SSD board member's roots run deep

The newest member of Sisters' school board has strong local and educational ties, plus two more good reasons to see schools succeed: his son, a freshman, and daughter in kindergarten.

Sisters is Erik Benton's hometown. His parents moved here in 1978, when he was 12 weeks old.

Photo by Matt Van Slyke

Erik Benton is a father of two who values involvement in our education community, and Sisters School District's newest school board member.

"My dad started teaching at the elementary school and my mom was a high school nurse. I grew up through the school system," said Benton. "I was part of the educational community, so I've known a lot of the staff and teachers throughout the years. I have a lot of close connections."

After graduating from Sisters High, Benton earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics and computer science from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, where he lived for 25 years.

He helped found a parent-teacher association (PTA) at his son's elementary school, and valued the engagement he was able to create as a member, vice president, and then president.

Working in education, for Oregon Health & Sciences University, as a biomedical informatics developer, Benton returned to Sisters in 2021.

"One of the big reasons we decided to come back was because of the schools," he said. "We'd been in the Portland system for a long time, and there are good schools, but it's a lot of work for folks to put it all together."

Benton enrolled his son in Sisters Middle School and began looking for new ways to get involved.

"I had staff and parent friends tell me, 'Erik, you should consider applying for the school board. We think you'd be a really good fit.' When the opportunity came up, I sort of took a moment, then decided that I wanted to give it a shot."

The Sisters School District appointed Benton to the board earlier this month. He was one of six people considered to fill a vacancy left by David Thorsett, who resigned after five years.

Benton will serve through the May 20 Special District Election, for which he will file to run for his current position in hopes of being the voters' choice, too. If so, his four-month appointment will turn into a four-year commitment as an elected official.

First, though, he will be tasked with getting a budget approved for the next school year, and evaluating Superintendent Curt Scholl, "ensuring that he has been doing his work and that the school district is satisfied," Benton said. "We'll be interviewing folks within the schools to understand what their perspective is and use that to help form our judgment."

Benton is learning that a lot of homework comes with the position.

"The very first meeting I attended, I had a 121-page packet that was a review of the audit that the school district has to do every year," he said.

As part of the board, Benton will also determine how to implement policy from the State of Oregon in terms of how local curriculum is developed and administered.

"Education is one of those fundamental opportunities that I have a lot of strong feelings about. I feel like it's one of the best tools that you can give young people to help inspire them to do great things and also have some self-efficacy – learning how to navigate these systems and gain skills that can be useful once they leave the school system," Benton said.

He calls Sisters a special place, and the district unique.

"It's pretty rare to have a community that is so invested in its schools, and to continue to step up and support them, both through the local option as well as materially with the parent-teacher organization and all the fundraisers that happen," Benton said. "My goal is to help reflect those values of community engagement and to be a voice from the community, representing parents."

Another goal is to keep aiming higher and pushing forward.

"I want to make sure that we continue to build on the great successes that we've had but also not be complacent, because there's a lot of hard work to do to ensure that our schools are successful, that our kids are successful, and that these are schools that our community can be proud of."

To get in touch with Erik or contact the school board, visit https://district.ssd6.org/school-board/.