LaSalle High School band students played jazz at the opening of the St. Ignace Area School board meeting Monday, December 12, providing a holiday treat for board and audience members. Main topics at the meeting dealt with the bowling team, the possibility of changing the status of school superintendents, and a strong push to improve the writing curriculum on all levels in St. Ignace.

The band played for 15 minutes; then the board got down to business.

The board adopted a resolution to name Gateway Lanes of St. Ignace its bowling team’s official location. This team is a schoolsponsored varsity organization under the leadership of Coach Terri Allan.

Use of the alley will cost $1,500 for the season for two nights of practice per week and will cover one Saturday league tournament. The school does not fund this, however. Parents and the team are responsible for expenses.

The decision to declare Gateway Lanes as the home location was made at the recommendation of the Community Resource Committee.

Bowling has been allowed as an official school sport under the umbrella of the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) for the past three years, Mr. Springsteen said.

Several years ago, he added, students and parents approached the school administration and requested that bowling be made a recognized sport at St. Ignace Area Schools. School board members agreed to sponsor it. By doing so, students can earn a varsity letter for their achievements, and the school provides a volunteer coach.

Owing to budget cuts, which also affected baseball, softball, and dance, the school is not able to pay coaches for any of these teams, but team members have raised money to keep their sports going, and volunteers have held the organizations together.

Student bowlers have to follow school rules governing sports activities, Mr. Springsteen said. At the end of the year, bowlers can take part in an MHSAA tournament. Only school-sponsored sports can do so.

Before becoming an official school sport, bowling was already a club activity for some students, Mr. Springsteen said.

The board meeting revealed that school systems are still trying to find ways to cut costs, this time at the administrative level. On Monday, the board considered a letter sent by Pete Everson, superintendent at the Intermediate School District, about having schools in the Eastern Upper Peninsula share superintendents.

This could affect districts such as St. Ignace Area Schools, Rudyard Area Schools, Gros Cap School, and others in the region, Mr. Springsteen said.

The idea was prompted by the actions of downstate districts such as Glen Lake Community Schools and Suttons Bay Public Schools, which now share a superintendent.

Mr. Springsteen said he is unsure how successful these districts are, so at this stage, the local school boards interested in the possibility of sharing a superintendent must do some studying.

Historically, Mr. Springsteen added, school systems have been combining to cut costs, but at this point, most schools that wish to combine have already done so. Many schools do not want to combine any further, he said, because they want to maintain their own identities.

By combining, some schools were able to offer students a broader base of programs, to use fewer buildings, and to require fewer principals and other administrators.

Superintendent sharing, Mr. Springsteen said, could be a way of reducing costs without further school consolidations.

If enough school boards in the area are interested in this, Mr. Springsteen said, they will have a meeting for board members to assess information concerning school systems that currently share superintendents. They will use this information to determine if these arrangements have generally had a positive or negative effect.

Following deliberations, the school board agreed to further study the possibility of sharing superintendents among Eastern Upper Peninsula schools.

Of $16,500 received from the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, about $6,500 will support the baseball and softball teams, Mr. Springsteen said. The rest will go toward maintaining the position of Student/Family Advocate for the elementary and middle schools. This position, occupied by Deanna Kreski, is much like that of a guidance counselor. She works to resolve problems for students and parents. The Tribe has donated $20,000 toward her salary for the past 10 years, Mr. Springsteen added, which has been a great benefit to the younger students, 50 percent of whom are Native American.

The St. Ignace district is heavily involved in programs to improve student writing. All students in grades eight to 12 wrote an essay on the theme of “choices.” Each essay was examined by two teachers, given a score, and that score was averaged. In cases where the teachers’ opinions varied drastically, a third person assessed the essay.

The information gained from this, Mr. Springsteen said, will be used to help redesign the writing curriculum.

“It’s easy to departmentalize things and make the English teachers responsible for all the writing, but that isn’t our strategy,” he said. “All classes have increased the amount of writing required by students.

“It’s true that English teachers will remain responsible for teaching writing, and every English class has a writing component,” he said, “but writing is used in all areas.”

There are no classes that are purely “composition” based, though, with the exception of half semesters of certain high school courses, Mr. Springsteen said.

Part of the initiative to improve student writing has to do with the district’s need to maintain its accreditation with North Central Accreditation. In a study of strengths and weaknesses, the district determined that it could improve in reading, writing, and critical thinking skills.

At first, Mr. Springsteen said, the district attempted to tackle all areas at once.

“That was just too much,” he said. “We were getting too spread out, so we decided to focus hard on one area this year: writing.”

At the end of the 2006 school year, teachers, administrators, and staff will examine the effectiveness of the new writing strategies. Mr. Springsteen said by then, components to improve student writing should be in place, and can be kept in motion. Next year, the schools will focus harder on other areas in the curriculum that need improvement.