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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (May 6, 2015)
6 Wednesday, May 6, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Three vie for school board position By Jim Cornelius News Editor Three candidates are in the running for Position 4 on the Sisters School Board. The slate for the May 19 election fell out in an unbal- anced manner: While Stephen King, Steve Mathews and Karan Swaner vie for Position 4, Position 3 and Position 5 are uncontested (Amanda Clark and Jeff Smith, the can- didates for those positions, will be profiled in a later story). Position 2 has two can- didates (see story, page 10). Stephen King Stephen King is the incum- bent in Position 4, to which he was appointed last year. “My real passion really comes down to what I would call community involve- ment,” he says. King notes that Sisters has an extraordinary pool of talent in the community that can be leveraged to enhance educa- tion and to strengthen schools that have struggled with tight budgets. To that end, King brought together a group of disparate people who have formed an ad-hoc group called “Sisters Strong” that is dedicated to shoring up the schools and bringing students and families into the district. King believes the school district should be shooting to be one of the best in the United States. “I see no barriers to that,” he says. In order to achieve that, he says, “You need to start with a teacher-centric program and work back.” That means focusing on tools and training for teachers to inculcate excellence— and less concern about small class sizes. “A great teacher can pro- vide great education for 20 or 40,” he says. King wants Sisters to develop a broader curricu- lum — more advanced- placement classes, better SAT preparation programs and more internships so that stu- dents can translate classroom learning into work-world relevance. “The on-ramp to that is still too hard,” he says. He is seeking reelection in order to keep pursuing those goals. “I think it’s become a bit of an unfinished job, in a way,” he says. Steve Mathews Steve Mathews is a life- long artist and arts educa- tor. Part of that background includes teacher training and an intensive study into what causes kids to drop out of school — and what can keep them engaged. “I tend to think outside the box,” says Mathews, who continues to volunteer in the school arts programs and serves on the board of the Sisters Folk Festival. “I’m pretty creative and tend to come up with solutions other people don’t think of.” photo by Jim Cornelius photo by Jim Cornelius Steve Mathews. Karan Swaner. Mathews believes that his kind of approach will have value in a time of transition — with a new superintendent in the wings and continued concerns over enrollment and budgets. “Some not-popular deci- sions are going to have to be made,” he says. “You are going to have to draw your priorities on what you think is important.” Mathews believes that the programs that make Sisters schools unique are very important. They help to make local students more mature, more engaged with their com- munity, and better equipped to venture out into the wider world. “Our kids are unique,” he says. “They really are. It’s amazing.” He asserts that “programs like IEE (Interdisciplinary Environmental Education) and the arts programs are really important to kids.” And for Mathews, service to the school district all comes down to serving kids. He does that as a volunteer — and his style takes students seriously as adults and artists. “I’m brutally honest with kids,” he says. “When I cri- tique their work, I’m probably tougher than their classroom teacher.” That’s part of preparing students for post-school edu- cation and work. Like King, he believes the district needs to create more real-world edu- cation opportunities through internships. “I think Sisters can See SCHOOl BOard on page 8 Award-Winning Home Builder & Renovator 541-549-1575 • LaredoConstruction.com Maintenance • Repairs • Insurance Work CCB#194489 FREE PLAYGROUP! Year-round FIREWOOD SALES For parents with children under 3 Tuesdays, 10 to 11 a.m. at SPRD Free Art Experience with Annie Painter Sat. 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