Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Members of Houghton High School’s robotics team, Superior Roboworks #857, give a presentation to the Houghton-Portage Township Schools Board Monday night. The team ranked 35th in the state in 2023, winning its district event in Escanaba and advancing to the FIRST Championships in Houston.

By GARRETT NEESE

gneese@mininggazette.com

HOUGHTON — The Houghton-Portage Township Schools board approved a one-year contract with support staff Monday.

The contract with American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 226.04 adds 20 cents to listed hourly wages in the 2023-24 wage schedule.

Also, each staff member in the bargaining unit employed by the district by the end of August will receive a $1,000 off-schedule payment, minus deductions required by law.

Monday’s meeting also included a presentation from members of Houghton’s middle school and high school robotics teams.

The high school team, Superior Roboworks #857, finished first at its district event in Escanaba and later advanced to the FIRST Championships in Houston, finishing the year ranked 35th in Michigan.

“It was probably the best season we’ve ever had, and in the combo of all the teams, one of the best seasons we’ve ever had,” said lead mentor Chris Doig.

Teams have less than three months to build their robots. For this year’s game, “Charged Up,” robots were designed to lift cubes and cones into a grid. They competed in matches as part of three-team alliances. Robots must act autonomously for the first 15 seconds of the match.

The middle school teams’ goal was to put cones of their alliance’s color onto poles of three different heights.

The middle school had 20 members between two teams, while the high school team had 11 members.

Board members were impressed by the team and its presentation. Citing that and a presentation last spring from the elementary student council, board members said they would like to see student presentations become a regular occurrence.

“All of the teachers and everybody need to know that if they’re doing something special, come in and tell the board about it,” said Trustee Buck Foltz.

In other action, the board:

• Approved hiring new teachers: kindergarten teacher Heather Beck, middle-school social studies teacher Kate Nyquist and elementary resource room teacher Michelle Flachs. Beck previously taught at Ontonagon. Nyquist is a recent graduate from Northern Michigan University, who also student taught at Houghton. Flachs is coming to Houghton from the Grand Rapids area.

• Heard from Hill the district had accepted with regret the resignation of Athletic director John Sanregret, who had taken a position elsewhere. Hill said the district would be starting interviews for his replacement in the next week or two.

• Approved a new anti-bullying policy. At its previous meeting, the board approved moving from NEOLA policies to ones prepared by the Thrun law firm; approval of the anti-bullying policy requires a separate public hearing.

Hill said the new Thrun policies were largely similar, but better-worded and more up-to-date; one audience member speaking during the hearing had noted wording in the NEOLA policy mentioning 2000s-era personal digital assistants.

Text of the new policy will be available on the district’s website, hpts.us.

• Set the first day of the school year for Sept. 5. Changes in Michigan law now allow schools to begin the year before Labor Day. Hill said there had not been much support for that among local districts due to the short length of summer in the Copper Country.

• Approved participating in the schools of choice program for 2023-24.