Board
Black Butte School in Camp Sherman is the only school within the District. Serving the community since the late 1800s, our public school district is separate from Sisters School District and operates independently.
The District is governed by a five-member Board of Directors, which sets the direction for the school according to our Mission and Vision and adopts policies to support those goals.
Current Board Members
Marie Sheahan "Bear" Brown
BOARD CHAIR, Position 5
Camp Sherman native Marie Sheahan “Bear” Brown joined the Black Butte School Board in 2013. She has loved BBS ever since she and her identical twin attended the early grades here. Their mom was principal and upper-grades teacher. The family moved when her parents bought a weekly newspaper in Central Washington, where Bear worked in various capacities. Writing and editing are in her genes, although she didn’t pursue a journalism career. She now serves as editor of ALERT Camp Sherman, started by seven local women during the January 2017 blizzard. She earned a BA in French at the University of Washington and an accounting certificate at Heald Business College in Sacramento. She carries a little toolbox of handy gifts and skills, applied as needed. While working in Catholic hospitals, she felt drawn to religious life. She embarked upon an intense many-years formation process, including courses at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and an 18-month novitiate in Laredo, Texas. In July 2010, she professed religious vows as a Sister of the Metolius at the Camp Sherman Community Hall. Bear loves to serve in her beloved home community. A member of the Chinook Indian Nation, she also serves her ancestral community.
Karen LaJoy
BOARD VICE CHAIR, Position 1
School Board member, Karen Lajoy, is a native Oregonian. She was born in Portland, raised in Salem and received her BS degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology from the University of Oregon in Eugene. Karen moved to Seattle, Washington after college to pursue a Master’s degree in Speech Pathology at the University of Washington. She worked two years after finishing her Master’s degree in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the UW. She continued working part time at UW while pursuing and completing her PhD in Rehabilitation Medicine from the UW. Karen helped develop three rehabilitation programs in the Seattle area for traumatically brain injured individuals during her 20 years there. She returned to Portland to be closer to family in 1996 and worked remotely for a company that managed patient care for catastrophically injured individuals. Shortly after returning to Portland, Karen started dating a family friend from her childhood, Tim Bickler, whom she married in 1998. Karen had loved the outdoors since her college years. Her love for the Camp Sherman area developed from her relationship with Tim. Together they spent time camping, hiking and enjoying the area; an area Tim had spent his entire life enjoying. They decided to make Camp Sherman their retirement destination. They have owned a home here since 2013 and became full time residents in 2019 after Karen’s retirement. It is an honor to be part of the Black Butte school which she has admired since starting to come to the area in the late 1990s.
Siobhan Gray
DIRECTOR, POSITION 3
Siobhan Gray moved to Camp Sherman in 2018 and has found home after many years of searching. Together with her husband Gary Gray they are raising their girls in this amazing forest by the river. She is dedicated to the school and building a strong interconnected community. Her passion is raising her three girls who attend Black Butte School to be the best version of themselves. In her free time she enjoys spending daily time in nature mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, hiking or just being. She enjoys literature and is an avid reader and aspiring writer. She has a guitar that she will sometime learn to play and a blank canvas on her easel that she will someday paint. Her day job is an Emergency Physician.
Gary Lovegren
DIRECTOR, POSITION 2
Gary was born in Eugene and spent most of his summers at Blue Lake Resort, his family’s business, helping to run and maintain the resort. Blue Lake is next to Suttle Lake, west of Camp Sherman, so he grew up in the Metolius area enjoying our beautiful surroundings. After college, he moved away for four years but returned to help his parents run the resort as they needed more full-time help. That was in 1981. It was then that he met Mark and Toni Foster, who recruited him to the Camp Sherman Fire Department as a volunteer. That became a great passion for Gary, which became a career in 1994, when he was hired full-time by the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District. He served for thirty-five years ~ twenty paid and fifteen volunteer. Gary and his wife Paula have three girls who grew up here and attended Black Butte School; the family loves our two-room schoolhouse. Gary has been retired since 2013 and spends much of his time helping others, volunteering at his church, and spending as much time as possible with his eight grandchildren.
Pamela Lovegren
DIRECTOR, POSITION 4
For over twenty-five years, Pamela has been a full-time resident of the Camp Sherman community and a neighbor living on Blue Lake. Her son and nieces had the privilege of attending Black Butte School. During those years, she loved volunteering regularly. Since then, she has worked on teams to guide small and mid-sized companies on a firm path to excellence. Her experience ranges from resort management, leadership conferences, property management, to business consulting. Most recently, as the founder of Well Traveled Pen, she captures travelers’ imaginations, inspires an enthusiasm to travel, and helps readers envision their next journey with the companies she represents. Now she will put her business skills to use as a member of the Black Butte School Board. Her roots run deep, since she has had connections to the area since 1960. Her husband, Peter, joins Pamela in her passions for travel, ballroom and Latin dance, live theatre and concerts, paddle boarding, canoeing, kayaking, hiking, trying new recipes, and reading by a crackling fire.
Board Goals
Board Policies
Board Minutes
Budget Committee
Division 22 Compliance Reporting
Join our BBSD School Board
Volunteering on the Black Butte School District (BBSD) Board is a meaningful way to contribute to the community. BBS asks Camp Sherman residents to consider running for open positions when available.
The Board meets monthly on the second Tuesday, with additional meetings as needed. Meetings are open to the public. If you would like to have an agenda emailed to you ahead of the meeting, please contact the Business Manager, at slevear@blackbutte.k12.or.us.
As elected officials, members must be full-time residents and registered voters within the Black Butte School District and can run for open Board positions after one year of residency.
The Oregon School Board Association (OSBA) supports current and prospective board members in a variety of ways, such as a website full of resources, conferences, and trainings. Learn more about what OSBA defines as a good board member.
Join the Jefferson County ESD Board
Jefferson County Education Service District (ESD) provides support services to the four school districts in the county (including BBSD). Camp Sherman residents are elligible to run for open positions.