SISTERS – After six years as the top administrator in the school district, Steve Swisher is leaving to pursue another job in Oregon education.

Swisher, 52, will formally retire in the spring, but has pledged to remain at the district’s helm through the end of June. He has already announced that he is seeking a job with the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators (COSA) as the organization’s executive director.

COSA is a non-profit group that provides professional support services to the state’s school administrators. It also lobbies the Legislature on public school funding and other issues.

The school district is already making plans to fill Swisher’s spot. Board members will decide Monday whether to contract with Oregon Schools Boards Association (OSBA) for a superintendent search.

”This was very much Steve’s decision. If we had our druthers we’d have him for two or three more years,” said Glen Lasken, the board’s vice chairman.

The public has a chance to share thoughts about the superintendent search with the board at a 5:30 p.m. workshop prior to the board meeting. Both meetings will be held in the Sisters High School auditorium, 15200 McKenzie Highway.

By retiring in April, Swisher allows the district to save almost $5,000 that it otherwise would have contributed to his state retirement account. Upon retirement, he will officially leave the Public Employees Retirement System. The contribution is made based on a percentage of Swisher’s approximately $90,000 annual salary.

Swisher said he hoped the funds might be used to finance the superintendent search. Costs range from $5,000 to more than $25,000 depending on the scope of the search, Swisher said.

If OSBA is selected as the search firm, the bill would be close to $5,000, said Jeff Smith, board chairman.

Swisher’s notice allows the district to begin early on its search for a replacement. That’s important in a year when the competition for candidates is expected to be strong. The Oregon School Board’s Association lists 10 openings for superintendents in the state, and there could be as many as a dozen more, said Jerry Colonna, Redmond schools superintendent. Colonna has been working with OSBA as a consultant recently and will likely assist in Sisters’ search if OSBA is awarded the contract.

Swisher’s impending retirement has probably been one of the worst kept secrets in the Sisters area. The school board has known for months that Swisher’s three-year contract, which expires in June, would likely be his last. But Swisher only recently informed the board that he will be retiring, at least on paper, in April 2003.

The exact timing of Swisher’s departure will turn on whether he is tapped to fill the executive director position at COSA. The organization is taking applications for the position through January and will likely make a decision in March. If he is offered the job, Swisher said he would start in July at COSA. If not, Swisher said he would be willing to stay on as superintendent into next year, if the board wished.

Swisher, who grew up in Klamath Falls, began his teaching career in 1971 as a math instructor and wrestling coach at Aloha High School in Beaverton. He took his first administrative job in 1980 as the attendance and discipline supervisor at Crater High School in Central Point.

He later served as interim superintendent of the Eagle Point School District and superintendent of South Lane School District in Cottage Grove from 1990-1994. During the same period he worked at the state Bureau of Labor and Statistics as the director of the Apprenticeship and Training Division.

Those who have worked with Swisher over the past several years said it will be difficult to fill his shoes.

During his tenure, Swisher has led successful campaigns to pass a local options tax to augment school funding and a bond to build a new high school for the growing district. He also helped create the Sisters Schools Foundation, a nonprofit group that raises money for school programs with events like a summer concert series.

”He will be very much missed as a leader, but also his personableness.

”He is approachable. He is just another one of the team,” said Kelly Powell, president of the Sisters Education Association and an elementary teacher.

Swisher said Tuesday that he will most miss the chance to interact daily with staff and students.

”I still have the opportunity in the district to go into the classroom and see the effect (of teachers) and why we are working,” he said. ”Many of the students I know by name and they know me, it’s that personal connection.”

But some of the same supporters also believe that Swisher is a great candidate for a job that involves reforming state education funding.

Susan Arends was at the first meeting of what would become the Sisters Schools Foundation. She said Swisher was the one who suggested that the group form a permanent organization to raise money for Sisters schools. And it was Swisher who took the initiative by filing the necessary paperwork with the state.

”Before I knew it, the Sisters foundation was established,” she said.

If Swisher can apply the same skills at the state level, Arends said, it would be wrong for the community not to wish him well.

”I can’t imagine, knowing the position he is going for in Salem, that there would be a better person for the job,” Arends said.

Eric Flowers can be reached at 541-504-2336 or eflowers@bendbulletin.com.