GLADSTONE — The Gladstone Area Schools Board of Education approved the hire of Cole Hansen as the new athletic director at its regular monthly meeting Monday.

Hansen, a Gladstone graduate and current assistant wrestling coach, will as athletic director be asked to make regular reports to the school board — a new request made to improve communication.

An impressive 16 candidates had applied for the position, eight of whom appeared very strong on paper, reported High School Principal Andy Jacques. Hansen was chosen in part because of his experience with Gladstone and also partly because he has a master’s degree and a teaching certificate and could potentially fill an administrative role in the future.

“We got it narrowed down to two (applicants), we took our time to think about it, and then got it down to Cole Hansen as our final choice,” Jacques said.

“He went to high school at Gladstone, and then he went to Michigan State and wrestled for Michigan State, came back here, student taught under Tyler Swanson, and then he also did some student teaching under me and Mr. Pepin and Mr. Hongisto for his master’s in administration,”Jacques rattled off. “So he spent quite a bit of time in the last couple years in our building, and he’s just always there to help kids. He is also assistant coaching the wrestling team … helped us out with our at-risk program — just did a really nice job meeting the kids’ needs.”

One request made by board Vice President Joanna Wilbee-Amis was that, in order to improve communication and get off on the right foot with Hansen, the new athletic director give regular updates to the board. In the past, she said, the school board had been left in the dark, unaware that coaches were relieved until community members brought their issues forward.

“I’m not interested in micro-managing,” Wilbee-Amis said, “but the issue is, we are approving hires, but we are not even being informed of their coaching changes, and I don’t think that’s fair. I don’t appreciate learning about them from members of the community.”

To prevent continuing that communication gap, Jacques agreed that reports could be made.

In other business:

– After watching and waiting for the State of Michigan to release its budget, Superintendent Jay Kulbertis conceded that it may not be finalized before the end of June. That means that the school district will have to make estimations when producing their own budget without having hard numbers from the state.

– Reporting on the district’s fund balances and cash flow, Business Manager Lisa Boudreau said that state aid and tax receipts were coming in, and expenses were mostly hitting targets.

“Once all of our taxes are in, I’ll reassess, look at what we need for cash flow to get us through the summer into the fall. I would like to transfer some money into our investment account and earn more interest,” Boudreau said. She suggested moving half a million dollars, but remarked that some assessments and the next year’s budget should be done first.

One fund area that is seeing an overage is the food service budget. The money there must be used on food service related things, or the state will probably reduce reimbursements in that area in the future.

“We’re going to try to do the best that we can to spend it and do what’s right, but I’m not just going to buy things for the sake of buying things. That, to me, is not fiscally responsible,” Boudreau said.

– Cameron Elementary Principal Katee Inghram reported that Wildlife Unlimited was donating funds to enhance an outdoor classroom at the elementary school. It will be a three-year grant program phasing in outdoor picnic tables at first.

“We have been taking classrooms outside for years, but this will give us space for kids to go a little bit more comfortably … or have a place to put their books and papers,” Inghram said.

– Earlier this month, the Jones Literacy Team visited Norway-Vulcan Elementary School to observe lessons that use Reading Wonders Curriculum, the same program used at Jones Elementary, reported Principal Holly Howes. She said it was interesting to see the different techniques used at Norway-Vulcan and that it was “a valuable experience all-around.”

– Junior High Principal Dave Ballard’s report included an announcement that the scheduling process for the next school year had begun, with “significant changes” to the daily schedule.

– The board approved the hire of two coaches: Karl Dollhopf for boys’ JV basketball and Samantha DeCremer for freshmen volleyball.

– The board heard from a set of parents who requested a policy be set in place to allow for students in the certificate program to walk at graduation alongside classmates they had grown up with, even if the program extends beyond that date. They had recently had to fight for their son to be able to walk with his class after being previously told that he could both walk in the 2025 graduation and continue enrollment in the fifth year of special education services.

Though an agreement was reached last week and the student will indeed walk with his class this year and continue services next year, the parents hope a policy can be implemented to prevent similar headaches for families in the future.

– The board accepted a letter of intent to retire from Custodian Pam Tauke for the end of the school year 2026.

– The board approved the hire of Teamsters employee Rebecca Bergeon for a custodial role.