NAOMI MYERS, from left, on bassoon, and trumpeters Will Faught and Cheyenne Tiffany perform Friday during Suttons Bay’s Band Camp. The Suttons Bay Public School district continues to evolve and improve. Some of the recent developments are listed below.

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An estimated 720 students are expected to enroll in Suttons Bay Public School when classes resume Tuesday, down 10 from 2011.

And at least seven new students in the lower grades are attributed to the district’s new program that allows students to begin their college study while completing their high school graduation requirements.

Beginning in their freshman year, students who are interested in the program are encouraged to take college readiness courses. The program provides accelerated learning opportunities through Northwestern Michigan College, reducing time and cost of education beyond high school. By the end of a “13th year” of school after graduation, students can earn an associate’s degree without the cost of college tutition and fees.

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There will be a few new faces around Suttons Bay Public School this fall. But not all will be working with students on campus.

Kaylie Steere Hutcheon has been hired as a vocal music teacher and Mary Hall as an art teacher for students in grades K-12.

Hutcheon will replace longtime teacher Margaret Lott who retired this spring. Hall will replace Scott Tompkins who left the district to work for the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District.

Hutcheon graduated from St. Louis High School and attended Central Michigan University where she was a member of the Chippewa marching band. She spent the last two years as K-12 general/instrumental music teacher and volleyball coach for Walkerville Public Schools.

A Traverse City native, Hall most recently served as an art educator for Traverse City Area Public Schools, teaching in four elementary schools and coordinating community projects. She taught students of various ages in metals and jewelry, drawing, ceramics, photography and Advanced Placement Studio Art.

Members of the Suttons Bay community may recognize Hall as an art educator for Blackbird Arts of Traverse City where she creates and teaches lessons in papermaking, printmaking, painting and sculpture.

Two other new staff members may be more familiar to the district’s “virtual” students rather than those under the school roof.

Marcus Mead, a Leland native, has been hired as “outreach coordinator,” a new position in the school district.

“The person in this position acts as the liaison between the school and our Jackson Learning Lab,” superintendent Mike Murray said.

The district is expected to have 150 students enrolled in the online learning program this fall.

A 1992 Traverse City High School graduate, Mead holds degrees in elementary education and a master’s degree in curriculum and teaching from Michigan State University.

He has taught in three districts — Lansing Public, Ovid-Elsie Area Schools and Kingsley — and at five grade levels. Mead is also part-time technology director at Traverse City Christian School.

Danielle Humphrey will serve as a “mentor teacher” to online students.

Humphrey earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Ferris State University and recently received her master’s degree in educational technology from CMU. She completed her student teaching at Suttons Bay High School and has been a substitute for Suttons Bay, Traverse City, Kingsley and Cadillac Public Schools and has assisted with Suttons Bay High School’s summer school program.

Humphrey is also coaching middle school track.

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Suttons Bay students will need to use their BATA pass from last school year to board the bus on the first days of school.

These passes will be used until the 2012-2013 passes are issued,

Pictures for the new 2012-2013 BATA passes will be taken:

 Elementary students — next Thursday, Sept. 6, 9:30 a.m., lower level of two-story in elementary.

 Grades 8-12 — Friday, Sept. 7, 9:30 a.m., high school building beneath the skylight.

 Grade 7 students and make-up for others, Monday, Sept. 10, 9:30 a.m., high school building beneath the skylight.

Further information is available by calling Sue Herman at 866-0010 or Shirley Kulpa at 271-8604.