Stanley Kennedy Voters in the Pickford Public Schools district will vote Tuesday, May 6, on an 18-mill renewal for school operations and for two incumbent school board members, neither facing opposition. Jenalee Gough and Stanley Kennedy seek new four year terms.

The 18 mills is levied against non-homestead properties such as businesses, second homes, and hunting property, to provide funds for operating expenses. It will raise approximately $495,000 for operations, about 15% of the district's $3.4 million operating budget. State aid makes up the balance, and Pickford receives Michigan's base perpupil foundation allowance of $7,204.

Money generated by the 18- mill levy is used only for general fund operational expenditures like salaries, books, regular education programs, food service, transportation, and utilities.

Pickford's school district includes Pickford Township and portions of Bruce and Raber townships in Chippewa County and part of Marquette Township in Mackinac County. Polling places are the township halls in Bruce, Marquette, Pickford, and Raber townships.

Jenalee Gough

Jenalee Gough is a clerk at Pickford Cooperative grocery store and a former Pickford Public Schools student. She and her husband, Glen, have three children, James, 21, Tim, 15, and Teri, 13.

She has been a member of the school board since November 2005, when she volunteered to fill a vacancy. She is running for her first full term on the board.

Mrs. Gough serves on the school board because she wants to help make decisions and be involved with any changes for the district that are necessary. She wants to help ensure students get a good education with the money that the school receives from the State of Michigan.

Mrs. Gough chose not to provide additional information or a photograph.

Stanley Kennedy

Stanley Kennedy grew up in Pickford and was graduated valedictorian with the Class of 1952. He earned a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Michigan. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force in October 1956 and retired as a colonel in January 1986. In the Air Force he obtained a master's degree in nuclear physics from the University of Illinois and completed post-master's degree studies in solid state physics. He worked for McDonnell-Douglass and Boeing as an aerospace engineer from 1986 to 1999.

He and his wife, Marlene, have have three children, Stanley Jr., who is vice president of an aerospace engineering company, Carole, who is a political science professor, and Rebecca, who teaches English as a second language.

The Kennedys returned to Pickford in 1999 and Mr. Kennedy has served as a member of the First Presbyterian Church Session, as past president of the Pickford Lions Club, commander of American Legion Post 323, and a member of the Pickford Historical Society.

He is running for a second term on the board because he believes in giving back to the community. As a member of the Pickford community, he believes upcoming students the same high quality education he received as a student of Pickford Public Schools. Two issues facing the school district are curriculum standards and funding, he said.

Mr. Kennedy believes he was prepared for his future by his education at Pickford. He continues to support the idea of higher education standards for collegebound students, but he wants all students' educational needs met. He believes schools should fulfill the learning needs of students who do not plan to attend college by offering alternative courses, such as computer science or accounting in lieu of advanced algebra for a fourth year of mathematics.

Since Michigan adopted more rigorous high school graduation requirements in 2006, public schools have been working to integrate those standards into the curriculum. Mr. Kennedy said Pickford, like other Michigan schools, is still defining its curriculum as it implements the new requirements.

"The state has established high school graduation requirements and how the school implements them is up to the districts, and offers some flexibility," Mr. Kennedy said, adding that Pickford's board and staff are determining how best to serve the needs of the district's students.

Not all students are college bound, he said, so the district must be cautious not to discourage the students who are not, to prevent them from simply dropping out. A curriculum should be in the student's best interest, he said, and should prepare them for future success in their chosen career field. He believes the additional required classes have created a "balancing act" between the number of hours available in a day, required courses, and electives. He is also concerned about budget constraints that force more scrutiny and careful consideration of where staff and programs can be restrained, without the quality of education suffering. Rising health care costs and state and federal funding constraints are making it difficult to pay for current programs without some reductions, he added.

"In spite of budget constraints, our students will be best served if our district focuses on hiring, and retaining, the most-highly qualified teachers in every academic discipline," Mr. Kennedy said.

"In the near future, our school district, and others throughout the Upper Peninsula and rural areas of southern Michigan, must insist that our representatives in the Michigan legislature assure fair and equal support and funding to both rural and urban school districts," Mr. Kennedy said.

He wants state legislators to consider how rural districts must do more with less because they often have fewer students and thus receive less state funding, because it is awarded on a perpupil basis. Rural schools also sometimes get less funding per student than do larger urban schools, he said.

He is disappointed that a transportation line item to provide more money for rural districts with higher transportation costs had been included in last year's education bill, but was, "in fact, the only education item vetoed by the governor," he said.

"Higher transportation costs for rural districts are not considered," he added.