Throwing in a "Suttons Bay Norsemen" license plate for good measure, the Suttons Bay Board of Education approved a 2-year contract with Raphael “Raph” Rittenhouse, who will take over as high school principal July 1.

“Ralph didn’t want to take a cut in pay, so we threw a Norsemen license plate in,” Superintendent Mike Murray said.

The administrator’s pay scale at Suttons Bay does not align with that of Traverse City Area Public Schools, where Rittenhouse is currently serving as an assistant principal of West High School. Suttons Bay’s salary scale puts the new administrator’s compensation at $82,246 — $3 lower than what he was making as an assistant principal at West.

“I figured the license plate was worth at least $3 and bring him up to what he was making in his current position,” Murray joked.

Rittenhouse was the unanimous choice of the Board of Education earlier this month to replace Principal Sue Rummel, who is retiring at the end of the current school year. A native of Dickinson County in the Upper Peninsula, Rittenhouse is a former high school band instructor and has worked as an assistant principal for TCAPS for the past six years.

The new principal, who lives just south of the Leelanau/Grand Traverse County line in Long Lake Township, plans to move north to the Suttons Bay district with his wife, Julie, a social worker employed through the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District. The couple has three children — Gabe, 10, Jesse, 7 and Anna 5.

In other business during the special workshop meeting, the board:

• Approved a membership resolution for the Michigan High School Athletic Association.

• Approved the purchase of a bus from Zaremba Equipment for $71,720, the lowest bid submitted through a joint request for proposals issued by Suttons Bay, Leland and Northport schools. By purchasing jointly, the districts receive more competitive bids and further the goal of standardizing their fleets, which are maintained by Suttons Bay Schools mechanics.

• Adopted a summer tax levy of 18 mills on non-Homestead properties; a debt retirement levy of 4 mills, down .30-mill from last year; and a sinking fund levy of 2.389 mills, down from 2.435 last year. These levies will appear on July 1 tax bills.