ELY – The Ely School Board continues to work through filling a long list of school staff vacancies with the hope of having all positions filled by the start of the 2016-2017 school year.

Questions persist in the community as the district has released little information on the progress towards filling the top administrative jobs in ISD 696. Board members are reluctant to fill the 6-12 principal position until a contract is negotiated with Interim Superintendent Kevin Abrahamson to fill the position on a permanent basis. As of this week, the district has yet to finalize the contract. State law requires that a superintendent be on staff of a school district by July 1.

Interim 6-12 principal Megan Anderson was the lone candidate interviewed for the position late last month, following the review of 19 applicants and interview invitations extended to the three most qualified candidates.

Following the interview, School Board members directed Abrahamson to offer the position to Anderson, but the board delayed formal action to hire Anderson at their monthly meeting Monday night.

Abrahamson said he wanted the agenda item removed because “it was not worded correctly.” The agenda read, “Hire (blank) for the 1.0 FTE 6-12 Principal position pending negotiation of a contract.”

He said that items are not typically added to the School Board agenda, and said, “I don’t think we’ll have anything to worry about, but as I indicated, we can address this at our special meeting on June 27.” He did not explain the original agenda wording error.

Abrahamson directly answered his own question, “Will we have a superintendent on July 1? Yes, there will be a superintendent on July 1,” he said. He assured Board members that the superintendent’s contract, the 6-12 principal contract, and perhaps a new business manager’s contract will be addressed at the June 27 special meeting.

“Rest assured, I will be your superintendent on July 1 as long as you still want me,” Abrahamson said.

Business manager

Three applicants applied for the vacant business manager position, according to the superintendent. “One of those (applicants) is from a neighboring district to share the business manager’s services,” he said. He said he did not have a cost estimate on the sharing agreement and the business manager conducted a site visit to the Ely office to learn about the job duties.

“Another applicant, who is employed by another district, was interested in providing contracted services,” Abrahamson said. “This would be more like an independent contractor rather than purchasing services from another district,” he said.

The third applicant is actually a person interested in working in the district who is also employed by another district. “We want to see what the first two come in at before we pursue this,” he said.

Board members questioned the time spent on site, which would likely be one day a week with the other district or contracted service, rather than the 16 to 20 hours stated in the job posting.

“Both of the individuals have been school business managers for 10-plus years,” he said. “They would give one day on site but more time than that (off-site).” Abrahamson noted that communication and technology has moved beyond telephones and emails and that fund transfer and other duties can be conducted anywhere with the increased security and data protection of many accounting systems.

Abrahamson said increasing collaboration among school districts could be tied to future grant money for facility renovations or additions. “That could benefit us down the road,” he said.

He also noted that any collaborative agreement would not be designed to reduce, alter or eliminate any other positions in the district. “We are looking for strictly business manager duties, not accounts payables or receivable or payroll, benefits, or purchasing kinds of duties,” he said.

Other personnel moves

Agenda items to hire a media generalist and a German teacher were removed and no action was taken. Abrahamson said he heard no response from the applicant who was offered the media position, and the German teacher applicant declined the job offer.

Board members took the following action:

•Hired Molly Olson for the full-time math position for $45,657 per year;

•Hired Heather Cavalier for the full-time language arts position for $45,657 per year;

•Approved the hiring of Kristina Marshall for the Early Childhood Family Education and School, Readiness Teacher/Coordinator;

•OK’d the hiring of Jennifer Kerntz, Jacki Tolbert and Rachel Thom for the Extended School Year Program for the months of June, July and August;

•Accepted the resignation of Dan Bettin from the position of assistant girls basketball coach.

Principal’s Report

Interim 6-12 Principal Megan Andeson’s update indicated that 37 students graduated from Memorial High School on May 27. Sam Terwilliger was named Valedictorian and Michael Lah was named Salutatorian.

Enrollment in the middle school and high school for the 2016-2017 will top 300 students, she said. The enrollment numbers include: Grade 6, 52; Grade 7, 36; Grade 8, 40; Grade 9, 53; Grade 10, 35; Grade 11, 46; and Grade 12, 38.