Northport High School junior Betsy Shiner has one more year of school to complete before she moves on to college and embarks on the rest of her life.

It was the immediate future of her high school that prompted her to speak last week at the Northport Board of Education meeting.

“We live in a small town, we should have a small school. I love being at school. It’s great to have a family here like we do at this school. We get more attention from the staff. We need to take advantage of that and keep it open,” she said, at times with a tear in her eye.

Shiner summed up the feelings of many students, staff and community members, as well as most of the Board of Education. After months of discussion, planning for the future, collaboration talks with other school districts and community forums, about 150 people sat before the Northport Board of Education last week and demanded a decision on the future of Northport High School.

The board responded by approving a motion from member Denise Holland, with a second by member Susan Cordes, that Northport Public School commit to keeping Northport High School open, and that the district continue with strategic planning to ensure it offers the best education for students. Holland’s stating of the motion was followed by a rousing standing ovation from the audience members.

The board approved the measure, 5-1, with Bob Zwemmer absent and Patty DeYoung opposed. DeYoung said after the vote was taken that she supports keeping Northport a K-12 school, but was disappointed some members of the community wanted to keep the board from discussing all ideas and issues the district may face, including declining enrollment.

Holland said just before the board voted that the community does not trust the board, and that it needs to rebuild that trust.

Approval came after almost two hours of comment from community about the public input process the board was using to help it determine the future of the district. Many people said it was the coverage of the issue in the Leelanau Enterprise that had upset them the most.

Jeff Tropf said he would like to see the board work on more positive public relations efforts, like the billboard he saw along U.S. 31 North for Alba Public School. The billboard heralded Alba as the best little school in the state. He said the message was short, simple and got motorist’s attention. Tropf urged the board to fully support keeping Northport High School before it does anything else.

“This community supports a K-12 program. We would like a K-12 school until the state comes in and shuts us down, until the last student is served and walks out the door,” he said.

Other parents praised the school’s staff and the small class sizes. Linda Macker said she has had children graduate from Northport and has other children in school who have benefited from the small size.

“My son is in the sixth grade and has had problems with reading. Carla Thomas (his sixth grade teacher) works and works and works with him on it and it has really helped,” she said.

Andy Thomas said the board needed to make a decision about the high school before sending out a planned community survey. Two community forums were held Wednesday, Jan. 31 and Thursday, Feb. 1 to help the board form questions that will be part of the survey. Community members said they were very disappointed in the tone and direction of the forums and the questions that would result from it.

Thomas said he was also disappointed that Northport Board did not do more to redirect the focus of articles that appeared in the Enterprise concerning the long-range plan discussions.

Thomas is part of a group of about two dozen people who organized the Northport-Omena Summit, which was held last night (Feb. 14) at the Northport Community Arts Center. The summit was to include presentations from seven different areas or initiatives in the Northport and Omena areas that show the potential for a bright future.

Board president Lois Counterman said Tuesday the board will continue sending out community surveys.

“We still need to get this information to complete the picture. We are committed to a K-12 program, but we need to complete this very important information-gathering process,” she said.

After the vote on the high school, the board breezed through the remaining meeting agenda. It will hold a work session on Thursday, Feb. 22, most of which will be devoted to job evaluation for superintendent Tyrus Wessell. Wessell has requested a close session for that evaluation, as allowed under the state’s Open Meetings Act.

by Chris Olson
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