News Photo by Reagan Voetberg The Onaway Area School District Board of Education holds a special meeting on Thursday night in Onaway.

ONAWAY — In a continuation of the turmoil that has plagued the district for months, the Onaway Area School District Board of Education voted Thursday night to accept the resignation of interim Superintendent Dan Bauer, and Trustee Jeremy Veal announced his resignation from the board.

“I did a lot of research trying to figure out what the main issue was here,” Bauer said. “And I would say within the school itself it is institutional or organizational trauma. And that’s what happens when you go through a period of time or a major change or a leader leaves or something.”

Thursday’s resignations follow the June 2024 resignations of then-superintendent Mindy Horn, then-secondary principal Marty Mix, and board member Erin Chaskey.

When Horn resigned, she said that some members of the board had worked too hard to find damning information on other board members, staff, and herself, which she called a waste of school resources and taxpayer money.

Contentious November 2024 elections, which saw 14 people in four races for six school board seats, also caused division among the Onaway school board members.

Bauer said he implemented strategies such as personally calling people who wrote divisive Facebook posts and asking the posters to be more positive.

“I really found that just asking the community to change really helps,” he said.

Over time, the unity Bauer said he had begun to see fell apart. He said members of the board had decided to go above their authority.

“I’m not going to get into details on it,” he said. “As a result of this, the fragile unity that I was beginning to see in Onaway has once again caused a division.”

It was made evident from discussion by board members on Thursday that Bauer had told board members at a past meeting that, if they voted on a deal to have Horn come back as superintendent, he would resign.

Board members voted to do just that in a meeting on Jan. 21, according to Bauer’s wife, Michelle Bauer, who spoke during public comment time at Thursday’s school board meeting. She said she watched the Jan. 21 meeting through the live internet feed.

According to Michelle Bauer, the board members voted four-to-three to offer Horn a deal to bring her back as superintendent. Details of that deal remained unclear Thursday.

“By saying, ‘Yes, we want to allow Mindy to come back,’ was once again starting that cycle of division,” Michelle Bauer said.

Since that vote, Horn has decided she would not come back, but the details as to why were unclear. She had apparently asked for $120,000 from Onaway to return as superintendent, according to an email the lawyer representing the board, Daniel Martin, sent to Mike Hart, president of the Onaway school board.

On Thursday, the school board voted to give Horn $30,000 and accept her decision to not return. The specific reasons for the payout were unclear Thursday.

Audience members seemed surprised by Veal’s announcement that he would step down from the board.

“I really have loved everyone in this community, whether we got along or not,” he said. “I just hope that maybe my resignation will help move it in a direction where everybody can get along.”

The Onaway school board will have 30 days to find a replacement for Veal.

Reagan Voetberg can be reached at 989-358-5683 or rvoetberg@TheAlpenaNews.com.