As St. Ignace Area Schools Superintendent Pete Everson led his last school board meeting Monday, June 13, and handed the baton over to incoming superintendent Michael Springsteen, parents and teachers continued to fight for senior-level classes victimized by budget cuts.

Although the board approved a budget that included restoration of some of the offerings affected by the district-wide cuts, such as honors English and anatomy, the group continued to press the administration to find a way to keep French III and a live calculus class.

Six of the parents, calling themselves Parents Promoting Education, submitted a letter introducing their concerns about the elimination of college prep offerings, provided a number of recommendations, and posed additional questions. The parents are Susan Tamlyn-Massaway, Kathy Cryderman, Monica Silet, Kari Thompson, Colleen St. Louis, and Kevin McGinnis.

“We are well aware that schools in the state are all feeling a financial pinch and are doing the best they can to keep afloat,” the letter states. “We have all enjoyed the fact that our school in the past has offered so many options to our students who are excelling. But now, we are hearing that there is going to be a reduction in the options our college-bound students will have, and we find this very alarming.”

The letter urges the district not to settle for the easiest answer, but use creativity and open-mindedness to solve the problem. The parents list of 13 suggestions for juggling things to allow for the best upper-level course selection possible. They asked questions about classes offered over television and how many students are in certain classes.

Most of the board meeting was spent with those parents and others asking pointed questions about why classes like advanced physical education and choir remain on the schedule, while others fall by the wayside.

The success rate of having calculus offered via closed-circuit television was questioned. Mr. Springsteen admitted that the course offered this year was presented in a style that may have been too difficult for students, but said he is confident that next year’s course should be more interactive and more successful, as it has in some past years. Val Masuga, a mathematics teacher at Cedarville, will teach the course next year, he said.

It was a struggle for parents to get the answers they wanted as far as why teachers for calculus and French III can’s be hired or retained, while teachers for what the parents consider less essential courses, like physical education and choir, are retained. Mr. Everson finally broke in to explain how the scheduling of particular teachers with particular qualifications led to the present schedule, and added that it could change if fewer students than anticipated sign up for choir. Advanced physical education, for example, Mr. Everson said, has 90 interested students. Parents said they wondered why advanced physical education is even offered, however, when more academically-oriented courses are needed.

Mr. Everson has said before that the district will take a balanced approach to meeting the needs of the whole spectrum of students as best it can, and will stay committed to relatively small class sizes at the elementary level.

Mr. Springsteen said after the meeting that the district and board have painstakingly tried to balance budget cuts with the best schedule possible.

“We’ve looked at it so many times and done everything we can to add offerings,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any more we can do. We’ve already combined so many classes.”

Still, he said, he will take a hard look at the suggestions of the parent group to seek ways to reschedule the school day so several teachers could get the time to teach the desired classes.

The board was mostly silent during the questions.

“We don’t micro-manage; our job is setting policy,” explained trustee Jane Weiss later. “If there’s something more we can do for the students, then we need to look at it. But we have to serve all of the students.”

Mrs. Weiss added that if restoring certain classes required taking from another area, there would likely be a reaction from a different group. She also reiterated Mr. Everson’s suggestion that parents contact legislators to express their concerns about state funding.

The board and administration were not ready to announce an administrative structure that will provide for the replacement of Mr. Springsteen at LaSalle and cut half a position overall from the staff. Mr. Springsteen said if a plan is constructed in the next few weeks, it may go to committee before the next full board meeting Monday, July 11, but otherwise plans should be announced on that date.