St. Ignace Area Schools may receive an additional $20,000 from Moran Township's Gros Cap School to allow junior high Gros Cap students to continue participation in its band and athletics programs. The Moran Township Board of Education decided Monday, July 19, to offer St. Ignace Area Schools an additional $5,000 on top of the $15,000 members proposed nearly a month ago.

The board also discussed the damage caused by two recent floods at Gros Cap School, elected its board officers, and hired Janice O'Boyle as its new cook.

St. Ignace Area Schools has said it can no longer afford to enroll Gros Cap students in its junior high band and athletic programs, even after the Moran Township school district offered the additional $15,000 to pay for the service. Following a meeting of the two districts' policy committees Wednesday, July 7, Gros Cap board members said the St. Ignace school district wants more than the $15,000.

“I feel this is such an issue and causes such a division in our community that we should offer $5,000 more as an act of good faith,” said board treasurer Nancy Dandona.

Gros Cap's initial offer was based on the estimated cost to hire a part-time band teacher, said Superintendent William Peltier, and another $5,000 would still fall within that estimate, but not more.

“Past an additional $5,000, you may as well hire your own person,” he told the board.

If St. Ignace Area Schools offers athletic programs only to its own students, junior high Gros Cap students would not participate in volleyball, basketball, interscholastic wrestling, or track, has they have in the past, under a long-standing agreement between the two districts.

Faced with a $345,000 general fund deficit next year, the St. Ignace district wants to eliminate Gros Cap student participation as a way to increase enrollment at the St. Ignace school and, thus, capture the state allowance that comes with each student. St. Ignace Superintendent Mike Springsteen said Wednesday, July 7, the athletic fund needs at least $70,000 to maintain its programs.

Mr. Peltier thinks the other district's strategy is risky, considering it could lose Gros Cap's current contribution, which is roughly $7,500 for athletics, $4,500 for the St. Ignace band teacher to visit Gros Cap, and about $10,000 from the state last year to cover Gros Cap students who visited the St. Ignace campus for band. If Gros Cap students do not participate, he said, St. Ignace will have to recruit enough extra enrollment dollars to cover that $22,000, as well as the additional $20,000 being offered.

Parent Samantha LaVake, who attended the school board meeting, said she would want her children to remain in Gros Cap School because of the smaller class sizes. The school offers kindergarten through eighth grades. Most graduates go on to complete high school at St. Ignace.

“I'd hate to see St. Ignace close us off, because [students] get that camaraderie that they need,” Mrs. LaVake said. Students also need sports opportunities in seventh and eighth grades to have a chance to play in high school sports, she added.

Should St. Ignace Area Schools cut Gros Cap students from band and athletics, Gros Cap School would offer the programs in some way, Mr. Peltier said. A part-time band teacher could be hired, and Gros Cap students could be sent to another district for sports, such as Rudyard Area Schools or Mackinaw City Public Schools, if an agreement could be reached.

On the other hand, sending Gros Cap students to a different school could have consequences for St. Ignace, Mr. Peltier said. The students could end up attending high school at the other districts, instead of St. Ignace.

The board agreed to offer St. Ignace Area Schools $5,000 more, for a total of $20,000, in addition to its other contributions to continue having Gros Cap students participate in the school's band and athletic programs. The offer was also made so long as talks continue between the two boards.

Board Selects New President,

Former Becomes Cook

Trustee Mike Cope will serve as the board of education's president until May 2011, filling the rest of Janice O'Boyle's term, who resigned last month to be the cook. Helen Graichen was elected as secretary and Nancy Dandona treasurer. Nicole Brown also serves on the board as a trustee.

Mrs. O'Boyle was hired from among 11 applicants as the school's cook. None of the other applicants matched her credentials, Mr. Peltier said. Mrs. O'Boyle worked with Blanche Thomas, the cook who retired last month, and quickly learned the names of the students, he said.

“To say 'Hi, Johnny,' makes a big difference,” Mr. Peltier said.

Mrs. O'Boyle will work 36 hours a week at $10.53 an hour.

Water Damages Office

Furniture, Basement

A clog in an outside drain backed up a sump pump, causing the school's basement to flood, Mr. Peltier told the board. The basement's laminate floor, installed about four years ago, was damaged and has been removed. A computer was destroyed and the phone system was damaged, along with several other items. The school's insurance will cover the damage to the basement, Mr. Peltier said. The laminate will not be replaced on the concrete floor.

Another flood occurred when the school's windows around the gymnasium were removed to fix leaking. The sills had rotted and were being fixed. The windows were not covered when they were removed, Mr. Peltier said, and heavy rain poured into the building. Water flowed into nearby offices, damaging cabinets and destroying a fax machine. Roughly $2,000 worth of damage was caused by the flood, Mr. Peltier said. The school will ask the construction company to pay the damages.