News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 99
Young people these days are told that they should expect to change careers several times during their working lives. When he talks to the students in Sisters schools, Superintendent Ted Thonstad can offer himself as a personification of that probability. Omitting much detail, here are the main stops on his career path since he earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Oregon in 1966: - Pay analyst for the Oregon Civil Service Commission. (1966-67). - Field sales person in three cities over four... Full story
When Ted Thonstad was hired as superintendent of Sisters schools last month, he knew that his first three months would be devoted to one overriding task: winning voter approval of a new "local option levy." A proposed four-year levy of 75 cents per $1,000 of assessed value will be on the November 2 general election ballot. That is the same rate as the levy that has been in effect in Sisters since 2001-02, which expires at the end of the current fiscal year (2004-05). A local option brings in money over and above what a... Full story
Steve Swisher would like to return to Central Oregon. But he will not be a candidate to return to his former job as superintendent of Sisters schools. Actually, Swisher told The Nugget over the weekend, he might be interested in his old job if the board wanted him and "if they need the kind of help I could provide." But when he was asked about that possibility on Monday, May 10, Sisters School Board Chairman Glen Lasken answered with a firm: "No." Why not? Lasken explained: "Well, we've debated that (a possible Swisher... Full story
The top two administrators at Sisters High School are no longer "acting." Superintendent Lynn Baker announced Monday, March 8, that he is making Bob Macauley principal and Jim Golden assistant principal on a permanent basis. Both men have been serving on interim appointments, which they received after former Principal Boyd Keyser resigned and took a similar job in Washington state at the end of the last school year. Baker announced his decision to move both men to permanent appointments at Monday night's school board... Full story
Sisters School District's budget hole may turn out to be smaller than originally feared. Updated estimates issued by the Oregon Department of Education last Friday, February 27, indicate that the reduction in state school funds caused by last month's defeat of State Measure 30 will be greater than originally expected for next school year, 2004-05. But for Sisters, that loss will be substantially offset by an increase in state revenue for the current year, 2003-04. When Measure 30 was defeated, the Confederation of Oregon... Full story
There is a general impression -- fortunately, accurate -- that Sisters students do well on state assessments, the annual tests administered by the Oregon Department of Education. Moreover, Karen Withrow, a high school science teacher who also serves as the district's assessment coordinator, says that the performance of local students is improving over time. Anyone who taps into the district's website (www.outlawnet.com) will find this summary of the latest results: "On the 2003 Oregon Statewide Assessments, Sisters school... Full story
Sisters Elementary School was the local star of the 2002-03 school "report card" issued last week by the Oregon Department of Education. The elementary school maintained the same Exceptional rating it earned the year before. Sisters Middle School retained its same Satisfactory mark while the high school slipped from Exceptional to Satisfactory. The grading system has five levels: Exceptional, Strong, Satisfactory, Low and Unacceptable. The overall ratings take into account student scores on statewide tests, score... Full story
Sisters attorney Charles "Chuck" Fadeley is the new justice of the peace for Deschutes County. He was appointed by Gov. Ted Kulongoski earlier this month to fill a vacancy created when the incumbent justice, Steve Forte, was elected to the Deschutes County Circuit Court. Forte took office at the beginning of the year. In his new part-time job, Fadeley will be one of 30 justices in 19 counties around the state. Justice courts deal primarily with traffic violations but also have jurisdiction over boating, wildlife and other... Full story
Sisters High School has almost abolished the concept of "dropout." Last year (2002-03), according to the annual state report issued last week, the school had four drop- outs, producing a rate of 0.8 percent. While that is extremely low, ironically it constituted an increase for Sisters. The year before, 2001-02, only three students dropped out, producing an official rate of 0.7 percent. Dropout rates represent the percentage of students in grades 9-12 who leave school during the year. The rates do not include students in... Full story
At its first meeting of the year on Monday, January 12, the Sisters School Board failed to get a more complete explanation of lower-than-expected interest earnings on the district's high school construction bonds. Snow was partly to blame. The Sisters area's better than two-foot snowfall over the Christmas/New Year holidays kept District Facilities Manager Bob Martin so busy with buildings and grounds problems that he was unable to complete a final "spread sheet" of expenditures for the new high school, which opened for... Full story
State Measure 30 will make an $800-million difference to the state budget during the current (2003-05) biennium. Ballots for the measure went to voters in the mail last week. City of Sisters services will be basically unaffected and Sisters will only feel any impact from state or county cuts indirectly. But Superintendent Lynn Baker says Measure 30 will make a $600,000 difference to Sisters schools, with about one-third of the impact being felt this year, 2003-04, and two-thirds next year. If the district has to cut roughly $... Full story
Sisters school officials are scrambling to find the full answer to an embarrassing question: Why is the district winding up with nearly $800,000 less than it expected in interest on the invested proceeds from bonds used to build the new high school? Part of the answer seems clear: About $180,000 of the shortfall stemmed from the sale of some investments before maturity to pay contractors who got ahead of schedule because of mild winter weather. Another $610,926.87 represented the premiums paid for premium bonds the district... Full story
