Skip Schulz/For the Gazette Julie Kolpack is running for the Ontonagon Area School District Board as a write-in candidate.

Current Ontonagon Area School District (OASD) Board member Julie Kolpack has registered to run as a write-in candidate. She has been on the board for the last two years.

“The reason I am running again is because I see what we are doing and it is going in a good direction,” she said. “Our school is in the black. Our teaching staff keeps rising to meet our demands. Our community is becoming part of our school again.”

The current OASD School Board member, with her husband Duane, has four children that attend Ontonagon School. Fahren is a senior. Kiirsa and Senia are freshman and Emmett is in eighth grade.

“My kids are involved in band, honors band, sports, church, community projects, 4-H, skiing and many local activities,” she said. “I am proud of each of them and want them to become happy, contributing members in this world. That begins with a strong education and morals.”

Kolpack is a business owner, which she states allows her to hear from many different people about the school.

“I feel this helps me to bring light to the school board as we make decisions,” she said. “My husband and I are also small farmers in Ontonagon. I am a church school teacher, school board member, chaperone of many school events and active in our community.”

She stated that when she attended board meetings with concerns as a parent, she learned a lot about what the school was doing and what their goals were.

“It is where the real answers can be found,” she said. “I knew I could contribute to our continued improvement and felt I could bring positive and constructive ideas to the board.”

“I am not ever going to stand by quietly and let my children’s education be compromised or let laws and guidelines be set aside,” Kolpack said. “Over the last two years, as I have served on the board, I have been impressed with the ability of this group of individuals.

“We don’t run in the same social circle or even have the same ideas. We know how to listen to one another, debate, look at all sides, leaving emotions aside, and find solutions that work for the good of all.”

Ontonagon School Board voters will have six candidates on the ballot, with Kolpack being the only one registered to run as a write-in candidate. There are four board seats open for the seven candidates.