News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 54
The Sisters School Board failed to approve an alternative school calendar Monday night. The delay probably kills the idea for the next school year. Instead, the board sent a proposal back to the administration for further work, with instructions to bring a revised plan back to the board on April 14. The proposed calendar will put all grades, K-12 on the same schedule. This schedule will have a break in the summer of eight to nine weeks, with shorter breaks in the spring and fall of three to four weeks. There were actually... Full story
The Deschutes County Board of Commissioners has approved a land exchange that could give the Sisters School District 80 acres adjacent to the middle/high school -- provided a plan is drafted to protect the rare Peck's penstemon flower that grows on the land. The land swap proposal involves about 250 acres now owned by the U.S. Forest Service adjacent to the middle/high school and some county land between Sisters and Bend and more land in La Pine area. All three commissioners voted January 29 to initiate the exchange despite... Full story
A package of "alternative calendar" models received a somewhat cool reception by the Sisters School Board Monday night. Some board members claimed the proposed schedules were not substantially different from the traditional calendar now in place. The board has been examining various school calendars to get maximum use of present facilities in the face of possible overcrowding. Under a "multi-track" schedule, a certain percentage of students would be in school while another group would be off. One form of multi-tracking would... Full story
Sisters schools work hard to keep students in school, and numbers seem to indicate that the district does pretty well. A couple of years ago the district had nearly twice as many dropouts as it did during the 1995-96 school year -- the rate dropped from 8.4 percent to 4.6 percent. In a small school, however, this is not necessarily an indication that programs are working. Three or four dropouts can cause a big swing in the percentage rate and Superintendent Steve Swisher said the district does not have enough long-term... Full story
In a society that cannot agree on abortion, capital punishment, marijuana use, censorship, religion, the environment and a host of other issues, what are educators supposed to do about teaching the country's children values? It's often a touchy subject and, while values are not taught today the way they were before the social revolution of the 1960s, they are being taught. The apple cart containing the tidy values package espoused in the first half of the century was not merely upset in the 60's, it was blown apart, sending... Full story
Every school in the state must have a program for talented and gifted students. It's the law. Behind that simple statement, however, is a complex, sometimes emotional, process of identifying students with exceptional abilities and tailoring unique programs to help them rise to their potential. The Sisters School District is now in the process of evaluating students from grades three through 12 and by sometime in March the district will have identified from 100 to 150 youngsters who have demonstrated exceptional abilities in o... Full story
A bus carrying the Sisters wrestling team was in a traffic accident Saturday morning in Bend. Sisters School Superintendent Steve Swisher said there were no injuries among the 25 people on the bus. The bus was in a collision with an automobile, Swisher said. He said the driver was reportedly uninjured, despite serious damage to the car. The school bus was towed to a repair shop and is expected to be back in service when school resumes after the holidays. Kathy Levine was the driver of the bus. She was not issued a citation,... Full story
Sisters Middle/High School principal Dennis Dempsey has been elected president of the Oregon Association of Secondary School Administrators. The selection adds to a growing number of honors for Dempsey. As president-elect of OASSA, Dempsey will represent the association in Region 7 of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. NASSP is the nation's largest school leadership organization. Dempsey will become president of the state association in July, 1997. Dempsey was hired as the first principal of the new... Full story
In virtually every school district in the state there are youngsters with mental or physical traits that set them apart from others. In Sisters there are more than 100 of these students, a little less than 10 percent. Keeping these kids moving forward in their education is the job of a team comprised of teachers, counselors and a cadre of experts in the field of special education. The district has no special classrooms in which to tailor classes for special needs students. They are absorbed into regular classes and some may... Full story
It was one of those occasions when people look at a point in history to find out how much things have changed and learn things haven't changed that much. Some friends got together Saturday, December 7 for a little party for Mayor Dave Moyer who will be winding up 22 years of service on the city council at the end of the month. Most of the council members who were around in February, 1975, when the mayor was first sworn in as a councilman were on hand to create a reenactment of that same meeting -- the topics of which carried... Full story
Two "year round education" plans were presented to the Sisters School Board Monday night and were both praised and criticized by an audience of parents and teachers who filled virtually every chair in the meeting room. The plans were berated for what was perceived by some as "politically motivated," "anti-family" and unnecessary, and applauded by those who see some form of class rescheduling as a the only apparent means of solving the inevitable increase in overcrowding of school facilities. The school board and study... Full story
When heavy snow and rain fell last week on Sisters, some of it didn't stop at the roof of the Sisters Elementary School. It went right on through the flat roof of the gym, serving only to remind school officials again of the district's money problems. Before the storm hit school board chairman Bill Reed was complaining that the budget has been so tight that the district had to make a choice between school maintenance and teaching staff. He said the board opted for retaining staff positions and let "important maintenance like... Full story
