By Sterling McGinn
The Tahquamenon Area Schools (TAS) Board of Education meeting ended with district Superintendent Stacy Price reading a letter announcing her intent to retire from the position affective June 30, 2025.
The meeting took place on Monday, November 18 at 6 p.m. in the new board meeting room, which was formerly occupied by elementary library. All members of the board were present with five members of the public in attendance.
Price began her educational career at TAS as a teacher in 1995 and eventually became the elementary principal. She was hired as the district superintendent in 2016 after former superintendent Dave Berry declined to continue his contract with TAS.
“The students, teachers and other staff that I have been able to work with over the last 30 years have been enjoyable and have helped me grow as an educator, and as a person,” declared Price. “I have enjoyed my journey in serving the district.”
No other details about her retirement were discussed that night.
In other news, the board accepted the resignation of varsity volleyball coach Marshall Kirby.
“We thank Mr. Kirby for his time and dedication and bringing the program to the exciting level that it has been the last few years,” Price said.
The board also approved the resignation of Lynn Evans as 5/6 grade language arts teacher. Evans, who resigned in August, took an administration position in another district. The board, however, had not officially accepted her resignation; this was an oversight.
Also approved was the hiring of Howard Bliss IV as the boys wrestling coach. The school will have both girls’ and boys’ wrestling teams this year. Coach Bowler will be the girls’ coach.
NHS athletic director Anthony Kitzman told the board that the J. L. DeCook Gymnasium floor has been completed and is now usable, though the volleyball court portion will have to be completed later after a couple of electric lines forced the court location to shift slightly.
“They ended up making one of the holes and ended up finding an electric line, so we need to move it over six inches,” explained Kitzman.
Blueprints indicate that there are two lines and once they are located, the company will return to finish the job.
Finally, the board convened in closed session to discuss student discipline. After returning to open session, the board unanimously approved reinstating student #0123.
