The word "interim" has been removed from Suttons Bay Middle School principal Ben Lance's job title.

Suttons Bay's Board of Education voted 6-0 Monday night to offer the former secondary English teacher a 220-day contract, which will expire June 30, 2009.

“It takes quite a lot for us to change our plans,” board President Susan Corbin said. “But we decided not to open the position up for candidates and have them be disappointed when they aren’t selected.”

Lance was appointed interim middle school principal in February after the resignation of athletic director and middle school administrator Cody Inglis. Since that time, Inglis’ athletic director duties have been taken over by high school principal Raph Rittenhouse and Cheryl Knudsen.

Lance will serve as the administrator for grades 5-8, a post assigned to Inglis after former Principal Kathy Maisonville retired and — as a cost-cutting measure— was not refilled. The board’s willingness to provide an administrator at this grade level was not lost on middle school teacher Cindy Crandall, who was sitting in the audience.

“I’d like to thank the board for recognizing our need to have a full-time administrator at the middle school level,” Crandall said. “It feels like a school again.”

No adjustments in Lance’s $65,000 annual salary were discussed at Monday’s meeting.
Any change will take place after the board reaches a labor agreement with the district’s unionized teachers and support staff, Superintendent Michael Murray said.

In other business during the 2-hour meeting, the board:

• Approved a second probationary year for teachers Pamela Guidi, Marni LaPaugh and Scott Munn.

• Accepted the resignations of Linda Wrobel and Dale Martin, who was retiring from the food service department.

• Approved an overnight trip request for middle school students scheduled to travel to Washington, D.C. May 20-23, 2009.

• Approved a list of 74 seniors who will graduate on June 1.

• Approved a resolution of support for the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District’s 2008-09 general fund.