ELY — At their first meeting since the start of the new school year, the Ely School Board discussed contaminated soil that is delaying ongoing construction, a slew of recent retirements and resignations, and the dissolution of the Vermillion Country School boys football and boys basketball cooperatives.
Amid the ongoing facilities project, soil contaminated with heavy metals from an old coal ash dump was found at the site of the concessions stand between the softball and baseball fields. Proper removal of the coal ash will require an additional $125,000, which will come out of contingency funds already budgeted for the $5.2 million project.
“It’s just disappointing,” said board member Tom Omerza. “You know, you want as much of the $5.2 million to go toward the kids.”
This isn’t the first contaminated soil that’s been found during the project, but it is the first to include the heavy metals that require special disposal.
The board also accepted the resignations of four paraprofessionals and hired a new one. At the meeting, Superintendent Anne Olke said she is looking to fill five openings at the school, mostly for paraprofessionals, who typically work with individual students needing additional help.
The board passed a motion to dissolve the cooperative sponsorship with Vermillion Country School for football and boys basketball. The move was a preventive measure intended to keep the teams from moving up to Class AA. Athletic Director Tom Coombe said that the move risked jeopardizing the teams, as they would be forced to compete in a far more challenging league with much larger schools.
“I don’t believe that we should put our entire programs at risk to accommodate another school,” Coombe said. “If it means we move up a class in football or basketball, particularly in football where we’re, you know, struggling a bit, I just don’t believe that that’s the right move.”
In other business, the board:
• Announced its enrollment numbers for the year: 161 at Washington Elementary and 304 at Memorial Middle/High School.
• Approved a state tournament cancellation procedure.
• Heard that six new cameras are being added to the campus, covering blind spots in the hallways.
• Certified the proposed 2026 payable 2027 property tax levy at the maximum amount. The final amount will be released by the Minnesota Department of Education in mid-December.