Sisters Elementary has a new principal

Janet (Jan) Silberman, a veteran teacher and counselor who has worked in Bend the past four years, is the new principal of Sisters Elementary School. Appointed last week, she started Monday. She succeeds Tim Comfort, principal for the past 10 years, who has moved to the district office as human resources manager and director of special education.

“She will be an excellent addition to our administrative team,” Superintendent Ted Thonstad said. Although at first Thonstad felt the district would have to settle for an interim appointee because it was hiring so late in the season, he was happy to report that, “We’re not looking at Jan as interim. We’re looking at her as a permanent employee. You want longevity if you can get it because it’s better for the school, the staff and the students.”

For the past three years Silberman has been the assistant principal and counselor at Lava Ridge Elementary School on Bend’s north side (Cooley Road). Before that she spent a year as dean of students at neighboring Sky View Middle School.

Silberman, 46, grew up on a farm in rural Minnesota. She earned a bachelor’s degree in special education from St. Cloud State University there and started her teaching career near the Twin Cities. Later, after a year’s “adventure” teaching high school on the island of Hawaii, she moved to California. She earned a master’s degree in counseling and guidance from Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo and began working as a counselor in California schools.

When she and her husband started a family they moved to Newberg in the Portland area, where she worked part-time as a middle school counselor so she could be at home with her children part of the time. “It worked out very nicely,” she says. “And we had a little six-acre property so we had fun living in the country between Newberg and St. Paul.”

After eight years there, they “got tired of the rain” and moved to Bend.

The Silbermans have two sons, Austin, 10, a fifth grader at Lava Ridge, and Tyler, 14, who will be a freshman at Mountain View High School this fall. Jan’s husband, Dan, is a technical writer and trainer for Thin Logic of Bend. They plan to maintain their residence in Bend, at least for the time being.

Earlier this summer, Silberman was a finalist for an assistant principal opening at Sisters High School. She said she applied for both Sisters positions because “I thought Sisters is such a nice community and I know that the community and the parents support education.” Lava Ridge, with 650 students, is considerably larger than Sisters Elementary, with 450.

“That’s one of the things that was inviting,” Silberman said. “I did like the size. I thought it was a size I would be very comfortable with.”

Silberman has worked as a TAG (Talented and Gifted) coordinator in the past.

“All of our principals have an extra duty,” Thonstad said, “and she has a pretty good background in TAG so…we’ll probably give her an understudy with Tim for six months and then make her the district TAG coordinator.”

Comfort held that post.

The new principal said she is not coming in with specific plans but will first try to learn the school’s strengths and weaknesses.

“I do have a wide array of experience in different schools,” she said, “so I think I come with a pocketful of nice ideas and programs that have worked. Even though I know it’s a very strong school I think there are always areas you can improve.

“I’d certainly want to maintain the high quality that’s there, and serve the values and ideas that fit the school.”