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Breitung to fill school board post

KINGSFORD — The Breitung Township School District soon will have a vacancy on its school board.

William Rice will finish his term at the end of December, prompting the district to begin taking applications immediately.

Applicants must be a registered voter and a resident of the Breitung Township School District, which includes the city of Kingsford, Quinnesec and Breitung Township. Those wanting to be considered should submit a letter of interest to Carrie Swanson at Breitung Township School District, 2000 Pyle Drive, Kingsford, Michigan 49802.

The district only had three candidates file for four board seats this past year; Rice did not seek re-election. Whoever is chosen for the vacancy will be up for election in 2020.

Kingsford High School physics and biology instructor Brian Olson, along with KHS students Macy

Edwards and Emma Bilgreen, gave the school board Monday a presentation on the solar panels recently installed at the high school. Physics students constructed the racks and mounted the panels with assistance from Renewable World Energies owner Bill Harris

“I’d started thinking about this project several years ago and then by chance I ran into Mr. Harris of Renewable World Energies and he kind of kick-started it with me again. I started talking with Mr. (Doug) Roberts and Mr. (Lyle) Smithson and realized we can do this,” Olson said.

The school began producing solar energy about two weeks ago. “Mr. Harris came in for a few days, showing us how the panels would be set up and how they would be working and producing energy … It was very helpful to have him come in and we learned a lot from his presentation,” Edwards said.

The district’s new transportation provider, Schilleman Bus Service of Eagle River, Wis., has brought in 15 new buses and purchased the former Smith Steel building to use as a local garage. They began service in the district Dec. 3.

“The first week was a bit of a struggle, but we are training seven bus drivers right now that will be ready to go after the holiday. We have some support with temporary drivers that are helping out right now and the new busing manager has been working really hard to make sure everyone is doing a good job and the high quality is there,” said Superintendent Craig Allen, adding, “We also want to thank publicly RA Transportation. They had been our partner for a long time and we appreciate that they provided services for us for another year.”

In other business, the board:

— Approved 40 new, revised or replacement policies and bylaws, including addressing harassment, nondiscrimination and use of social media. The complete list of policies can be viewed on the Breitung Township School website at www.kingsford.org.

— Accepted John Charette’s resignation as custodian/maintenance support staff, effective immediately.

— Approved the annual summer tax collection. “This resolution permits us to collect everything but half of our debt retirement. Everything else will be collected in the summer,” Allen said, adding this is a routine move done for the past 14 years.

The next board meeting will be 7 p.m. Jan. 14.

Theresa Proudfit can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 45, or tproudfit@ironmountaindailynews.com.

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