Elk Rapids School superintendent to resign

Retirement? Really?
Elk Rapids deserves a great superintendent, and I'm sure they'll find one. So many people want to live there.

Good for him. Good for ER.

This is the best thing to happen to the school district in a long time. Maybe now, there will be focus on academics rather than athletics.
The "retirement" news made my year. The band of bullies is disappearing. The next best thing would be for the Lakeland principal to go.
Wonder when the real story will surface.

What is wrong with the Lakeland principal? I always thought he was great.

Oh Happy Day wrote:

The band of bullies is disappearing. Wonder when the real story will surface.

"band of bullies"?

Care to explain?

"The next best thing would be for the Lakeland principal to go.
Wonder when the real story will surface"

I fully agree with "Oh Happy Day!"
The current story does not make any sense. He does not want to leave the district in a bind??? But now, there is no superintendent, no middle school principal, the scholar program is its initial planning stages, the beloved "finish the dream" is yet to be completed,.... he is not re-locating???
There certainly was a band of bullies. No matter what the issue at hand or the wrong doing done to a student, the administration NEVER took action against an employee. Instead of caring for the students, the administrators bullied the kids and parents until they backed down. "Where children come first" was in words only, certainly not actions.

Hoping for Better wrote:

I fully agree with "Oh Happy Day!"
The current story does not make any sense. He does not want to leave the district in a bind??? But now, there is no superintendent, no middle school principal, the scholar program is its initial planning stages, the beloved "finish the dream" is yet to be completed,.... he is not re-locating???
There certainly was a band of bullies. No matter what the issue at hand or the wrong doing done to a student, the administration NEVER took action against an employee. Instead of caring for the students, the administrators bullied the kids and parents until they backed down. "Where children come first" was in words only, certainly not actions.

Probally got tired of all the Nosey Hillbillies in that town. You know the type The Markers, Blackmoores, Nears the real A-- holes.

The Clowns of the Town. The Nears, Blackmoore, markers,Bleesma ETC. The ones who sit around their Scanners all day afraid they might miss some Gossip. I wish the superintendent Good Luck and if he reads this believe me he and I will get another Good laugh like the ones we have gotten all these years. Some people know and some don't.

It was time for him to go, since he was in trouble. In time all will know what things he did that he shouldn't have done. Run before the school system gets sued. He didn't have a leg to stand on. And there will be more of administration to go. How many kids can you slam around before the shit hits the fan. Guess he picked the wrong kids to mess with, and the wrong parents to threaten. I think it's about time E.R. Schools answer to what really goes on.

I'm wondering what, specifically, it is that some of you claim to know. I check the courts and there have been no lawsuits filed against the school system or Hoover. I attend the school board meetings where anyone can address the board about problems they may have, yet no one ever speaks. Tonight there was a meeting about the search for a new superintendent, yet no one there said they wanted someone who was not like Jon Hoover. So, I am curious: What is it that Hoover didn't have a leg to stand on about? Where are all these lawsuits? What kids were messed with? Which wrong parents were threatened? Who are the alleged "band of bullies?"

I just love people who want to throw names out of others in a derogatory manner, but do not have the guts to put their own to it. Just as in any endeavor, there will always be people who are not satified with everything that happens. Running a school is no exception to this. This is especially true of those who don't want/know how to rear their own children, then want to blame someone else when the chickens come home to roost. Are there problems? Sure. Where aren't there? Could some things have been done better? Of course. Hindsight is always more accurate. What I do agree with is finding someone more interested in building curriculum, rather than the PR show.

curious wrote:

I'm wondering what, specifically, it is that some of you claim to know. I check the courts and there have been no lawsuits filed against the school system or Hoover. I attend the school board meetings where anyone can address the board about problems they may have, yet no one ever speaks. Tonight there was a meeting about the search for a new superintendent, yet no one there said they wanted someone who was not like Jon Hoover. So, I am curious: What is it that Hoover didn't have a leg to stand on about? Where are all these lawsuits? What kids were messed with? Which wrong parents were threatened? Who are the alleged "band of bullies?"

People don't have the time or money to fight the losers that I have mentioned. I call them the closet Freaks because they are afaid to confront face to face. They sneak around because thats all they have ever known. i believe a student once called it right, He called them "Gutless".

just another gripe wrote:

I just love people who want to throw names out of others in a derogatory manner, but do not have the guts to put their own to it. Just as in any endeavor, there will always be people who are not satified with everything that happens. Running a school is no exception to this. This is especially true of those who don't want/know how to rear their own children, then want to blame someone else when the chickens come home to roost. Are there problems? Sure. Where aren't there? Could some things have been done better? Of course. Hindsight is always more accurate. What I do agree with is finding someone more interested in building curriculum, rather than the PR show.

My name is well known ,it has been on this forum for years. Larry Bruening. I stand by evrything I say. August 23 2000 "Cheap Seats Long Wait" start out by checking these headlines. Detroit Free Press

March 9 Markets bottom wrote:

<quoted text> Probally got tired of all the Nosey Hillbillies in that town. You know the type The Markers, Blackmoores, Nears the real A-- holes.

the teachers never got in trouble (for wrong behavior) while i attended lakes!