Three large electrical woodworking tools donated to Sisters High School by Central Oregon Community College have flunked safety tests and, for the time being at least, cannot be used. But High School Principal Bob Macauley is not complaining; he said last week that the total donation involved about $40,000 worth of equipment. The unusable machines are valued at about $18,000. So the school can still make use of a lot of hardware it would not otherwise have. "We're still way ahead," Macauley said. The donation came after... Full story
The Sisters School Board suffered its own version of "shock and awe" Monday night when it learned that bond interest earnings it had expected to give back to the taxpayers may be less than a quarter of the $900,000 anticipated. "I am astounded," said Board Member Jeff Smith. His sentiment was clearly shared by his four colleagues. "This is a devastating surprise," said senior Board Member Bill Reed. "We are $800,000 in the hole. We made a promise to the taxpayers..." The promise he referred to was a compromise fashioned... Full story
The Sisters School Board Monday night approved a two-year contract for Lynn Baker as the district's superintendent, starting July 1. For the past five months, the 54-year-old educator has been serving as interim superintendent with a one-year contract. This decision relieves the board of any need to begin yet another search for a chief executive. More than a year ago, board members undertook an extensive search for someone to replace Steve Swisher, who had given notice that he would retire at the end of the 2002-03 school... Full story
Two land purchases last week moved Sisters toward the creation of a central "campus" for three public entities -- the city, the school district and the library. The City of Sisters and the Deschutes Public Library District each bought parcels from the Sisters School District -- parcels that were part of the former Sisters Middle School site. The irregularly shaped site lies between Highway 20 and Main Avenue on the east side of town. Both buyers paid $9 per square foot for the land. The city bought 32,400 square feet on the... Full story
Within a few years, three new public buildings may stand on the three-acre site that now holds the former Sisters Middle School. Two of the three possibilities are fairly certain -- a library and a city hall. The third, a new school administration building, is contingent upon several factors including a study of the cost of renovating the old brick high school building. All of the projects face obstacles, however. Controversy is simmering over two aspects of the library plan, both related to a decision to base a new Sisters... Full story
The Sisters School Board is getting a little nervous about how much money the district will receive from the state to pay for furniture and other equipment for the new high school and the remodeled former high school that has become a middle school. Last spring, the board accepted then-Superintendent Steve Swisher's estimate that the state would give the district an amount equal to at least 4 percent of the $21 million cost of the two projects. It now appears that a first round of funding may be only a little more than half... Full story
As the Sisters community dedicated its new high school last week, seven-tenths of a mile down the Old McKenzie Highway (Highway 242) toward town, Middle School Principal Lora Nordquist was busily preparing for the opening of her own "new" school, the remodeled former high school. And she was as happy as if the building were brand new. "We were so crowded at the other site (the old middle school on Cascade Avenue in the middle of town)," she said. "We were in five buildings there, you know. Here we are all under one roof. The... Full story
Gator Beat entertained at the school dedication. photo by Jim Cornelius More than 200 people, from babies to grandparents, helped Sisters school officials dedicate the community's new high school on a mild Thursday afternoon, September 11. After the half-hour ceremony on the school's front plaza, many accepted Superintendent Lynn Baker's invitation to tour the building. What they saw was a handsome structure with state-of-the-art equipment. It is half again as large as the building it replaces, containing 152,000 square feet... Full story
The Sisters School Board decided at its August 18 meeting to sell 29.5 acres of surplus property -- the former Lundgren Mill site -- for $100,000 an acre. That decision may have seemed quick, but it culminates a history that goes back two decades. In the early 1980s, the school board decided that it wanted to get back into the high school business. A four-year high school program that had served local students since 1923 had been closed in 1967 for lack of funding. Sisters students attended Redmond High School after that.... Full story
Several Sisters teachers and other school employees who are the parents of preschool children will have one less worry in the coming school year: Their need for daycare can be met by a high-quality daycare center located in the district's middle school. The Sisters School Board approved plans to rent space to such a center at a special meeting July 21. The center will occupy an unused room on the ground floor of the former high school building, which is being remodeled to become the middle school. The school district will... Full story
Sisters attorney Glen Lasken was elected chairman of the Sisters School Board at the board's annual organizational session last week. Senior board member Bill Reed was chosen vice chairman. The board also briefly discussed two pending issues: a proposed daycare operation at the new middle school (the existing high school) to serve teachers and other school staff members and a dilemma caused by the installation of wrong-sized windows in the media center of the new high school. Lasken has two children enrolled in the local... Full story
He didn't talk about the new high school, or even the local option levy. When Steve Swisher, superintendent of Sisters schools for the past seven years, was asked last week about his greatest accomplishment and disappointments during those years, he began this way: "The piece that I feel positive about was that we put together processes, a way to look toward the future, kind of where we're going, and in particular keeping an eye on the academic achievement issues. And over time, I think we improved those processes through... Full story
While some Oregon schools are cutting summer programs because of the statewide budget crunch, Sisters will conduct a small summer school as usual. Sisters High School Counselor Charlie Kanzig, who directs the program, said four weeks of classes will be offered, beginning July 8. They will be held from 8 to 11 a.m. weekdays at Sisters Middle School on Cascade Avenue. Classes will be offered in English and history, primarily for students who have failed a course or "have gotten behind for some reason such as illness or moving... Full story
