is well known for its charitable work, including the local food bank. According to Seaney, students wanted to do... Full story
Child development has been a lifelong focus for Sisters resident Edie Jones, but in her recently published second book she has taken a unique angle on the subject, using her goldendoodle, Walker, as the focal point. The book is comprised of a series of poems, chronicling Walker’s development. The soft-cover volume, “Walker’s Wisdom: His Journey from Puppy to Big Dog,” is hot off the press and available for purchase locally. It is a collection of 14 full-page poems, each of... Full story
“Snow on the ground, sun is out, kids are coming back — life is good!” said Sisters Middle School (SMS) Counselor Brook Jackson on Monday, January 25, as students returned to classrooms for the first time in months. After nearly 11 months of receiving instruction through Comprehensive Distance Learning, secondary students in Sisters School District returned to the classroom this week under the “Hybrid Model,” which allows them to be in school part of the week, while c... Full story
The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc for high school sports teams, but due to the nature of the sport, the Sisters High School alpine ski team has developed a plan with other schools to begin competitions this week with a meet at Hoodoo scheduled for Wednesday, January 27. Coach Gabe Chladek reported that the boys and girls comprising the team have been doing dryland training since November and have been up “on the hill” once or twice a week since mid-December. “All of th... Full story
The pandemic has impacted local sports as well as the ability to gather, but cross country coach and teacher Josh Nordell came up with a simple way to do some real good during the holiday season through a running challenge designed to put a little money into some local charities. Nordell contacted Peterson Ridge Rumble Race Director Sean Meissner and asked if he would be willing to put up some funds from the race to help make the idea work. The two settled on a plan in which anyone could be involved. For every mile covered... Full story
The Sisters School Board met for the first time in 2021 on Wednesday, January 6 via Zoom. • Superintendent Curt Scholl thanked the teachers and support staff for continuing to have a common focus and working together for the sake of Sisters’ students. • Early indications show little increase in enrollment, but housing projects continue to boom in the area, so an enrollment increase is strongly anticipated. Scholl reported that with the expected growth for next year, the elementary school may need to install one o... Full story
About 30 specialists, paraprofessionals and support staff were the first of the Sisters School District staff members to receive their initial dose of the COVID-19 vaccination. The vaccinations come amidst concern that Oregon’s supply may not be as substantial as first reported. In a news conference on Friday, January 15, Governor Kate Brown expressed her dismay that the total number of available vaccines was apparently misrepresented, but vowed to get as many teachers in Oregon vaccinated as possible in a timely manner, w... Full story
All students in the Sisters School District are scheduled to return to some level of in-person learning by February 1, according to a communication sent out January 6 by superintendent Curt Scholl. Sisters Elementary School has been operating with in-person instruction under what is referred to as the “hybrid model” since early in the school year. Students attend Monday through Thursday full-time and work from home on Fridays. The middle school and high school have been conducting school under Comprehensive Distance Lea... Full story
In a gesture to help families and to promote participation, the Sisters School District has announced that the pay-to-play fees for middle school and high school sports is being waived for the school year. Superintendent Curt Scholl and high school athletic director Gary Thorson made the announcement last week. Any families who have already paid for upcoming sports seasons will be reimbursed, according to Thorson. “Our ‘Season One’ that took place with limited activity was n... Full story
Sisters Elementary School will be allowed to remain open for “hybrid” learning under the state’s “Safe Harbor” clause, which was extended following an announcement late December 16 from the Oregon Department of Education and the Oregon Health Authority. The “Safe Harbor” status had been set to expire January 4, 2021. ODE expects to publish updated information in the “Safe Schools, Ready Learners” program, including regarding “Safe Harbor” in the next two weeks. However, superintendent Curt Scholl emphasized that stude... Full story
In a year that has challenged teachers in ways no one ever imagined, the annual call for nominations for the Oregon Teacher of the Year likely has more meaning than ever before. In a recent press release the Oregon Department of Education, along with the Oregon Lottery, announced that nominations for the Oregon Regional Teacher of the Year are open through January 31, 2021. Recognizing the strength of the teaching staff in the Sisters School District, administrators Curt Scholl, Joe Hosang, Alison Haney, and Joan Warburg all... Full story
• Sisters Elementary School Principal Joan Warburg praised school district nurse Trish Roy for her professionalism and hard work during the pandemic in helping the entire district in navigating and managing health protocols, contacting families, and keeping students cared for. She is grateful to have had all of the grades in school the past month. The preschool expects to be up to 12 students by the end of January and has a maximum capacity of 18. Warburg acknowledged the hard work and sacrifice all of her staff have... Full story
The school counselors in the Sisters School District have continued focusing on the social/emotional well-being of students during the pandemic as well as in response to the loss of three local teenagers earlier this year in accidents. The holiday season, while designed to be a time of joy and togetherness, can be particularly challenging during times of unusual stress, such as a global pandemic or following the loss of loved ones. Sisters Middle School counselor Brook Jackson shared an article compiled by staff at the Mayo... Full story
In response to the spike in COVID-19 cases around the state over the past month, the Oregon Schools Athletics and Activities Association (OSAA) announced last week that it will further condense the competitive seasons planned for this school year — down to six weeks apiece for all sports and will move winter sports to late spring. The latest changes shuffle the order of the three competitive sports seasons and shorten each season to about six weeks from the nine originally planned. In its press release the OSAA wrote,... Full story
