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The Nugget Newspaper
Sisters, Oregon
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The contents of the on-line edition of The Nugget represent a selection among the stories that appear in the weekly print edition.

Board launches search for superintendent
By Jim Cornelius

Steve Swisher plans to resign as Sisters School Superintendent on April 1, 2003. However, he will continue to work past that official date to complete the school year.

The school board has already begun the process of finding his successor.

"His resignation is timed so that the (school) board can effectively search, fairly quickly, for a new superintendent," said school board chair Jeff Smith.

Swisher, who took the post in Sisters in 1996, is seeking the position of executive director for the Conference of Oregon School Administrators (COSA).

Current executive director Ozzie Rose has held the position for 26 years.

Swisher said he is interested in the position for the opportunity to work in professional development for administrators and to lobby on state school funding and related issues.

The candidate for that position will be selected in February.

Even if Swisher is selected, he will not leave immediately.

"That job won't start until next summer," Swisher said. "In any event, I'll be here through June 30."

While the search will begin as early as next month, Smith was quick to emphasize that the board will take its time to find the right candidate.

The board will choose an executive search firm to help conduct its job advertising and recruitment. Smith met representatives from several such firms at last weekend's annual conference of the Oregon School Boards Association.

Smith said the board is committed to getting thorough public input on the kind of leadership patrons want for the school district and will "actively search for bright, young administrators."

Smith believes that, even in dark times for education in the state, Sisters has advantages going out into the hiring market.

"We are a school district that has the support of the community," he said.

With the construction of a new high school, Sisters offers good facilities. Local option taxes put Sisters on a better financial footing than many districts.

Sisters has a quality teaching staff, Smith said, and enjoys good labor relations.

However, relatively high housing costs and possible changes in the Public Employees Retirement System could shrink the candidate pool, Smith said.

Swisher had planned to serve through the 2003-04 school year. That could still happen if he doesn't get the COSA position and if the board does not find a suitable successor.

The superintendent acknowledged some qualms about leaving before the new Sisters High School is completed.

"That is some unfinished business," he said.

However, he believes that the district is in good shape in terms of staff and curriculum development, policy and collective bargaining.

"Hopefully we've got a direction and a path laid out so that whoever is able to take over and work with the board, it's not insurmountable," Swisher said. "Actually I think our systems are in place quite well."

The candidate search could cost in the neighborhood of $10,000, depending on what search firms charge and the cost of site visits and bringing candidates to Sisters.

Some of the money will be made up with benefits savings from Swisher's retirement, board chairman Smith said, "but we'll have to dip into our contingency funds for some of these expenses."

Smith acknowledged that the school district is watching every penny.

However, he said, choosing the district's leadership is critical and the board will not scrimp in making a thorough search.

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