MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – Michigan’s new State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Glenn Maleyko, was in Marquette on Wednesday as part of his information gathering tour of Upper Peninsula schools. While in Marquette, Maleyko attended the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators, who were meeting today at NMU. Maleko is on a week-long tour of school districts across the U.P. He’s meeting with local school officials to better understand the unique challenges facing rural districts, like transportation.
“I’m hearing the same thing. I mean, we have kids that are getting bused an hour and a half in the morning, an hour and a half coming home, maybe not have medical doctors readily available, very close, where they have to drive. So you see school districts like Rudyard; they have a clinic right in there,” said Dr. Maleyko.
Maleyko was in Munising on Tuesday, where he toured the Mather Elementary School. A facility in need of infrastructure repair. Munising superintendent Mike Travis was grateful for the visit.
“He was interested in our plight and our concerns regarding our critical infrastructure needs, and he took time out of his schedule to make sure that he could have a visit and a tour of Mather Elementary,” said Mike Travis.
Dr Maleyko says, in many ways, rural schools face challenges with funding, as the tax base is much smaller than downstate. “Some of them are having trouble, like Munising passing a bond, and it’s so needed. They’re dealing with an aging building with infrastructure issues that they’re having now, which also happens in other parts of the state, but I think it’s probably magnified just because of the tax base, right, that they don’t have the same kind of thing we would have in a larger district,” said Maleyko.
Superintendent Maleyko heads West on Thursday, then wraps up his tour in Bessemer.
