MONTAGUE — Former Montague school board president Brent Raeth will be resigning his school board seat in the next couple of months, superintendent Jeffrey Johnson confirmed at Monday's regular meeting.
Similarly to former trustee Scott Beishuizen, who resigned his seat last year, Raeth's departure is due to his impending move out of the district's boundaries. State law requires school boards be exclusively composed of people living within the district. Raeth has been part of the board since 2020. Johnson said once Raeth's move is official, the board will have a vote to appoint his replacement, either at the February or March board meetings.
In preparation for Raeth's departure, the school board reshuffled its officers for 2026. Joel Smith, previously the vice president, was appointed president, and Amanda Dahl, previously the treasurer, was appointed vice president. Cindy Francis retained her position as board secretary, and trustee Emily Fullmer was appointed as treasurer. The appointments were made unanimously and all at once.
The board unanimously approved three expenditures to fund technological upgrades in the district that will be installed this summer. The total cost of the three upgrades is about $181,000, but the bulk of the costs - 80%, Johnson said - are being funded by E-Rate, a federal program that offers discounts on Internet and network-related costs to school districts.
Turnkey Network Solutions, based in Caledonia, will install network and stadium infrastructure improvements at the cost of $22,646, of which all but $4,529 will be funded by E-Rate. Johnson noted that Turnkey's was not the low bid, but included the cost of boring into concrete as part of the job rather than requiring the district to have it done for them.
The other two upgrades will be done through Vector Tech Group, a statewide business with a location in Holland. A $50,955 expenditure will upgrade the fiber Internet infrastructure at both Montague High School and NBC Middle School - Johnson said the last upgrades to those buildings' fiber were in 2005 - and an additional $107,555 expenditure (just over $21,500 cost to the district) will fund an increase in wireless access points. The board and technology director. Steve Dennison shared that the district has had positive experiences with Vector in the past; Raeth remarked that his company, CatchMark Technologies, worked with Vector on installations at the new high school gym. Neither Raeth nor the district has prior experiences with Turnkey.
The board also unanimously approved a revision to Policy 5517.01, which covers bullying and harassing behavior towards students, to align with state school board policy. Johnson said elements of the previous policy had been deemed too broad and difficult to enforce, specifically with regard to activities outside of school, hence the adjustments.
The board appointed its members to various committees as well, accounting for the change in membership since last year. Raeth noted that no committee had over three people on them and asked if the board was permitted to have larger committees. Johnson replied that, while not impossible, as any committee of four or more people would constitute a quorum of the school board, it is easier to limit committee memberships to three.
