By Travis Smola
The Schoolcraft school board decided simply to re-seat its four officers rather than holding new elections at the January board meeting.
Trustee Michael Rochholz moved to keep Darby Fetzer as president, Ryan Ledlow as vice-president, Kathy Mastenbrook as treasurer and Jenifer Gottschalk as secretary. The vote which followed was unanimous.
“Thank you for allowing me to be your president again this year,” Fetzer said near the meeting’s conclusion. “I’m looking forward to a strong year in 2018.”
The board also approved an evaluation of Rusty Stitt as superintendent. The boaard held its evaluation on December 12 and awarded him a 97 out of 100 highly effective rating. The board said Stitt has made significant progress in communication and members are recognizing his community leadership as well.
Trustee Rochholz said he enjoyed the evaluation process and the discussions it brought about. “I look at that evaluation process not just as an evaluation of Rusty, but an evaluation of all of us,” Rochholz said.
During a presentation on the general fund, the issue of an aging middle school boiler came up. The boiler recently developed a stress fracture that needed a small weld repair. Fortunately the fracture occurred over the winter break.
Stitt said he would like the contracting firm C2AE, currently doing the facilities study, to take a second look at the boiler. Rochholz and Gottschalk agreed, although Gottschalk noted she’d like to avoid the likely difficulties of replacing it during the winter months if at all possible.
Mastenbrook said trustees are assuming a building project will come out of the facilities study. But if it does, it might be up to two years out and she believes assuming the boiler will last two more years might be a little risky. Stitt said they aren’t bringing a recommendation; he is just looking to start a conversation on the issue.