A large crowd attended the Jan. 20 meeting of the Houghton-Portage Township School board in this Gazette file Photo. The Board approved capping the number of School of Choice students at its meeting Tuesday. (Gazette File Photo)

HOUGHTON — The Houghton-Portage Township Schools Board approved a School of Choice (SOC) enrollment cap strategy at their meeting Tuesday.

The strategy will limit SOC in the school’s buildings and keep current numbers for sections and teachers within the buildings maintaining appropriate spaces for the students and faculty.

School Superintendent Anders Hill told the Daily Mining Gazette Wednesday he believes this shows the school listens to the community’s opinions on the matter.

“It’s an important step to show that we do not want to grow exponentially,” he said. “We have heard concerns within our community about our growth. This was good way to show that we are putting up guardrails and listening to our community.”

Hill also said that the strategy was taken from districts found in the Lower Peninsula.

“From my understanding we are the first school in the U.P. to put enrollment caps on all grades,” he said. “It was a model we found from suburban districts in lower Michigan.”

The strategy will also aim to avoid influxes caused by anything not in the projections. A lottery will be offered for seats in July if more SOC students enroll than slots. The applications for potential SOC students will open June 1.

The board also approved four award winners to be recognized in April at the Copper Country Association of School Boards awards night. There is also a summer maintenance project list that has been approved which totals about $140,000.

This comes form the capital projects fund and which will go into added lighting to the school’s playground, carpet in the High School library, a roof section, windows, doors and pool valves. The board then approved an updated policy on Title IX and the Earned Sick Time Leave Act. This was to accommodate changes in law and the school’s Thrun policy service.