Astudent was expelled from Les Cheneaux Community Schools Monday, December 19, during the school board meeting for making a bomb threat in September. No other information about the student has been released by the school district.

According to federal, state, and school policy adopted in 2004, personally identifiable information about students who are suspended or expelled can no longer be released or revealed during public discussion. Information that would identify the student also cannot be included in the minutes of the meeting. The federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act also prohibits disclosure of information such as grades, behavior, and discipline pertaining to a student.

The student who was expelled has been identified as "Student B" in the action. Student B is at least in sixth grade, as Superintendent Rod Goehmann said the school code pertaining to discipline for a "bomb threat or similar threat" applies only to students in grades six through 12. Mr. Goehmann would not reveal any additional information about the student.

The student was involved in a bomb threat that was made in September, and was one of two bomb threat incidents that occurred within the same week, Mr. Goehmann said. Both threats were immediately determined to be hoaxes.

The student that was involved in the first threat, "Student A," was expelled earlier this fall.

Student B wasn't expelled until now because it took this long to get an admission of guilt from the student. The student apparently wrote a threatening message on a restroom stall in the school, which was discovered and reported by another student. Mr. Goehmann, Elementary Principal Eric Cardwell, and school counselor Pat Feldhake investigated the incident.

"Had we been able to act sooner, we would have, but gaining an admission of guilt was a timely process," Mr. Goehmann said.

The student has been expelled for the remainder of the school year and can reapply for admission next fall.

Mr. Goehmann distributed a population change map showing how population patterns have changed over the past decade. He noted that the population of Mackinac County has increased by 2.1 percent, but that most of the new residents are of retirement age. Young people and those of childbearing age are decreasing in number. The number of people ages 18 to 44 has declined by 6.2 percent in the last decade, while the number of people ages 45 to 64 has increased by 21 percent. The 65-years-andolder segment has grown by 16 percent. The segment that includes school-age children (younger than 18), has shrunk by 15.5 percent.

"This, in a nutshell, explains declining enrollment," Mr. Goehmann said. "We're bringing in the retirees. This paints a picture of the rural areas and Upper Peninsula."

Mr. Goehmann’s map shows growing younger populations in the suburban Detroit and Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, and Traverse City regions. The numbers of school-age children drop in places like the Upper Peninsula, the eastern Lower Peninsula, and the counties along the southern state border.

Elementary Principal Eric Cardwell reported that the school received a $3,000 grant from the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians for its Jump Start summer school program. The eight-day program is in August and gives students the opportunity to review skills before the upcoming school year.

"Without their financial support, this program would not be able to occur," Mr. Cardwell said. "Our elementary school is thankful for the Tribe's support."

The school library raised $500 during a used book sale November 26, which will be used to buy a couch, chair, and end table for the elementary section of the library.

Mr. Cardwell announced that the Student Activity Advisory Council bought kickballs for all the elementary school classrooms. The organization also hosted its second annual Winter Break Movie Thursday, December 22, in the Old Gymnasium at the school. The organization provided popcorn and water for all the students, and presented a holiday movie as a treat before students went on holiday break.

High School Principal Randy Schaedig updated the board on the new, more stringent high school graduation requirements proposed by the State Education Director Mike Flanagan. The proposed requirements, including four credits of English, four credits of mathematics, three credits each of science and social science, two credits of a foreign language, and one credit each of arts and physical education, were approved and endorsed by the State Board of Education Tuesday, December 13. They are now headed to the state legislature.

The state board resolution, with legislative approval, could require all Michigan students to complete the new 18-credit "Michigan Merit Curriculum," complete the standardized Michigan Merit Exam in the spring of their junior year, and complete one online learning course. Students will complete algebra I, algebra II, and geometry, and take one mathematics class in their senior year, regardless of whether they completed the three required courses.

Students will also take English every year of high school and complete biology, either physics or chemistry, and one year of an additional science course. The social science requirement includes government and civics, economics, United States history, and world history.

Mr. Schaedig said the director of the Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals does not expect state legislators to adopt the proposed requirements before March, so, if the requirements are adopted as law, they would not be implemented until the fall of 2007. The first group affected by the new requirements would be this year's seventh grade students, he added.