Dr. Coby Fletcher, Superintendent for Escanaba Area Public Schools

02/09/22 • 26 min

David Haynes sits down with Dr. Coby Fletcher, Superintendent of the Escanaba Area Public School District. His district--one of the largest in the Upper Peninsula--encompasses a kindergarten center, lower elementary school, upper elementary school, junior high school, and senior high school, which combine for a total enrollment of 2,150 students, a staff of 280, and a $24 million budget.

Dr. Fletcher discusses what led to him eventually becoming Superintendent of a UP school district, shares details on Escanaba's early middle college program, the initiatives they are taking to prevent high school dropout, initiatives to help improve students' mental health, and much more!

Previous Episode

David Jahn Gives an Update on Eastern UP Healthcare

David Haynes sits down for another conversation with David Jahn, President and CEO of Chippewa County War Memorial Hospital. Jahn has been with War Memorial for 15 years, and prior to that he was CEO and CFO at Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital in Manistique (his hometown) for 22 years.

David has his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Michigan Technological University and an MBA from Lake Superior State University. He is currently a member of the Michigan Health and Hospital Association Board of Directors and the Vice-Chairman of the Michigan Center for Rural Health Board of Directors.

In this episode we learn about David's new affiliation with My Michigan Health, what the agreement will mean for healthcare in the Eastern UP, and also the details on the healthcare challenges the Eastern UP is facing right now and the efforts that are taking place to address those challenges.

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Elise Bur, Director of NMU Center for Rural Health

David Haynes sits down with Elise Bur, who was selected to be the first director of the NMU Center for Rural Health after the program received a $100,000 grant in 2020. The NMU Center for Rural Health is a collaborating center for the Michigan Center for Rural Health aiming to create an integrated health care network that better serves U.P. residents and improves their health outcomes, as well as to identify related academic programs to meet regional demand.
In this episode, David and Elise discuss what the NMU Center for Rural Health does, the things it's responsible for, and ways they are helping people right now. They also discuss how the Center is working with local healthcare organizations, working to improve food insecurity in the U.P., and the efforts to impact healthcare-related legislation both in the state and in Washington DC.

The Rural Insights Podcast - Dr. Coby Fletcher, Superintendent for Escanaba Area Public Schools

Transcript

David Haynes:

Good day, everybody. Welcome to another edition, Rural Insights, video, and podcasts. And as usual, we have a wonderful, interesting guest for you today. Coby Fletcher, who is the head of the Escanaba schools, the superintendent, and one of the major school districts in the peninsula. I think one of the three largest, I'm not sure of that. But I think it's one of the three largest in the peninsula and, and we all know nationally and in our state, the challe