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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

COVID cases won’t change overall in-person learning plan for ISD 2142

District projects two-percent increase in tax levy

David Colburn
Posted 10/29/20

REGIONAL- Superintendent Reggie Engebritson told school board members on Tuesday that the district would stay the course with its current learning plan for now. That’s despite the fact that the …

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COVID cases won’t change overall in-person learning plan for ISD 2142

District projects two-percent increase in tax levy

Posted

REGIONAL- Superintendent Reggie Engebritson told school board members on Tuesday that the district would stay the course with its current learning plan for now. That’s despite the fact that the bi-weekly COVID case rate in greater St. Louis County, which is supposed to guide schools during the current pandemic, took its largest one-week jump ever and multiple ISD 2142 schools have reported positive COVID-19 cases.
“We are continuing with our in-person learning plan,” Engebritson said. “We have had positive cases, as you know, in Tower. We had to close them. We did have a positive case at North Woods yesterday and one positive case in Cherry today. We’re at six for the district since the beginning of the school year, so we continue to monitor,” she said. “Reminders are coming out for greater St. Louis County to watch social distancing and wear your masks and follow the guidelines. But hopefully the numbers will, at some point, turn a corner here. But we’ll monitor using the data from the community and also what’s happening in our schools.”
Engebritson didn’t mention the bi-weekly case rate surge in her brief comments, which jumped from 18.2 to 25.5, a level at which health department guidelines suggest all students should be in a hybrid learning model with educational time being spent partly in-school and partly in distance learning. The guideline is not an automatic trigger for a change in learning models, Instead, it is an indicator that schools should work closely with health and education officials to determine if a change in learning plans is warranted based on local data.
The North Woods case was announced on the same day that the volleyball team canceled a Tuesday night home match with Eveleth-Gilbert. While the district is limited in the information it can release due to confidentiality issues, the Arrowhead League website schedules showed Monday that all Grizzlies volleyball matches, both home and away, were canceled for two weeks. It is unknown what connection the North Woods case may have with the volleyball team, and also unknown how many students and staff may be in quarantine for 14 days.
Board members were apparently satisfied with Engebritson’s report as they asked no questions about the COVID situation when given the opportunity to do so.
During member comments at the end of the meeting, board member Troy Swanson shared his thoughts about Tower-Soudan Elementary switching to distance learning.
“I’m sad, but it’s also good,” he said. “I was getting a lot of communication from the school about closing. I think Reggie made the right decision. I was getting a lot of information from the staff that was really worrying. So, I think it was a good move to close the Tower school.”
2021 levy
District business manager Kim Johnson had an update for board members about the proposed 2021 pay levy.
“We finally got final numbers on our levy and this is what we’re going to ask you to approve,” she said.
Johnson stepped through the 15 different components that factor into computing the levy and noted some positive news for taxpayers related to taconite replacement money.
“The increase of $128,785 is related to the fact that we’re getting more money from the IRRRB (Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board) now to offset taxes,” she said. “That’s a good thing. That’s reducing people’s taxes by $128,785. And for community service, that’s 100 percent taconite replacement, so taxpayers never pay on that component.”
Johnson said that the final increase in the 2021 pay levy would be 2.03 percent, generating $6,965,836 overall with a net gain of $138,902.
Board members had no questions for Johnson during or after her presentation. The board will formalize the levy increase at a future meeting.

Other business
In other business, the board:
• Heard a school overview report from South Ridge Principal Andrew Bernard.
• Approved without discussion revised district policies for tobacco-free environments, student medication, and curriculum and instruction goals.
• Approved an application to the Minnesota State High School League for a cooperative girls ice hockey team comprised of North Woods, Chisholm, and Hibbing, with Hibbing serving as the host school.
• Hired Jacqueline Hannine and Drayke Snidarich as part-time paraprofessionals at North Woods and Naomi Hess and Vickie Miller as part-time paraprofessionals at Tower-Soudan; Michelle Plath as a part-time teacher assistant at North Woods; Emily Baraga as a part-time preschool teacher assistant at North Woods; Cynthia Drake as a full-time individualized education interventionist at North Woods; Stacy Palmer as a full-time individual education academic assistant; Caroline Roesch as a part-time Little Grizzlies adult aide (as needed); and Aundreya Hobson as a full-time assistant cook at Tower-Soudan.
• Hired the following coaching staff: Rebecca Lappi, volleyball assistant, North Woods (half stipend); Will Kleppe, boys basketball head coach, North Woods, and assistants Jerry Chiabotti, Dan Squires, and Tom Burnett; and Rob Goggleye, girls basketball head coach, North Woods, and assistants Liz Cheney and Rebecca Bundy.
• Approved retirement requests from Patricia Quick, Tower-Soudan paraprofessional, and Larry Barnes, North Woods bus driver.
• Accepted resignations from Kelly Lopac, Tower-Soudan paraprofessional, and Tracy Anderson, Tower-Soudan preschool teaching assistant.