DOWAGIAC — Dowagiac Union Schools’ 2024-25 school year got off to a promising start Monday morning.

During Monday’s Board of Education meeting at city hall, Superintendent Greg Blomgren discussed the district’s opening day staff meeting and breakfast held Monday morning at Dowagiac Middle School. Blomgren told the board that the event was well-attended by both teachers and staff and served as the starting point for the establishment of a strong, positive culture for the district.

He said he received feedback from multiple people in attendance regarding the strong turnout.

“They said it’s been a long time since we’ve had this many people show for opening day breakfast,” he said. “They couldn’t believe how many people were there. There’s a little buzz there and that just carried over to the opening day activities. There was a lot of good feedback.”

“I think this morning was a success and we were very happy to be there,” added Board President Robert Ickes.

Also Monday, board members hired a new middle school assistant principal. Courtney Harjung is the new assistant principal at Dowagiac Middle School, coming from the Niles Community Schools district where she was the Dean of Students. In addition to Harjung, the board approved the hires of Ross Tidey (middle school special education), Amanda Quinn (Sister Lakes kindergarten) and Katelyn Sellers (middle school social worker) and accepted the resignations of Courtney Dwyer (high school art), Amy Steinman (middle school counselor), Tara Reinhardt (Sister Lakes kindergarten) and Conner Michael (middle school social studies).

Blomgren shared with the board his approach to the hiring process, which consists of building leaders making hiring recommendations and Blomgren and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Michael Dunn sitting down with each candidate to ensure they are a good fit for the district.

“We’ve been sitting down with them for a half hour to 45 minutes, depending on the individuals, just to have a conversation and follow up with them to make sure that it’s a good fit for everybody involved,” Blomgren said. “We’ve done that with all the new hires that have come in front of us and it’s how we’re going through things now.”

In other business, the board accepted a $5,000 donation from the Dowagiac Conservation Youth Club to be used for field trips to Love Creek Nature Center and Sarett Nature Center. The board also approved DEA and DUESPA contracts.