Lasken named board chair

Sisters attorney Glen Lasken was elected chairman of the Sisters School Board at the board's annual organizational session last week. Senior board member Bill Reed was chosen vice chairman.

The board also briefly discussed two pending issues: a proposed daycare operation at the new middle school (the existing high school) to serve teachers and other school staff members and a dilemma caused by the installation of wrong-sized windows in the media center of the new high school.

Lasken has two children enrolled in the local school system. One will be entering sixth grade and the other fifth grade this fall. The new chairman was first appointed to the board in 1999 to fill the unexpired term of retired educator Guy Gleason, who moved out of the district. He was elected to a full four-year term in June 2001.

Lasken succeeds Jeff Smith, a California university professor who commutes to his job from Sisters. Smith served as chairman for the past year, helping to steer the board through two major undertakings, both of which remain unfinished.

One was the construction of a new high school. That $21-million project is nearly complete and is scheduled to be ready for the start of classes September 15, but several niggling problems -- such as the media center windows -- remain.

The board is awaiting more information on options before deciding what to do about the windows, which are shorter than those called for in the plans.

The second large task involved the search for a new superintendent to succeed Steve Swisher, who retired and completed his duties June 30. The search is officially over, but perhaps only temporarily. Lynn Baker, former superintendent of Cashmere schools in Washington state, has taken the Sisters post on an interim basis for 2003-04.

Baker has expressed strong interest in keeping the job on a regular basis, with indefinite tenure. Eventually the board must decide whether to sign him up on that basis or open another search for a "permanent" superintendent.

At the board's July 2 meeting, several teachers who have formed a Daycare Committee presented a formal request to place a childcare facility in a room in what will be the new middle school.

"There is a great need in the community for more daycare options, particularly for children under the age of three," they said in a letter. "Currently, choices for infants and toddlers are scarce."

Board members expressed support for the idea but also voiced some concerns. While a more elaborate proposal was in their hands at last week's meeting, the board decided to put the question off until later in the month.

Daycare advocates are asking for no direct financial support; the center would be self-supporting through fees paid by parents. But several board members indicated that they would prefer to have the center's employees be privately employed by an independent contractor rather than be listed as district employees.

As is the board's custom, the July organizational meeting was held at one of the member's homes rather than in the lecture/drama room of the high school, the usual site for regular board meetings. Last week's session on a warm summer evening took place around a patio table at Bill Reed's house on the Old McKenzie Highway.