Onaway interim super says, ‘I have reached my limit;’ Board member Jeremy Veal resigns, too
by Peter Jakey–Managing Editor
The clouds of controversy that started to dissipate in the final months of 2024 in the Onaway Area Community Schools, are starting to gather again on the west side of Presque Isle County with the resignation of interim superintendent Dan Bauer, three months before the end of his contract.
At the same meeting last Thursday (Jan. 30), the second-longest serving member of the board of education, Jeremy Veal, announced he would be stepping down as well.
“I do this because I truly love this community, I’m going to put my resignation in,” said Veal at the end of the Jan. 30 meeting, that brought a gasp from the audience. “It’s been a really, really tough six years. Maybe this will move the district in a direction where everybody can get along. Effective immediately, I will be resigning my position and I want to thank everybody who supported me, it was a very tough decision.”
VEAL WON a six-year term in the November 2024 general election, but stepped down in December 2024 to be appointed to a shorter, four-year team.
“Jeremy, it’s been a good time with you,” said board president Mike Hart. “We have done a lot of contracts together. He has been on negotiations all six years, I am going to miss you.”
“’It’s a tough decision Jeremy,” said board member Lain Veihl. “I know how you feel though. I have only been in this position for two months and I feel the stress myself.”
Hart said the board will need to appoint someone within 30 days or the Cheboygan-Otsego-Presque Isle Educational Service District will have to handle it. At Tuesday’s special meeting, the board posted the vacancy until Feb. 24 and may conduct interviews the next day.
Bauer’s resignation, that was listed as an agenda item at the special meeting, was less of a surprise. During the superintendent’s update, Bauer provided the reasons he decided to step down in 60 days.
First off, Bauer said he was approached about signing a multi-year contract prior to the election, but wanted to wait and see what would happen next.
Bauer, who is working in his seventh district as superintendent, three of them as an interim, all with varying financial situations and all levels of community support.
“I have never experienced working with a school board, quite like the one here,” Bauer said, reading from notes he prepared. “When I came here, I was simply answering an ad my foster daughter sent to me.
“What I found here was a very divided community. I did a lot of research trying to figure out what the main issue was here. I would say, within the school itself, it’s institutional or organizational trauma. That’s what happens during a period of time where there is major charge or a leader leaves, or something bad is happening.”
Bauer followed some recommendations found online.
“Acknowledge the people who have been affected by it or suffered and shut down the negative behavior by asking people to do what is right,” he continued. “It was amazing how many people I could call on the phone, who had negative Facebook posts, and asked, ‘hey, can we try moving in a different direction and leave those comments off.’ I asked board members the same thing and it slowed to a trickle.”
BAUER TALKED about the programs that were implemented in a short amount of time and the effort to bring the upgrades to the HVAC (heating, ventilation, air-conditioning) initiative back to the ballot.
“Over time, unfortunately, a member or members of this board, decided to go above their authority, and I am not going to get into details, but what they did was unnecessary,” said Bauer. “As a result of this, the fragile unity I was beginning to see in Onaway has again caused division and it’s unfortunate, and it did not need to happen. I will tell you, I had reached my limit.
“I felt that the strains and the pressures of this job, exasperated by decisions made by individuals or individuals of this board, has negatively affected by health, life balance and relationships with my loved ones.”
Bauer added that it was not the kids, “I just don’t want to be undermined by board members, community members, things like that.”
Bauer’s last day in Onaway will be Friday, April 4.
Following the announcement, board members took turns praising the job he has done since July 2024.
“I WOULD like to sincerely thank you Dan for your leadership and contributions to the school,” said board member Tom Moran, who then moved to accept the resignation. It was supported by Veal.
“I know you worked hard here and came into a
“I personally feel like we have failed you,” said Veihl. “You did not feel supported, you felt undermined, and I apologize if I played any part of that.”
Board member Annette Porter commented that she had wished he come forward and said something earlier.
“I hate to see that one of us did something wrong and not know what we did wrong,” she said. “If you had an issue, you should have gone to the person you had the issue with. This is what happened in the past, things were not brought to all board members.”
Bauer succeeded superintendent Mindy Horn, who took over for Rod Fullerton.
