News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sisters Middle School hosted the final community dinner of the season on Monday evening, May, 23, marking a successful first year for the Sisters Community Schools Initiative.
Through the grant-funded initiative, the school district is partnering with Sisters Park & Recreation District (SPRD), Deschutes County Commission on Children, and the Deschutes County Health Department as well as other local partners to provide tutoring and homework programs and enrichment activities for Sisters youth.
Mark Stewart, SMS principal, noted that the initiative provided for summer school, which the district could not provide on its own this year due to severe budget constraints.
"That's huge for us," he said. "I'm very, very happy about that. As you know, budget times are very difficult and any time we can find dollars to support our kids in Sisters, we're going to do that."
Stewart also acknowledged the key role of community schools coordinator Shawn Diez.
"He's the one who makes the rubber meet the road," Stewart said.
Community dinners are featured to bring parents and community members together.
The program is funded through the Oregon Community Foundation (OCF). OCF representative Jaime Aguirre presented a check for $44,100 to continue the program, which the foundation has seeded across the state. The foundation is committed to engaging citizens in leadership roles, increasing parental involvement and building community partnerships to improve academic performance and the health of Oregon's youth.
For more information visit http://www.oregoncf.org.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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