No plan will be adopted on year-round education in the Sisters School District until the district has heard from parents and the community. The school board decided Monday night to present plans and hear comments from parents in at least two school board meetings before adopting a plan. School board chairman Bill Reed said he is concerned about an apparent lack of interest being shown by parents. He said it is "terribly frustrating" when no one shows up at meetings. He said last year the board held at least four meetings and... Full story
A request to construct a $1.1 million interchange on the Sisters-Redmond Highway (Highway 126) just west of its present intersection with Cline Falls Highway is being considered by a Deschutes County hearings officer. The request was made by Eagle Crest Partners, Ltd. and the Oregon Department of Transportation. Eagle Crest is required to participate in the construction of the interchange to handle increased traffic if it wants to expand beyond its current 25 percent -- 200-unit -- limit on a 746-acre expansion of the... Full story
A contract with the county sheriff for police services in Sisters is an idea favored by both candidates for Deschutes County sheriff. During a candidate's forum last week at Sisters Elementary School, candidates Greg Brown and Larry Blanton both indicated some kind of an agreement with the sheriff's office would be favored to help curb police service costs to the city. A written, unsigned, question from the audience asked if either candidate had any idea on how the county can help reduce police costs in Sisters. The writer... Full story
The study of year-round education for kindergarten through eighth grade in Sisters has been assigned to a task force of educators and parents by Superintendent Steve Swisher. Swisher said the Elementary Site Council, comprised mainly of teachers and parents, and the Middle School Transition Team were directed to review several options for year-round education and prepare a draft implementation plan for review by December 15. Swisher took the action following instructions from the Sisters School Board last month to prepare... Full story
It's official. Sisters School District enrollment for the beginning of the 1996-97 school year stands at 1,133 students - an increase of 33 students over last year - all in the middle and high school grades. Elementary school grades kindergarten through sixth had a total enrollment of 545, the same as last year. The middle/high school increased from 555 to 588. Superintendent Steve Swisher said the enrollment as of last Friday is the number filed with the state. The enrollment is then factored into the formula used... Full story
Year round education for Sisters schools is on the front burner again and may be headed toward implementation in one year. Superintendent Steve Swisher, referring to a 1994 study by the Sisters School District Long Range Planning Committee that recommended year round education (YRE) for Sisters, asked the school board to clarify its position on the study and its recommendations at a meeting earlier this month. All four board members at the meeting supported proceeding with year round education in Sisters. Swisher said in his... Full story
More school financial woes loom if two ballot proposals coming up in the November general election pass, according to Sisters School Superintendent Steve Swisher. Measure 47, often called the "cut and cap" measure, would reduce the Sisters School District budget by an estimated $572,000 a year. Measure 46 would render it virtually impossible to pass bond issues in the future, according to Swisher. Volunteer donations to the district, made in conjunction with property tax payments, would not be affected by the measure,... Full story
When new school facilities were built east of Sisters four years ago, the new building absorbed students from grades 7-12 without making any real distinction between middle school and high school. Now school officials are trying to deal with an identity crisis among middle school students. Sisters school officials and the Family Access Network held a barbecue September 12 to recruit parents of seventh graders to help study this and other issues. Parents are also being asked to become part of a Middle School Development Team.... Full story
Teachers are changing the way "'Rithmetic" is taught in Sisters schools. The changes come as educators statewide call for strengthening Oregon students' math skills. Last month Sisters teachers won approval from the school board to change the district's math curriculum. New books were authorized that are part of a math learning system that provides better continuity from one grade level to the next. The system chosen for grades three through eight is called the "Saxon Adoption." In the simplest terms, the system couples... Full story
Sisters students continue to score higher than state average in the Oregon Statewide Assessment tests. The test scores were released last week by the Oregon Department of Education. They are the result of the sixth battery of tests given since testing began in 1961 to measure how well the students are doing in math and reading. Scores for sisters students remained consistent with those of previous years. The third grade scores for math, which had dropped in 1995, were improved (199 to 202), but not quite as high as the 1993 a... Full story
Sisters school officials face the coming few weeks and student registration with mixed emotions: No growth would be easier to manage, but additional students would bring more revenue from the state. Growth also got the district into trouble last year when enrollment in the district exceeded 1,000 students. That caused the district to lose its "small school correction," an extra allowance from the state. The sacrifice of that allowance meant Sisters lost between $130,000 and $140,000 in revenue for the current fiscal year.... Full story
As the fiscal noose tightens on Sisters schools, the school board is searching for ways to save co-curricular programs. The Sisters School Board approved the funding of coaches for wrestling programs in the middle and high schools August 8, embarking on a policy shift that allows the partial funding of some programs from gifts and donations. The school board, faced with a dramatic shortfall in its unappropriated ending fund budget, followed the recommendations of Superintendent Steve Swisher to approve the funding of coaches'... Full story
Pine Meadow Ranch developers have won a zoning change from the county and a commitment from the City of Sisters for water service. The Deschutes Board of County Commissioners declined an appeal July 29 and adopted two ordinances changing the zoning on 50 acres of the Pine Meadow Ranch development from reserve to residential zoning. No one appeared at the meeting to oppose the ordinances. The project also secured a commitment from the city to supply city water to 12 commercial-zoned acres of the development. The Sisters City C... Full story
