Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
SHARING MOSTLY good news on an audit of the Wakefield-Marenisco School District is CPA Karl Ahonen of Ironwood at Monday evening's board of education meeting in school board chambers.
By P.J. GLISSON
Wakefield - The Wakefield-Marenisco School Board heard an audit report of good and bad news from accountant Karl Ahonen of Ironwood at its Monday evening meeting.
"The school is in very good shape compared to other school districts," said Ahonen after noting that, as of June 30, 2018, the district's combined liability for its retirement fund and retiree health care fund is more than $6.5 million.
"Those are big numbers for this school district," he said, but added, "The state does not use these numbers in determining your (acknowledged) deficit."
Aside from the retiree deficit, Ahonen said the district holds a fairly even balance of more than $300,000 in the bank next to nearly $350,000 in debt. He said the district also has no written control or compliance issues.
Nevertheless, he did not ignore the fact that the district's retirement fund liability of $4,872,081 and its retiree health care liability of $1,660,967 are "huge."
President Brad Dalbec revealed a deeper quagmire when he posed a "hypothetical" scenario by asking whether, even if the district ever had the money to pay off those millions, the issue would be settled. Rather, he suggested of the debt, "That never gets to zero, does it?"
Ahonen said no, explaining that the debt from multiple state pension and health care funds is "all in one big pot."
As reassurance, he concluded, "I'm sure the state is going to come up with some system eventually."
Superintendent Jason Gustafson told the Globe Tuesday there is "no way" the district could pay what is due. He said the widespread issue has been a problem throughout Michigan for decades, but in recent times has "just ballooned out of control."
Board members voted to accept the audit at Monday's meeting.
Educational Access Network
The board also viewed a video demonstration titled "The Case for Educational Broadband." Eric Smith, director of broadcast services for Northern Michigan University, spoke to the board by phone. He was marketing the Educational Access Network of NMU's Rural Educational Broadband Initiative.
"In a nutshell, what they want to do is put an antenna on top of our building," said Gustafson.
The video explained that EAN currently allows NMU students to access the university's network throughout the U.P. Setting up an antenna here is part of NMU's ultimate goal to establish 64 power sites in the U.P.
According to the presentation, 70 percent of teachers now assign homework that requires internet access, while 25 percent of U.P. homes have little or no broadband capacity.
"What is the greatest advantage that you see for our particular community?" asked trustee Marg Lynott during a phone conference with Smith, who replied the system would "put broadband in the hands of people who don't have it," allowing even adults to access continuing education.
Trustee Dan Obradovich questioned the cost of tapping into the system, and Smith said it would be $20 per month plus the cost of renting or buying a related modem.
When vice president Micki Sorensen said Marenisco student households would not be within the nine-mile antenna range, Smith said NMU soon hopes to have Marenisco covered, at which point it then would qualify to fall under the school's plan.
Board members tabled action on EAN until the new year.
In other action, the board:
-Heard the superintendent report that athletic director Mark Lane is working to schedule practice times in the municipal building's community room, which now has a new gym floor. "We are very grateful to those who made this gym space a reality," said Gustafson. "It should be very beneficial in getting extra practice time in for our athletes."
-Heard Gustafson note the "fantastic" Upper Peninsula Honors Band concert, which he attended in Marquette, along with school participants Imajica Lemerond, Catherine Baker and Laura Fair. "I am very proud of these girls, as well as their director" (Isaac Boehnlein).
-Voted to accept evaluation standards for the superintendent.
-Voted to accept the latest policy adjustments from Neola, a regional educational consulting firm.
-Heard the school will have a Christmas party for students in grades seven through 12 on Friday. Pizza and Christmas movies will be part of the fun. In a formal report, head teacher Brandon Makela credited teacher Teri Giuliano for an "excellent job" in organizing the event.
