Hellman withdraws as superintendent

Charles Hellman. Photo by Jim Cornelius

Charles Hellman and the Sisters School Board have failed to agree on a contract that would make Hellman the next superintendent of Sisters schools.

Hellman, 59, is the superintendent of Rogue River schools in southern Oregon. He was chosen to be the new Sisters superintendent on April 18.

Since then, he and the Sisters board have been engaged in negotiations.

For some time there have been hints that the talks were not going well.

Hellman confirmed Tuesday morning that he had faxed a brief letter notifying the board that he was withdrawing.

"Basically, we've been negotiating for several weeks and have been unable to come to terms," Hellman told The Nugget.

The would-be superintendent was reluctant to go into details about points of disagreement but said, "Generally, the board was not able to offer some of the things that I requested."

The board's proposed package "would mean some losses for me and involve some risks that I'm not willing to take."

He said the talks stalled on two main issues, "not including salary." Asked if there was any chance that negotiations could be re-opened, Hellman said he was responding to what he understood to be a "final offer" and that he had no interest in pursuing the matter any further.

Sisters School Board Chairman Jeff Smith confirmed that the offer to which Hellman referred was indeed final. What caused the main disagreements?

"I talked to Charles (and) asked him about specifics," Smith said.

"He was concerned about our language in regard to termination without cause. And he had a very attractive early retirement program at Rogue River that we were unwilling to match."

Smith said the Sisters board would meet Wednesday "to explore our options. We will probably look both at our interview pool and at the interims that are available from the OSBA (Oregon School Boards Association)."

John Young, OSBA director of executive searches, told Smith there are "probably 20 interim candidates out there," chiefly retired administrators willing to take short-term appointments.

Hellman is in the first year of a three-year contract at Rogue River. He said he was "disappointed that I won't have the opportunity to serve such a fine school district (Sisters)."

Sisters Superintendent Steve Swisher was taken by surprise by the news Tuesday morning.

He officially retired in January but is serving out the school year under a contract.

He recently agreed to accept a one-year appointment as interim superintendent of the Brookings-Harbor School District on the Oregon coast next school year.

Swisher said he had made a commitment to Brookings and would not be available to serve on any interim basis in Sisters. But he added that he would "assist the board in any way possible during the transition."

Hellman was chosen to succeed Swisher after a search that began last November. The position drew 24 applicants, mainly from Oregon.

The Rogue River school boss was actually the board's second choice. Its first choice, Doug Jantzi, director of secondary education at Central Point schools, withdrew his candidacy at the last minute during a final interview with the board.

The school district announced an emergency executive session for Wednesday, May 14, to discuss the fallout from Hellman's sudden withdrawl.