RC board supports ACC annexation resolution next November

by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor

By a 6-1 vote, an Alpena Community College (ACC) resolution supporting a possible referendum for Rogers City Area Schools (RCAS) to join the community college?s district was approved. ACC president Dr. Olin Joynton introduced the resolution at the Oct. 11 board of education?s workshop session. While the board lent its support, some board members expressed their concern that the annexation of the district and an additional 2.5 mills on the tax rolls, wanting to leave the final question in the hands of the electorate.

Additionally, board president Mike Marx said, if voters were asked to decide in May as proposed, it would compete with the Cheboygan-Otsego-Presque Isle Intermediate School District special education renewal, as well as a possible technology and bus question the board is considering putting on the same ballot. The ACC resolution was amended to indicate the board supported the ACC referendum in November 2011, and not May.

Following the change, it went through, with Lee Gapczynski turning in the only dissenting vote. THE BOARD heard from several ACC officials in attendance, including former RCAS board member Dana LaBar and trustee Dave Nadolsky of Rogers City. The proposal would include discounted tuition, new renovated facilities, more classes and more full-time staff. ?By supporting this, you would give them an opportunity to save $45 a credit hour for their first two years,? said LaBar. ?More freshmen dropped out of college last year for financial reasons than for academic reasons, and that really scares me that it has become so cost prohibitive.?

Superintendent Jamie Huber noted about 46 percent of Rogers City High School students went to ACC over the last four years. ?This community has always been supportive of education issues,? said Nadolsky. ?And I?m very confident that the voters of this community will support this issue.? Rogers City manager Mark Slown also was in attendance urging the board?s approval. ?Communities have to move forward in order to survive. We can?t go backward. Education is what attracts people to our community.? Board member Tim Horn said, with two girls planning to attended ACC over the next five years, ?I?m probably the person that would benefit the most?my concern is there are a lot of people that are tapped out. Twenty years ago, my water bill was $20 a month. It?s $124 a month now.

?My concern is the people that are just making it.? The measure is expected to generate more than a $500,000 a year in Presque Isle County. ?Olin has said some of that will be coming back into Presque Isle County,? said Slown. ?How much?? Horn asked. ?I can?t tell you exactly,? Slown answered. ?Some part of it?s going to come back, maybe it?s $100,000, maybe it?s $200,000. I guess it will depend on the number of classes, the number of teachers and how many teachers we actually have.? LaBar said there?s ?never going to be a good time to ask for money. I think now is the time.?

Gapczynski asked, ?Do you really think the college will get more students because of this? You have half of them already. I find it hard to believe that that number would be higher.? ?I don?t think we will get more students, b

ut I think it will save students from Rogers City a lot of money,? LaBar responded.

?In 2009, 60 students graduated, 52 of them went to college,? said LaBar. ?Twenty nine of them went to ACC. The cost for those 29 was $160,000 because they lived at home. Twenty-two of them went elsewhere.? Based on figures from Central Michigan University, because it is not the most expensive in the state nor the least, the other students from the Class of 2009 took $812,000 out of Presque Isle County. ?I?m not against it, but, it is the absolute worst time in my lifetime, tax-wise,? said Horn. ?People are stretched.?

?I know that,? LaBar responded. ?I?m asking you to look at this as a board member, and not as an individual. It?s going to impact me, too. ?I guess, when I look at it, it?s going to benefit the kids, it?s going to benefit the community,? said LaBar. He also said it would make ACC ?stronger and better.? Slown has yet to present the resolution to the city council.

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