CLICK TO HEAR JACK HALL’S INTERVIEW WITH ERIC VANDAMME, MID PEN SCHOOL SUPT.
CLICK TO HEAR JACK HALL’S INTERVEIW WITH BOB VAUGHT, DETOUR SCHOOL SUPT.
Two of the smallest school districts in the Upper Peninsula will have proposals on the ballot Tuesday as they try to make upgrades to their aging buildings in the most rural parts of the U.P.
The Mid Peninsula Schools in northern Delta County are asking for a one-mill “sinking fund” millage that would generate $85,000 in the first of its ten-year duration. The DeTour Schools, in the far eastern U.P., is not asking for a tax increase. They instead want to borrow up to $3 million to make repairs, at a rate more favorable than the last time bonds were sold just after the pandemic hit in 2020.
“The price of goods and services all went up significantly after COVID-19,” DeTour Superintendent Bob Vaught told RRN News. “So, we came up a bit short on what our original intention was, to have money available to do projects for the community. In the past two years, we’ve received a taxable value rate increase of six percent. So, economically, we’d like to capture some of that, three million dollars, to add to our 2020 bond. At no tax increase for our residents.”
Vaught says they need to fix up their playgrounds and do other building upgrades.
“We have a problem with drainage,” Vaught said. “The water runs right into the school. We addressed this last back in 2002. We’d like to furnish the classrooms, and put in tally-ports to increase the security for our students. So people don’t have direct access through the front door into the hallway with the students.”
Safety is also on the mind of Mid Peninsula School Superintendent Eric VanDamme and is a key component in Mid Pen’s request on Tuesday.
“When a parent sends their kid to our school, safety is the Number One priority,” VanDamme told RRN News. “Education is very close behind. Keeping those general fund dollars in the classroom, and the sinking fund will protect the integrity of the school building. The interior doors to classrooms, there’s so much more technology than they had 40 years ago when we first had those interior doors put in. There’s systems that our wireless, and teachers can have a remote and essentially just hit a button and lock down your classroom door, right from your desk. It’ll make our student safety, and staff safety, that much better.”
Other projects would include fixing the aging track that the kids use for athletics, repairing the parking lot, and upgrading floors and roofs in the building.
This is the third time Mid Pen Schools have asked for a sinking fund, with the previous two, larger proposals, being rejected.
“We slimmed it down from three milles to one,” VanDamme said. “We’ve listened to the community. They didn’t want the three mills. They thought that maybe we were asking for some things that weren’t mandatory right now. Just do some things that need to be fixed in a 40-year-old building.”
Polls in both communities open at 7 a.m. Tuesday and close at 8 p.m.
The only other election in the Upper Peninsula is the race for mayor of the City of Menominee. Longtime Mayor Jean Stegemen is facing a challenge from two people: Beth Peanosky and Casey Hoffman. The top two finishers in Tuesday’s vote will advance to the November general election.
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