News Photo by Reagan Voetberg Taed Price is pictured during his interview at the Onaway Area Community School District’s regular board meeting on Tuesday.

ONAWAY — Taed Price was appointed to the Onaway Area Community School District Board of Education after former board member Lorrie Kowalski resigned in July.

The Onaway board of education interviewed four candidates for the vacant seat at their regular meeting on Tuesday. Those candidates were Price, Kay Schnabel, Colleen Sedell, and Josh Tierney. Wayne Vermilya was also slated for an interview, but was not in attendance at the meeting.

Price ran for a spot on the board in the 2024 election. His daughter attends Onaway schools and Price is a graduate of Onaway schools himself.

“I can’t say for certain that I am the best person that’s here tonight … but I know that I do have a lot to offer,” Price said in his interview.

Price has volunteered in the music, athletics, and arts programs at Onaway. He also has experience with finances from working for nonprofits and Onaway United Methodist Church.

Board member Lain Veihl spoke highly of Price’s experience.

“Out of any other candidates, he certainly volunteers at school, he puts in more at school than any of the other candidates,” Veihl said. “He comes to meetings, he types them up, he’s been on committees before. So, for me, his knowledge, out of all the candidates, he has the most of what a board is supposed to do.”

“The board is a leading group of servants,” Price said when asked what the role of a school board member is. “Their job is to serve the school district.”

Price hopes that the district can bring back more skill-based classes and enhance comprehension in subjects like math and science rather than obtaining a specific amount of knowledge.

“So the biggest thing I think that the school needs is to have courses that really do prepare students for real life,” he said.

As the Onaway community seeks healing from past turmoil on the school board, interviewees were asked how they would navigate making decisions in the best interest of students rather than themselves and how they would respond to a community member asking for their personal support on a topic.

“I have a lot of strong personal opinions, and I know that my strong personal opinions are not necessarily going to be what’s best for the school at large,” Price said.

“No one here is a committee of one,” he added.

Price said he would be happy to bring any issue that a community member finds important before the board, although he may not be able to give them his personal support.

Other highlights of his interview include his description of the relationship between the board and administration as a “critical partnership.”

Board President Mike Hart agreed with Veihl that Price has the most knowledge of what the board needs to do.

“We all know Taed has some very strong personal opinions, but I’ve also seen him in meetings where even though it was something for him — I should say targeting him — he held his own,” Board Member Annette Porter said. “He held himself professionally … and we all know that the last election things got pretty ugly. He held himself together.”

Board Member Tom Moran expressed concern that Price is too close to the school district which could cause issues for him to sit on the board.

Moran nominated Schnabel for the vacant seat, but the motion failed due to a “no” from board member Stacey Porter. Board Member John Kaszonyi was absent from the meeting and Veihl abstained from the vote since he and Schnabel are related.

Annette Porter nominated Price. The motion passed with all but Moran voting in favor.

Price was made secretary of the board after being sworn in.

“I think we had all great candidates and all of whom I admire and respect for a lot of different reasons,” Moran said.

The other board members agreed that they had a great selection of candidates for the vacancy.

“I think all the candidates were solid,” Veihl said. “We’re very lucky to have so many options.”

Reagan Voetberg can be reached at 989-358-5683 or rvoetberg@TheAlpenaNews.com.