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DOWAGIAC — The potential future home of Dowagiac Union High School’s welding class was a topic of discussion during Monday’s Board of Education meeting at Dowagiac Middle School.

Superintendent Greg Blomgren shared that he has been in communication with Ignyte Design, an engineering and architectural firm based out of Grand Rapids, to talk about the coding and the architectural plans in the event the district is able to reach an agreement with the Dowagiac Armory, 700 W. Prairie Ronde St., to move its welding class into the building. 

“They have a design that they put into place for us. It’s exciting to look at and to see,” Blomgren said. “We’re going to move forward with having a construction company come in that Ignyte has recommended to look at that facility and give us a cost estimate or projection on what that might be just to create a space over there that would allow our welding class to be there at this point.”

While no agreement has been reached at this time, Blomgren is excited about the possibility of offering welding classes at the Armory this fall.

“It was great to see and hear from [Ignyte] and to see what the plans look like. I did reach back out to the Armory hoping to get some more information from them as to where they’re at in their process in terms of getting the surveys and the appraisal done on that building to see if that’s a potential space that we might be looking at in the future.”

In other business, the board approved the retirement of English teacher Kelly Cromer. A graduate of both Southwestern Michigan College and Indiana University, Cromer has been teaching for 25 years, 24 in Dowagiac and one year in Niles at Ring Lardner. In a 2018 Leader Publications feature, Comer said she decided to become a teacher to help kids learn to love reading and feel confident as learners.

The public comment portion of the meeting featured concerns regarding future district funding as well as continued discourse regarding the Chieftain name and logo. Dowagiac resident Naomi Ludman voiced concerns regarding the potential elimination of the Department of Education.

“I think this is a time when the schools need to be proactive and not reactive,” she said. “I think that parents and we as community members would like to know what the plans are to address these issues because there will be cuts. I’d like to see something publicly shared with us, with the community and with parents so they know what to prepare for.”

Colin Wesaw spoke regarding the Chieftain name and logo, expressing his desire to see the district move on from its use of Indigenous names and imagery.

“I gave up my outfit when I was a little bitty guy because of the words that I was called,” Wesaw said. “Children can be very cruel when there are sports teams involved. They can say many bad things that your ears may not catch. My children hear those things and it’s very disheartening to them. I know when I was growing up and somebody called me a chief. I’m not a chief; You don’t see a tribe behind me, you don’t see a nation behind me. These things are very hurtful to our children when they hear them in the wrong context. I heard last week ‘well, I’ve been a Chieftain all of my school life.’ Well, I’ve been a native all my life and it’s going to be that way, whether I’m in school or not.Those things are very hurtful. 

“It can devastate a child’s life if they constantly hear these things in the wrong way.”