ONTONAGON TOWNSHIP — Unlike the majority of the other six candidates on the ballot and the one registered write-in for the Ontonagon Area School District School Board, Sue Lockhart emphasizes the need to represent taxpayers who do not have children attending the school.

“Recently someone made the comment that, ‘You don’t have any kids going to this school any more why do you want to be on the school board?’ My answer to that is my tax dollars go to help pay for this school, and I feel someone needs to ask the tough questions regarding the spending of everyone’s money,” she said.

However Lockhart has an interest in the students, since she is a new employee of Superior Alliance for Independent Living (SAIL) and will be working in the schools in Ontonagon and Gogebic counties.

Lockhart was an employee of the Ontonagon Village Housing Commission for over 23 years, a position she recently resigned from to take the job with SAIL.

“I was shocked to find out our children were ranked 33rd in the state of Michigan, and some of the inner-city schools in Detroit scored higher than our children have,” she said. “That is only one reason I decided to run. Another reason is I also feel there could be some different decisions made to help lower our school debt.”

Lockhart has been active in seeking transparency with financial transactions and spending of taxpayer money by the Ontonagon Village Council. She has gone through various Freedom of Information Act requests with the village.

“I feel I would be a responsible board member and would be willing to make the tough decisions that needed to be made to get our school back on the right track which in turn would benefit our children,” she said.

Lockhart is a resident of Ontonagon Township. She has two boys, Aaron and John, and three grandsons, Alek, Kaleb and Isaac.