Onaway may pass school ownership to township
Mike ModrzynskiThe Onaway Area Community Schools Board of Education has agreed, at least tentatively, to return ownership of the Millersburg School to the Case Township board, with a contingency and a handful of restrictions. Superintendent Bob Szymoniak said the transfer of property must be first reviewed by the district's attorney and a long list of property will have to be removed prior to the transfer becoming finalized.
After a lengthy discussion, the actual ownership of the piecemeal property parcel is not clear at all. Szymoniak said the only portion of the property he is certain the school district owns is a two-lot portion that was once owned by the State of Michigan that had been deeded to the district. Board President Mitch Winfield agreed that the title to the property "is about as clear as mud."
Case Township officials want to take ownership as soon as possible, but Szymoniak said there are too many pieces of district property that will have to be removed first.
"We have a list of kitchen equipment that we will reclaim, but still leave the building with a fully functional kitchen to serve whatever purpose the township has in mind for the building," Szymoniak said. "Classroom furniture, computers and even the lockers will have to be removed along with the list of kitchen equipment we want back. I can see all this happening prior to Sept. 8, and not before.
"The review by our attorney could present new hurdles because I believe there is no clear title or ownership paperwork since the school was transferred to the Onaway district back in 1953. This could get interesting."
Onaway board members voted unanimously to add there own list of conditions, but essentially agree to hand over the building by the start of the 2009-10 school year.
"We can't amend the township's resolution, but we can set our own list of conditions," Szymoniak said. "We have a busy schedule for our people over the next few months so, the transfer will be delayed a bit."
In other action, board members:
- agreed to internally post job openings for Title I teachers, opening the door for recently terminated teachers to step back into the classroom. Szymoniak said he anticipates there will be a lot of response to the postings.
- set dates and times for board meetings beginning in July 2009 as: board workshops will start at 7 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month; and regular board meetings will be held the second Tuesday at 7 p.m.
- learned that graduation for high school seniors will be Sunday, May at 2 p.m.
- went into closed session to discuss discipline of a student and also to set strategies for support staff negotiations There was no action taken on either item.
Mike Modrzynski can be reached via email at mmodrzynski@thealpenanews.com.