My kids go to elk rapids schools and I for one will miss Mr. Hoover he was a great superintendant. I dont care what other people think of him. I feel that he did a very good job and will be greatly missed by alot of parents and kids.

green crap on the shoes wrote:

My kids go to elk rapids schools and I for one will miss Mr. Hoover he was a great superintendant. I dont care what other people think of him. I feel that he did a very good job and will be greatly missed by alot of parents and kids.

I think Jon Hoover did a good job too. My thought is that he could probably see the proverbial writing on the wall regarding declining enrollment. This will necessitate cuts that will be difficult to make. Why not leave when you're at the top of your game and you'll be remembered as the super who did this and that. It's not his fault that enrollment is declining. People are having fewer kids, there's more divorce, many people have left Michigan for jobs, and young people have a hard time finding affordable housing and good paying jobs in this area. Supporting your district's budget with school of choice students causes a whole different scenario that is controversial. The little town of ER can't support everyone who lives here, so if you start a big campaign to increase enrollment, you are angering many by the dollars spent to do this and hurting neighboring schools where many ER residents work. Catch 22. Why should our tax dollars go toward expanding classrooms, hiring teachers, etc. to accommodate more school of choice students? That just doesn't make sense. When the enrollment figures go down, we are stuck with empty classrooms, teachers that need to be pink-slipped, and not enough students to make many programs self supporting. We are ER, but I prefer to say we are what we are. The next superintendent will have to be a very visionary person and will have to be ultra-conservative with education dollars. Some of the frills we thought we needed will have to go. It won't be fun to be a superintendent in that atmosphere, so now you understand why Mr. Hoover decided to retire. I would too.

Just because you may have liked him does not mean he did a good job. He angered many and was not good at practicing what he preached. In an environment where children supposedly come first, all children should have been a priority. They were not. He was not open to constructive criticism, instead of being open to new ideas, would always lash out and intimidate.

Budget cuts and creative financing has been part of a superintendent's job as long as there have been school districts. Divorce does not impact the money coming into the school. The number of kids enrolled does.

School Girl, you contradict yourself. You say Jon did a good job but you are against school of choice. It was Jon's promotion of school of choice that pushed up the classroom sizes and stressed the teachers. When asked if and when he would cap the number of school of choice kids, he balked as usual. He chose to not answer than to stand up and be accountable for his decisions and actions.

One does not up and quit a job with no notice because of budget issues! Get real! See ya, Jon!

Hoping for Better wrote:

Just because you may have liked him does not mean he did a good job. He angered many and was not good at practicing what he preached. In an environment where children supposedly come first, all children should have been a priority. They were not. He was not open to constructive criticism, instead of being open to new ideas, would always lash out and intimidate.
Budget cuts and creative financing has been part of a superintendent's job as long as there have been school districts. Divorce does not impact the money coming into the school. The number of kids enrolled does.
School Girl, you contradict yourself. You say Jon did a good job but you are against school of choice. It was Jon's promotion of school of choice that pushed up the classroom sizes and stressed the teachers. When asked if and when he would cap the number of school of choice kids, he balked as usual. He chose to not answer than to stand up and be accountable for his decisions and actions.
One does not up and quit a job with no notice because of budget issues! Get real! See ya, Jon!

I think you missed many of my points entirely. He did a good job of promoting ER and our schools, he developed many new programs, he did many things that gave ER Schools a good rep. Most people can accept a few school of choice students--especially those who live close to the borders, but to campaign so strongly to "steal" away students from neighboring districts is wrong. Yes, students should have a choice. Who are we helping though if neighboring schools suffer? Many ER locals work in neighboring schools too--I can think of at least 10 right off the top of my head. Elk Rapids can't support all it's citizens, so I definitely don't agree with the smear tactics and marketing mania to lure students here. Why should we pay higher taxes for that? By that I mean hire more teachers, build more classrooms, etc.

I beg to differ on the fact that divorce does not affect enrollment. It most certainly does. When you see what has happened to enrollment in the last generation, you can clearly see that when families split up, custody is often shared, so enrollment is affected by this. One year they're here, the next year they're with dad--you get my drift.

Also, I didn't mean that Mr. Hoover is leaving because of budget woes. If you looked at a bar graph included in the publication that was sent to alumni last spring, you would see that declining enrollment in the future is a sure thing. I believe he accomplished all he thought he could and decided to let someone else have at it. There might be more to it than that, but when times get tough, some of your pet projects are sure to be thrown out the window. Some of the decisions that will have to be made in the future will not be the ones that he would like to define his career--that's for sure.

There were more than just a "few" school of choice children - exactly why he would never answer the question. There is no doubt he would be a great politician.

Life cycles web and wain and, as such, so will enrollment. It's a fact of life. The sups are educated on how to deal with that.

His career has already been defined ... choosing athletics and "Finish the Dream" over academics. It amazes me that we can find money for athletics but textbooks used in the classroom are 20 and 30 years old.