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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 2020)
The Nugget Vol. XLIII No. 3 P OSTAL CUSTOMER News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon www.NuggetNews.com Wednesday, January 15, 2020 Students big winners in tech competition By Charlie Kanzig Correspondent Sisters Middle School teacher Jeff Schiedler9s sev- enth- and eighth-grade tech- nology class is one of two in Oregon to win the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest, resulting in a prize worth $15,000 in technology sup- plies and equipment. Clear Creek Middle School in Gresham was the other Oregon winner. According to a press release from the contest orga- nizers, the nationwide compe- tition challenges students in grades 6-12 to creatively use STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) skills to address real-world issues in their communities. Schiedler, who is new to Sisters School District this year following a number of years teaching math in Redmond, got an e-mail about the Samsung Challenge and presented it to his class to see if they were interested. They enthusiastically decided to go for it and proceeded to brain- storm ideas before landing on a plan to develop a system for making drivers safer through Correspondent According to a state report released near the end of 2019, homelessness among school- aged children affects families in every school district in Oregon, including Sisters. By federal law under the McKinney-Vento Act, home- less children and youth are <those who lack a fixed, reg- ular, and adequate nighttime residence.= Oregon has one of the highest rates in the nation for homelessness among students. Statewide, home- lessness among school-aged children increased by 2 per- cent, while Sisters9 numbers dropped slightly. Inside... Sisters Science Fair off for 2020 By Jim Cornelius Editor in Chief phase of the contest and win additional prizes and educa- tional opportunities. Schiedler spoke to the school board in person on Wednesday, January 8 and expressed how happy he is to have his family living The long-running Sisters Science Fair scheduled for March has been cancelled as the Sisters Science Club and the Sisters School District work on a plan to carry the event into the next decade. The Sisters Science Club has taken the lead on the event over the past eight years. As Sisters Science Fair Director Carol Packard noted last year, <Usually science fairs depend on teachers and invite the public. In Sisters, the public is inviting the teachers!= Cal Allen, one of the pioneering members of the Sisters Science Club, told The Nugget that he and oth- ers needed to take a step back, and they made a proposal to the Sisters School District to take the lead on the event, See COMPETITION on page 18 See SCIENCE on page 18 PHOTO BY CHARLIE KANZIG The Sisters Middle School tech class and teacher Jeff Schiedler brought home a big prize from the Samsung corporation and look forward to further competition. creating flashing signs that indicate if the surface of the road is coated with black ice. <The projects are supposed to find solutions to local prob- lems, so this one really fits where we live here in Central Oregon,= said Schiedler. Sisters Middle School is among the nation9s 100 state Homelessness affects students in Sisters By Charlie Kanzig PRE-SORTED STANDARD ECRWSS U.S. POSTAGE PAID Sisters, OR Permit No. 15 For the 2018-19 school year, 20 different families accounting for a total of 39 students were counted as homeless under the McKinney-Vento Act in the Sisters School District, which is just over 3 per- cent of the District9s student population. The numbers are down slightly from the pre- vious two school years that included 44 in 2017-18 and 49 in 2016-17. This definition is much broader than most people realize. Dawn Cooper, who works for the Sisters School District and Family Access Network (FAN), serves as the District9s homeless student See HOMELESS on page 19 winners (representing all 50 states). In addition to the $15,000 prize, the school will receive a Samsung video kit to create and submit a three- minute video that showcases their project development and how it addresses the issue. The video will be used for the chance to advance to the next Law enforcement in ‘Old Sisters’ By Sue Stafford Correspondent As the City of Sisters works out how best to provide law-enforcement services as the community grows and changes, the idea of creating a municipal police force returns to the fore. Sisters has been there before. The city of Sisters was originally platted in 1901, but the citizens didn9t approve incorporation until 1946 (vote was 115 for, 61 against). According to the Deschutes Pioneer Gazette, quoting Alvin Cyrus, one of the early buildings in town was a one-person jail. Longtime Sisters resident the late Homer Shaw said Sisters made it into <Ripley9s Believe It or Not= for having the only PHOTO PROVIDED In the mid-1990s, Sisters PD operated out of offices in Sisters’ old City Hall, which stood on the site of Fir Street Park. known jail that never housed a prisoner. The tiny jail was constructed out of 2-by-6 boards with a door fashioned by town blacksmith Hardy Allen out of spokes from old See OLD SISTERS on page 23 Letters/Weather ............................2 Announcements ........................... 12 Student of the Month ................... 14 Classifieds ..............................20-22 Meetings .......................................3 Entertainment ............................. 13 Crossword ................................... 19 Real Estate .............................22-24
