Ronn Farr (left) shakes hands with St. Ignace Superintendent Mike Springsteen early Tuesday morning, October 13, after taking his oath of office. The newest school board member in St. Ignace, Mr. Farr is a 1985 graduate of LaSalle High School and has two children attending school in the district, Mackenzie in second grade and Cooper in sixth grade. Ronn Farr was appointed to the St. Ignace school board at a special meeting Monday, October 12, filling the seat vacated by Kathy Campbell, who resigned at the board's September 14 meeting.

At its regular meeting following the appointment of Mr. Farr, the board of education authorized the purchase of property for a district bus garage, received an annual report from its auditors, and formed a citizens committee to help it make difficult decisions.

Mr. Farr will serve on the board until the next election in May, when voters will choose a candidate to serve the remaining year of Mrs. Campbell's four year term.

The board convened two hours before its regular meeting, at 5 p.m., to interview three candidates for the open board position. Other candidates interviewed were Jim Mattson and Mike Emery.

"I think it's great that there is so much interest in the position," Superintendent Mike Springsteen said. "This was a very difficult decision for us. Any one of these three would have done a great job."

Of Mr. Farr, he said, "I was very impressed with his answers to all the questions."

A strong recommendation came from board member Ann Massey, who said she has known Mr. Farr a long time and has already seen his commitment to education as an involved parent of two children, his son, Cooper, in sixth grade and his daughter, Mackenzie, in second grade.

During the interview, Mr. Farr, himself a 1985 graduate of LaSalle High School, described himself as a very involved parent, but said he has not yet been involved in the management of the district, a challenge he looks forward to.

"I feel as though I have a lot of skills to contribute," he said. "I hope to provide positive input here."

The biggest issue facing the school board, Mr. Farr said, is funding, a problem he felt his business experience as director of sales for Best Western Harbour Pointe can help solve.

"A school is a business," he said. "You have a product and customers, it needs checks and balances, con- trols, and input from a board of directors."

One idea Mr. Farr proposed to improve education in the district would be to look at educational trips and travel opportunities for students. He said his son was able to take such a trip to Gettysburg with a different school, and he asked his father why St. Ignace didn't make those trips.

"I didn't have an answer for him," he said. "There is a tremendous amount of learning that goes on in these four walls, but there is more outside of here. That is something I'm extremely passionate about."

Mr. Farr said, if appointed, his focus would be on the students in St. Ignace, something board members responded positively to.

"We are a voice for the community, but, more importantly, we are a voice for the kids," he said. "If we preface every decision at this table with how it is going to affect the kids, I don't see how we could make a wrong decision."

Trustee Mike Grogan said he felt Mr. Farr had the children's best interests at heart, and other board members agreed with him.

"I like your passion for the kids, that is what is most important," trustee Dave Latva said.

The board voted 5-0 to appoint Mr. Farr, with Sean Arthur absent and Mrs. Campbell's seat vacant. The board requires a majority vote of at least four board members to make such an appointment.

The other two candidates for the single seat were invited to run for election in May, Mr. Springsteen said, since Mrs. Campbell's seat and likely two others will be up for grabs.

"I seriously hope that when elections come up in May you will both run," he said. "Any one of you would have been a great choice for this position."

District Buys Bus Garage

Following a closed session to discuss the matter, the school board voted without a dissenting vote to purchase a parcel at the intersection of US-2 and Portage Road from McGregor Oil and set up the district's first bus garage.

The $195,000 sale of the building has not yet been finalized with McGregor Oil, but Mr. Springsteen said he expects busses and maintenance to move onto the site soon. The garage on the property can hold four of the district's eight buses and modifications will be made at the site so buses parked outside can be plugged into outdoor power outlets, crucial to warm the diesel engines in winter.

Mr. Springsteen said the district has been planning to purchase a bus garage for many years and said having a facility devoted to the regular maintenance and washing of the buses will help extend their lifespan.

"Since 1991, it's been a board goal to have a bus garage," he said. "My recommendation is that we purchase it."

The district is getting a deal on the property, he said, which was most recently appraised at $225,000. Funds for the purchase will come from the building and site fund, which has been accumulating the money to purchase a bus garage through the sale of other district buildings.

Auditor Reports on School's

2008-2009 Financial Year

Auditors found no major problems with how the district tracks its finances, said Ron Harris, an accountant for Harris Group of Traverse City.

For the year ending June 30, 2009, the St. Ignace School district's net assets rose 20.3% from 2008, to a total of $2.6 million from $2.2 million. These assets rose by $441,494 because $7.6 million of revenues collected exceeded the district's $7.1 million in expenditures. The year's revenues were $77,130 less than in the previous year, but yearly expenditures decreased $213,599.

The general fund held $947,696 at the end of the fiscal year, 15.6% of total general fund expenditures during the year and a $231,580 increase from the fund's balance at the beginning of the year. Approximately $106,000 less was received in revenue for the general fund and about $203,000 less was spent, when compared with the previous year. The district also reduced its transfers from the general fund to other funds by about $40,000.

Mr. Harris did make a few recommendations for improvements to systems used at the school, including the school lunch payment system, gate receipts at sports events, and the fixed asset register.

The auditors reported that no reconciliation is done between school lunch sales collected through the "Power School" software and the actual money deposited in the bank. They recommended that school administration put a process in place so that sales figures from the computer system can be compared to the total bank deposits for a certain period of time.

Kathy McLeod, the district's business manager, said the problem has already been solved, and school employees now compare the total lunch sales to total lunch deposits.

Auditors found a similar problem with the sale of tickets for sporting events, since there is no way to compare number of actual ticket sales with the amount of money collected for the events. Mr. Harris suggested the district use a two-person system, with one person collecting money and the other distributing a counted number of tickets. The number of tickets given out could then be compared with the amount of money taken in be the other worker, providing greater accountability to ticket sellers at games.

Board members discussed this issue after Mr. Harris left and expressed concern that making any more demands of those who volunteer to sell tickets would discourage the much-needed help. They agreed that money missing from ticket sales has not been a problem in the past, and do not plan to make any change to the system.

The audit also revealed the district has no procedure for keeping an up-to-date list of all its fixed assets. Mr. Harris recommended a periodic count of all the assets, which could then be reconciled with the official listing of fixed assets. If the school did not do this inventory, newly acquired and newly disposed of assets, or even property that was lost or stolen, would skew the accuracy of any list of fixed assets.

Board Creates

Citizens Committee

Mr. Springsteen introduced to the board the idea of convening a committee of citizens from throughout the school district to examine and prioritize short and long term goals and make recommendations to the board about these needs.

"We have been trying to do as much as we can with less money," he said. "Citizens that represent a broad variety of the community could help the board with this decision making process."

Two of the key needs that are difficult to address with less state funding, Mr. Springsteen said, are bussing and purchasing technology.

"Our kids need to keep up with the technology," he said, "but it's expensive."

A millage to pay for new busses as the school needs them will expire this year, and Mr. Springsteen said he hoped the committee could examine this and report to the board if the community would support a renewed bus millage.

The resolution to create the citizen's committee was passed 5-0 by all board members present.

The next scheduled St. Ignace Board of Education meeting is 7 p.m. Monday, November 9. The meetings are held in the St. Ignace Middle School library and are open to the public.