Teachers back in classrooms

Staff from the elementary, middle and high schools gathered in the high school commons on Monday, August 23. They were preparing for the coming school year.

Students will return to classes next week.

One of the first items of business was to recog- nize past accomplishments. There were many.

Nearly everyone focused on students; not necessarily the most gifted ones, but those who had made the greatest strides - those who may have been at risk but whose life was turned around.

There was the boy who may have been headed nowhere but now was nearly through with basic training and headed toward an education through the military; and a little girl who barely spoke when she first came to school who now sings and performs with classmates.

There were others; many others. These were the accomplishments, and this is the kind of success Superinten-dent Steve Swisher hopes to build on.

"We need to get our students ready to move into the world,"Swisher said.

He wants students from Sisters schools to have the tools they need to transition out of school life. He wants all students to have those skills, not just the college-bound but also those who have special needs, and those going right to work without the benefit of college.

"There is tremendous support for the schools in the community, but there still is not a wide range of opportunity,"Swisher said.

Sisters schools are somewhat isolated geographically, so opportunities must be explored. And there are areas where Sisters may not be able to match opportunities elsewhere, such as auto shop.

"We lost our instructor there, and we can not offer the same kind of programs. If a student was really into that (auto shop) I would have to recommend he attend Redmond,"Swisher said.

Still, the opportunities here are remarkable. Students have learned to build computers through Outlawnet, the school-affiliated Internet service provider, and will soon have an opportunity to work in the school-affiliated "Desertronics,"building circuit boards and electronic devices.

Sisters schools consistently lead Central Oregon in test scores, and they are among the top five in the state in reading, according to the superintendent. But there is still room for improvement, especially with communications between the three schools.

This includes not only unifying what is taught, but focusing on how teachers hand off individual students to those teaching the next grade or in the next school. It includes special attention to how those children experience continuity in their education.

After Monday's meetings, the teachers were to gather and discuss how to implement school board policy and meet state goals. Even with the importance of art, vocational education and athletics, Swisher said the district could not lose sight of the basics.

"Reading, writing, speaking and math. That is still the core. Everything else is built off that."

Welcome back to school.