Board to interview interim candidates

A twice-burned but still determined Sisters School Board has lined up interviews with four candidates for the job of interim superintendent for the coming school year.

The search for a temporary leader was launched May 14, the day after Rogue River Superintendent Charles Hellman withdrew from consideration.

Hellman had been offered the top job after an elaborate search, but he and the board were unable to agree on contract terms. Hellman was actually the board's second choice. The first choice, Central Point secondary education director Doug Jantzi, astounded the board by withdrawing during a final interview that was expected to conclude with his appointment.

Smarting from such bad luck, the board quickly decided that it would seek an interim appointee for the coming year and take its time looking for a permanent replacement for current Superintendent Steve Swisher, who has already retired but is working on contract until the end of the year.

The board has indicated that it wants a person with experience as a superintendent to hold things steady as the local district undergoes considerable change in 2003-04, opening a new high school and moving its middle school into the former high school building.

The board turned to the Oregon School Boards Association for help and received a list of 41 names of educators, mostly retired administrators, who have indicated willingness to accept interim appointments.

With advice from a variety of sources, the board winnowed the list to four Monday night. By Tuesday mid-morning, all four had been scheduled for interviews by board members in Sisters this week.

The four are: Lynn Baker, current superintendent of Cashmere School District in Washington state; Charles Carpenter of Washougal, Wash., who was superintendent of the Carus elementary district from 1975 to 1981 and the Damascus Union High School district from 1981 to 1984, also serving as interim superintendent in Gresham in 1988-89 and Sandy in 2000-01; Kerm Bennett of Tigard, who was superintendent in Grants Pass from 1994 to 2002, and Eldon Wortman of Terrebonne, who retired as an elementary school principal in 1998 but was the superintendent-principal of Lacomb elementary district from 1979 to 1995.

Wortman was to be interviewed Tuesday and the other three are scheduled Friday.

The sessions are closed to the public.