Jones runs unopposed for school board

Current Sisters School Board chair Christine Jones is running unopposed for school board position number one, a seat she has held since 2007.

"There is a fairly steep learning curve in being a board member," said Jones. "In the last four years I have learned a lot about school budgeting, Oregon laws and the way schools work."

Jones indicates that she would like to see though some of the programs that she helped start and nurture.

"New board members can come in with the idea that they are really going to shake things up, but then you discover that you are only one of five," she noted. "It takes time to have an impact."

That says a lot for the challenge of serving on the school board, coming from a woman with a Harvard PhD in economics, and 13 years at the World Bank, where she oversaw social loan programs to countries that ranged between $100 million and $1 billion. Jones spent nearly 20 years working on social challenges in Africa.

"One of the reasons I'm willing to run again is the high degree of group intelligence of our current board," said Jones. "We all come in with often very different opinions on an issue, but through trust and mutual respect we frequently come up with a decision that is better than any one of our individual solutions. This board has demonstrated its ability to work with decorum and with respect for the institution."

With an undergraduate degree in English literature and a minor in math, Chris spent two years in the Congo teaching math for the Peace Corps. Caught up in the Ebola virus epidemic, she became intrigued with the mathematics of epidemiology (the study of health and illness at the population level). Working on her epidemiology degree at Harvard, she took her first economics course and found her true passion.

Speaking to the ongoing budget crisis facing all the schools in Oregon, Jones indicates that "Sisters' school district is already embarked on a shift in culture that is not resource-intensive. We are rethinking how instruction is done, especially at the high school. Lack of money does not keep us from having a smarter, better system.

"One of the biggest challenges we face is helping our excellent teachers get even better," said Jones. "Working with the non-profit Chalkboard group, Superintendent Jim Golden is developing a much more rigorous, systematic, comprehensive approach to teacher evaluation. This will 'de-privatize' the practice of teaching... this system will enable teachers to learn from other teachers."

Jones cited community support as a key asset for the district.

"We are in an incredibly fortunate position in Sisters due to the local option. The community has already given us outstanding support," said Jones. "There is a great volunteer spirit in Sisters. As the budget tightens there will be considerable need for community volunteers in programs such as ASPIRE, the library and our sports programs."

Jones and her husband Chuck moved to Sisters from Washington, D.C. in 2003 to slow down their lives, cut back on the travel and spend more time with their two kids.