MONTAGUE — After discussion of the four candidates who applied prior to the deadline, the Montague Area Public Schools board unanimously approved Doug Schmidt to fill the seat vacated by trustee Brent Raeth at Monday's regular meeting. Schmidt will be sworn in at March's meeting.
Raeth recently completed a move out of the district's boundaries, which by state law required him to resign his seat on the board. Schmidt will complete Raeth's term, which lasts through 2028.
Schmidt, a 2005 Montague graduate, is a deputy in the Muskegon County Sheriff's Office and has three children who attend Montague schools. In his letter of interest to the board, he stated he believes parents' support of their children's education is key to their success and said he was looking forward to contributing to the school board.
Superintendent Jeffrey Johnson said all four candidates would have made positive additions to the school board. The other candidates to apply were Karen Atchison, Matt Bendelow and Amber Lanning, who are all also Montague alumni and had educational experience. In fact, each has been a recent guest teacher at Montague; they would not have been allowed to continue to do so if appointed to the board due to conflict of interest concerns.
Johnson shared some of Raeth's official letter of resignation during the meeting and shared that Raeth recently received a 2025 award of merit from the Michigan Association of School Boards for completion of MASB leadership classes among other notable achievements; Raeth was not present for the meeting.
"It has been an honor to contribute to the education and wellbeing of our community's students," read Raeth's letter in part. "I wish Montague Area Public Schools continued success in its mission to provide quality education."
Building principals shared data from the recent Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) testing that took place in the district. The testing does not affect student grades, but measures academic growth and gives districts an idea of where their students are with regard to math and reading skills. Districts who work with NWEA test their students at least two times per year; Montague does so three times, in the fall, winter and spring.
The data showed some level of growth at each grade level since the fall round of testing, with some grades delivering better results than others. This was the first time the tests were being administered at Oehrli Elementary School, said principal Sandie Lundquist, which may have affected some results, especially since many students at the school are also transitioning from using iPads for technology learning to Chromebooks this year.
NBC Middle School principal Jim Perreault added that the results may not always accurately reflect where the students are because at that building, they are aware the tests do not affect their grades; it can be "a fight to get them to care" about the results, he said. He also said in the years the middle school has done the tests, he's seen a dip in the winter results each year and does not know why, though spring consistently produces bounce-back results.
High school principal Christy Thommen shared data about students' participation in the Career Tech Center, dual enrollment at the college level, and Advanced Placement course enrollment. There has been a decline in the latter this year - 87 from last year's 112 students out of the 404 in all - but Thommen said that is not a surprise and in fact felt it was a positive development. She said she and teachers at the school believed in past years some students were in AP courses that were not prepared for the added rigor of the classes, and they are exploring ways to evaluate students' AP readiness in future years.
Johnson said fire suppression system upgrades are in progress at the high school and elementary school, and roof repairs will be the next focus of building work. The building facility committee recently met and was focused on the agricultural barn the district is planning to construct. The project is out for bidding, with the district hoping to keep costs under $900,000 for the building while also completing it in time for the 100th anniversary of the national FFA program in 2028. In the longer term, the district hopes to provide minor upgrades at the athletic complex, including in the bathroom and concession areas as well as at the entryway.
