Developers give grants to Sisters schools

The Sisters School Board filled three positions on the district budget committee at the same time that it received two pieces of good fiscal news at its last meeting, April 10.

Board Member Rob Corrigan, who is also a board member of the Sisters Schools Foundation, told his colleagues that two local developers have announced grants for the schools.

The Cyrus family, developers of Aspen Lakes Golf Course on Highway 126, has committed itself to gifts of $5,000 for each lot sold in its newest residential phase. The money will go to the foundation and is earmarked for major capital improvements.

Corrigan also said the Hayden Homes Giving Fund has committed itself to a grant of $22,500 for playground equipment at Sisters Middle School to accommodate fifth graders. The fifth grade is being moved to the middle school this fall to relieve crowding at the elementary school.

Hayden Homes, based in Redmond, is developing a 40-acre residential area on the west side of Sisters that may contain up to 400 homes. The Hayden money will go directly to the school system for the purpose specified. The board acknowledged and expressed gratitude for both gifts.

During the hour before the regular April 10 session, board members interviewed five candidates for three positions on the district budget committee. The vacancies were created by the June 30 expiration of terms of Lon Kellstrom and Karen Friend and by Mike Gould’s election to the school board last spring.

The budget committee consists of the five school board members and a like number of appointed lay people. The holdover members are Erik Hoagland and Darren Layne.

Using a weighted scoring in voting after the interviews the board appointed Christine Jones, Winter Lewis and Tom Dumolt to the committee. Jones and Lewis will serve full three-year terms and Dumolt will serve the remaining year of Gould’s term.

Jones is an economist formerly employed by the World Bank who still does part-time consulting for the bank. Lewis is a physician with Bend Memorial Clinic and a former head of the clinic’s optical department. Dumolt is a manager for Globe Lighting. All have (or by fall will have) children in Sisters schools and all three coincidentally have lived in the school district for three years.

Last fall, Jones was a candidate for appointment to the school board itself, competing for a vacancy created by the resignation of Tom Coffield. In the final round of voting, she lost by a narrow 3 to 2 to Steve Rudinsky, who now holds the seat.

The district budget committee reviews each year’s proposed school budget and makes recommendations to the board, which has final authority over money issues.