Keyser lands Washington principal's position

Sisters High School Principal Boyd Keyser is moving out of Oregon, not just out of Sisters.

In a front-page column in last month's school newsletter, Keyser announced that he would resign his post at the end of this school year. A few days later, he announced that he had accepted a job in Washington state -- principal of Cle Elum-Roslyn High School. Cle Elum is in the Interstate 90 corridor about 80 miles east of Seattle.

At its regular meeting last Monday night, the Sisters School Board accepted Keyser's resignation without comment.

In doing so, it acknowledged a March 13 letter of resignation that Keyser addressed to Superintendent Steve Swisher. The two-page letter extensively reviewed accomplishments at the high school during the four years Keyser has been principal.

The letter explained some of his reasons for seeking a new post, along lines outlined in his newsletter column (The Nugget, March 26).

But it also made specific reference to Swisher's own retirement. The superintendent formally retired in January and is working on contract until the end of the school year to help with the transition as the board searches for a replacement.

Keyser wrote:

"Your own (Swisher's) retirement means that my chief mentor and the main reason for coming here are disappearing. The change in leadership at the district level coincides with a shift in direction from the school board as they take a more active approach in directing school affairs. The departure of both of us will give the board more latitude in creating a leadership team that is fully aligned with their ideas."

Asked about the implications of that paragraph, Keyser said he didn't mean anything special, just that whenever top administrators leave a school district it creates opportunities for a board to move in new directions.

The letter also said, "I am at a point in my career where I am looking to move to a principalship at a larger school or perhaps an assistant superintendency."

Keyser was known to be a candidate for several administrative positions in Oregon. But he also said last month that he was looking out of state, partly because of all of the budget cutting and the dismal outlook for school finance in Oregon.

While the position he wound up with is in another state, it is on the same step on the administrative ladder as his current job and in a district somewhat smaller than Sisters. Cle Elum-Roslyn School District has 925 students compared with about 1,125 in Sisters. The high school Keyser will lead has 300 students compared with about 435 in Sisters.

Cle Elum and Roslyn are separate communities with the schools they share sited between.

The area is about to receive an economic boost from a 7,000-acre residential resort that will be built nearby, which Keyser likens to Sunriver.

Keyser describes the area as "very similar (to Sisters). It's on the east side of the Cascade mountains on a major pass that goes between Seattle and Ellensburg." Ellensburg is the home of Central Washington University.

The 44-year-old educator said he had personal as well as professional reasons for being attracted to the area. His parents live in nearby Ephrata and his two sisters and a son live in Seattle.

Keyser will work through the end of the school year in Sisters.

His resignation is effective August 15, when his current contract expires.

The departures of Sisters' top two school administrators comes at a time when the district is scurrying to get ready to open a new high school building in September and to simultaneously move its middle school into the somewhat remodeled former high school.

The district hopes to have a new superintendent on board by the beginning of the next fiscal year, July 1.

Swisher has already announced that when Keyser leaves, the high school principalship will be filled on an interim basis by Assistant Principal Bob Macauley.