SISTERS – The three candidates for the Sisters School District’s superintendent position will be here this week for a final round of visits and interviews, and residents will have a chance to meet the contenders.

One of them could be announced for the position as soon as next week, Board Chairman Mike Gould said.

Elaine Drakulich, Dennis Friedrich and Andy Sommer were the finalists selected by the board at the end of March from a field of 21 applicants to replace Ted Thonstad, who will leave the superintendent post at the end of June. Thonstad announced his resignation in December, saying that he lacked the full support of the school board.

Drakulich is the assistant superintendent of the North Clackamas School District, which covers many of Portland’s southeastern suburbs. Friedrich is the superintendent of the 900-student Rainier School District southeast of Olympia, Wash. And Sommer is the principal at Wilsonville High School, south of Portland.

Residents will be able to talk with the three applicants at a public forum Tuesday from 4 to 6 p.m. at the high school, with one candidate each in the library conference room, the lecture room and the choir room.

The board will interview the candidates Wednesday and could decide on its top choice after that. The new superintendent will not be announced publicly until after a contract has been finalized, which will likely be sometime next week, Gould said.

”My goal would be that we have it concluded early that week following,” Gould said. ”But it certainly wouldn’t surprise me if it was able to move more quickly than that.”

If the district and the candidate can reach agreement on a contract quickly, the process could be completed as early as Thursday, Gould said.

The search process comes as the district faces several challenges.

A settlement with the Oregon Department of Education that could cost the district as much as $1.2 million continues to drag on. The state agency demanded the money after an audit found the district had incorrectly counted students at the Sonrise Christian Academy as home-schooled pupils, drawing additional funding that the district may not have deserved, the agency claims.

And last month, high school biology teacher Kris Helphinstine was fired after less than two weeks on the job when the school board found that his class presentations contained links to Chris-tian Web sites that promoted creationism over evolution. The revelation garnered brief nationwide media attention and resulted in a deluge of e-mails from across the country for Gould and other board members.

The school district’s search for a new superintendent started late last year with a series of community meetings to determine what the district and residents most wanted, Gould said. A smaller committee of about 24 residents and school officials narrowed down the pool of 21 applicants in early March to the current list of three. And last week, board members Jeff Smith and Glen Lasken, along with another Sisters resident, traveled to Milwaukie, Wilsonville and Rainier, Wash., to interview teachers, administrators and colleagues who know each of the candidates.

”I’m very excited, enthusiastic, hopeful,” Gould said of the process. ”I think we have three, not just good, but exemplary candidates. I think it’s one of those embarrassment-of-riches situations.”

Meet the candidates

When: 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Sisters High School, 1700 W. McKinney Butte Road (library conference room, lecture room and choir room)