Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
ONTONAGON BOARD President Dean Juntunen swears in new member Karen Jackson to the board of education Monday evening.
By JAN TUCKER
Ontonagon - The Ontonagon Area Board of Education has a new board member.
Monday, Board President Dean Juntunen swore in Karen Jackson to take the seat vacated by Kyla LaBine. The board officially accepted the resignation of LaBine, with regret, as she has taken a job in the Houghton area.
Jackson is the Ontonagon Postmaster, and will hold the seat until November when she would run for election. Juntunen praised LaBine for her approximately five years of service to the children of the district and wished her well.
Since LaBine was also the board Vice President, the board elected Bruce Johanson to that position and selected Heather Beck to assume Johanson's former position as Treasurer.
The board adopted a resolution to borrow $150,000 to pay current operating expenses in June and solicit bids for the note. Linda Karttunen explained the loan is made in anticipation of state funding and the taxes that are anticipated for September.
Superintendent Jim Bobula reported on leasing a school bus for two years and the option to buy at the end of the lease. He noted new parts are required for the boiler system and told the board discussions have been held with other schools in the area and Gogebic-Ontonagon Intermediate School District about possible collaborative efforts between schools.
In other action the board:
-Authorized postings for assistant football coach, junior high football coach (two positions) varsity boys basketball coach and Junior varsity volleyball coach.
-Accepted the low bid of Robert Graham for lawn care services at $3,000 for three years.
-And heard that a ribbon cutting on the Fritz Zimmer Memorial Trail at the school will be held May 3 at 11:30 a.m.
The board offered "thank you kudos to Ken Raisanen for the success of the Strive 4 Safe Driving program which won fifth place in the state and $500 for the student class, the Ontonagon Rotary for its donation to the backpack collaborative student lunch program, and Tammy Lancioni , who Bobula said organized and ran the very complicated MSTEP testing program at the school.
