07/06/2006

Consultant to help Leelanau schools face future

BY CHRISTINE FINGER

cfinger@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — A consultant will help Leelanau County school districts clarify collaborative options as they enter a budget year marked by shrinking revenues and enrollment.

School leaders from Glen Lake, Suttons Bay, Northport and Leland started meeting early this year to talk about the future of public education in the county.

Michael Kenney, superintendent of the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District, participated in those talks and said the TBAISD will pay between $10,000 and $12,000 to hire a consultant to help local districts assess the myriad concepts for cooperation.

"Those things are easier said than done," he said. "We think it's a role we can play, and hopefully we can establish a process that will serve as a model for other districts."

Jann Jencka, a consultant with the Michigan Leadership Institute, will meet with officials from Leelanau's four public school districts during the process, which Kenney predicted would start this month and include opportunities for public input.

A tentative time line calls for a recommendation in December, when board members from each district will decide how to proceed, he said.

Kenney said enlisting Jenka, a retired educator and former superintendent of the Ingham Intermediate School District with expertise in group facilitation, will advance education in the region.

"We're hoping it can be mutually beneficial for other districts in our ISD and around the state," he said.

Last summer, Suttons Bay and Glen Lake agreed to share a dual superintendent but ended that arrangement when Thomas Harwood left in April for a job in Grosse Pointe.

Suttons Bay hired Jim Leyndyke, athletic director for Traverse City Area Public Schools, to serve as the district's part-time interim superintendent. In Glen Lake, Joan Groening, the district's director of finance and human resources, is acting superintendent.