It was 6am on Friday, May 12^th when the Menominee Board of Education held a public hearing at the offices of lawyer Wes Hoffman on 1^st street in Menominee to discuss Director of Operations Steve Sobay and his position with the Menominee Area Public Schools. Superintendent Rich Sarau addressed the audience by saying, “I am recommending Steve Sobay’s employment terminated because Mr. Sobay did not follow important directives and he engaged in completely unacceptable behavior. Specifically, Mr. Sobay did not take asbestos exposure concerns seriously and then he engaged in tactics to intimidate board president Derek Butler.”

Sarau says, “my question to you is, out of concern for the public, is why would you put an all call out to the public to come into a building when you don’t even have occupancy in it or air clearance?”

The Board of Education then went into closed session to discuss the termination of Mr. Sobay with Menominee Area Public Schools. Once they returned, after a lengthy discussion, they voted on the motion to terminate for insubordination based on capping walls with known asbestos materials. The board did not support it 5 to 1 with Butler abstaining. The second motion to terminate, based on misconduct to Derek Butler, was supported by the board 5 to 1, with Butler abstaining.