Donation Keeps Les Cheneaux School on Schedule
School Avoids 10-Day Closure in Feb. With $15,000 Gift To Keep Doors Open
By Amy Polk

Just in time for Christmas, Les Cheneaux Community Schools received a $15,000 donation, which it will use to maintain its current operations schedule, instead of lengthening the school day and closing the school for 10 days to save money.

At a meeting December 18, the school board added 35 minutes to each school day for the remainder of the year so it could close the facility for 10 days to trim its deficit by $15,000. Superintendent Rod Goehmann said he received a call December 21 from a person asking to donate $15,000 to keep the school open.

“It just left us stunned,” Mr. Goehmann said Friday, December 22, of the anonymous donation.

The school board, he added, will rescind its action to extend the school day and close for 10 days at its meeting Monday, January 15. The new school schedule was supposed to start January 22.

A budget deficit that developed halfway through the school year prompted school officials to consider 28 budget cuts December 18. Some were adopted at the meeting, including a longer school day, and the rest will be considered when creating next year’s budget. (See story in The St. Ignace News December 21 issue.)

The budget discussion consumed most of the meeting, but the board also discussed school activities and adopted its annual resolution authorizing summer tax collections.

Representatives from Les Cheneaux Community Schools and DeTour Area Schools who form the dual superintendent’s council will next meet February 12 at Raber Township Hall, Superintendent Rod Goehmann reported. The December meeting was postponed. At the October meeting, council members agreed that the transition of sharing one superintendent between the two schools has been a smooth one. No recommendations or improvements on the arrangement have been suggested, and Mr. Goehmann has been developing a schedule for dividing his time between the districts. Describing a typical day, he said he started Monday, December 18, on Drummond Island for a breakfast reception at the Drummond Elementary School, then spent the balance of the day on the mainland at DeTour Area Schools, then came to Cedarville for the Les Cheneaux Board of Education meeting.

He is keeping a record of when and how he spends time between the two districts, and said the board may read it any time.

The summer tax resolution allows the district to continue to collect 18 mills from non-homestead properties in the summer. Another six mills is sent to the State of Michigan’s public education fund, and re-allocated to schools on a per-pupil basis.

Cedarville High School Principal Randy Schaedig said the Quiz Bowl Team beat Dollar Bay in a regional competition in Marquette. The team won, 255-50, and will move on to the third round of High School Bowl called the “Cerebral 16” Friday, February 2, when it plays against Norway. The tournament is called Cerebral 16 because it includes the remaining 16 teams left from the first 36 that started playing in the fall. The Cedarville team includes captain Emily Feldhake, Ali and Katie Eberts, Joel Feldhake, Leighann Hamel, Clayton Meyers, Luke Murray, Erin Smith, and coach Janet Haske.

The winners receive a $2,500 High School Bowl Scholarship for their school. Second place wins a $1,500 scholarship.

The Michigan Promise Grant which awards $4,000 to students after completing two years of posthigh school education, was signed into law by Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm December 21. The scholarship, said Mr. Schaedig, is meant to give students incentive to complete a college or technical degree. State research demonstrates

that students who drop out of college typically do so in the first two years. Those who make it past the first two years typically continue on to complete a degree or certificate program. The scholarship will only be awarded if the first two years are completed successfully. Success will be measured by a 2.5 grade point average.

Mr. Schaedig said the program will begin with this year’s high school senior class, who will be among the first to take the state’s challenge to complete a post-secondary education.

The money will no longer ride on successful completion of the MEAP, Mr. Schaedig said, and opens the door for students who did not pass all sections of their test.

“It’s good to get some good news from the state every once in awhile,” he said.

In another matter, Mr. Schaedig told trustees that contrary to information released by American College Test (ACT) and Michigan Department of Education, only students who do not pass all sections of the ACT will qualify for a free, “make-up” test their senior year.