KINGSFORD — Breitung Township Schools District has earned a $78,021 Michigan Department of Education MiSTEM grant for Project Lead the Way curriculum.

Project Lead the Way teaches students in kindergarten through 12th grade using exploration and discovery. Only 21 educational programs in Michigan received MiSTEM grants from $3.05 million the state set aside in the 2018-19 School Aid Act for high-quality STEM programs, ones that have gone through rigorous review, the school board was told earlier this week.

“We decided to choose Project Lead the Way as our STEM choice. You had to declare that early on, and it made sense to try to use this grant to pay for things we were already going to use,” said Amanda Gibbons, the district’s STEM/Robotics 21st-century learning coordinator.

The grant will pay for teacher training, for substitute teachers needed to cover classes during that training, and for fees and materials for the program.

“We were at the high end of what was awarded, so that’s pretty exciting,” Superintendent Craig Allen said.

The board also heard about the athletic committee’s discussion regarding Kingsford’s new fee for school soccer programs to use Commemorative Field.

“We understand without leasing the field in a long-term way, paying some type of rental fee per use is appropriate. One of our concerns is access to the facility,” Allen said. “We want to have some conversations with (Kingsford city manager) Tony Edelbeck about what constitutes an inside organization or outside organization. It’s not an unreasonable cost, it’s just the availability to the field we need to talk through. We have a good relationship with the city; this is just one issue we happen to disagree on.”

In other business, the board:

— Approved an Introduction to Engineering Design and Robotics course starting this fall.

— Hired Jean Constantini as an assistant CAD instructor for second semester.

— Authorized more time for Kristin Edwards to handle a rise in students needing speech therapy.

— Learned the booster club wants to build a softball field on school grounds. Trustee Doug McDowell said he would like to see a more formalized plan before going forward.

— Was updated on athletic venue maintenance needs. The tennis courts will require an estimated $28,000 in work, the track $80,000 in patching and repairs.

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