ELY – Interest by the Ely School Board to provide financial support for the Nordic skiing and boys and girls track programs next year appears to be waning.

The three sports activities in question are unsanctioned by the school district and are led by volunteer coaches.

Superintendent Kevin Abrahamson said last month that the school’s fund balance is looking positive for the foreseeable future, and asked the school board to consider taking on more support of those athletic activities.

That cost, including coaching salaries and transportation expenses, could be as much as $40,000 per year for all three sports. The cost for adding just the three coaches’ salaries to the school budget would be about $22,000.

Following a report by the athletic director at a meeting of the school board this week outlining the winter sports activities, board member Heidi Mann passed along a question from a skiing supporter about when a decision could be made concerning the club sports.

“What can we say to the community as far as when they can expect some sort of decision on track and Nordic skiing?”

Anderson responded, “The simple answer is June.”

He said the primary reason for the stall in responding to the request is because the proposed budget will be considered and likely approved at the June 12 meeting.

“The (state) legislature is in session for two more weeks. They have to work out their differences and it is too soon to really be sure what kind of money we will be looking at.”

Abrahamson said the school district is anticipating increases for health insurance costs. “There are a number of factors that are impacting us and we want to make the best decision that we can.”

School Board President Ray Marsnik echoed the superintendent’s caution about insurance increases. “Right now, as far as the for the family plan, our insurance is getting to be pretty unaffordable. We have to take care of our employees and we are looking at (possible) increases of 41 percent this year.”

At least one school board member is against the idea of increasing athletics spending in ISD 696. “I would much rather spend that ($40,000) on academics and facilities on an ongoing basis,” said Scott Kellerman at a recent board meeting.

Athletic Director Tom Coombe said community members approached him informally in the past few months about the district taking on the entire cost of the ski program. The Nordic skiing booster club has since formally made a request to the school board to return the track activities to the group of school-sponsored events.

The Ely Track Club similarly made a formal request in the form of a letter to the school board. “Since the school discontinued funding track 11 years ago, student participation has grown steadily. This year’s roster includes 39 boys in grades 7-12 and 48 girls in grades 6-12. That’s more than 30-percent of the student body,” the letter said.

“The letter continued, “Adding expense to the school budget is always a hard decision, but given its popularity and clear record of success, we believe that boys and girls track and field is worthy of funding.”

In reviewing the winter sports summary, Board member James Pointer noted that transportation costs for hockey are much higher than what is paid for the boys and girls basketball programs.

It cost $11,878 for 3,050 miles for the hockey team this season. Transportation costs for the boy’s basketball team were $6,380 miles for 1,910 miles. Transportation costs for the girl’s basketball team totaled $4,598 for 1,430. Those totals include driver’s time at $21.23 per hour. The hockey team also paid $2,300 for an overnight trip to the Twin Cities.

Coombe noted that there are very few high school hockey teams around Ely. “The one closest to us is in Virginia, and they won’t play us because of competitive reasons,” he said. “Hibbing won’t play us for the same reason. We compete against some of the lower echelon, weaker programs like Wadena, Bagley and Moose Lake, so we have some longer trips.”

The athletic director noted that he is concerned about participation numbers for hockey next year. “There is no question that our numbers are thin.” Ely did not have a junior varsity squad this year and will unlikely suit up a B-squad next season. “We do have some stronger numbers in the youth programs,” he said.

School Trust Lands

Gerald Tyler, of Up North Jobs, addressed the school board this week to personally invite members to attend a program regarding “Our Threatened Minnesota Public School Trust Lands,” to be held Wednesday, May 24, at 6 p.m. at the Vermilion Community College theater.

“You are all aware of the controversy regarding copper-nickel mining and it has led to this point in time where the Federal government has applied for withdrawal of 234,000 acres of land south of the Boundary Waters, and the State of Minnesota has declared off limits and a ban on all of the School Trust Lands in the Rainy River Watershed of the Superior National Forest,” Tyler said.

“The program will begin with a presentation concerning the directive issued by Gov. Dayton to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources prohibiting mining on thousands of acres of state-owned lands, including Minnesota Public School Trust Lands,” he said. He encouraged them to attend “to learn how this will affect the future of citizen taxpayers in Northeastern Minnesota.”

Tyler said a couple of state legislators would attend the gathering, in addition to representatives from the offices of the state’s U.S. senators.

“This is a very complicated subject, Tyler admitted. “I think I understand less now than when I started. We are trying to do something for the community so they have the opportunity to receive the same benefits that we’ve all had. The actions of the government and the state are certainly having a chilling effect on us.”

Later in the meeting, Marsnik noted that the funding to the Ely School District through the Minnesota Public School Trust Lands is approximately $25 per pupil. “You multiply that by our present enrollment (less than 600) and you get about $15,000. That isn’t much when you are looking at an $8 million budget. If they appropriated by the amount of School Trust lands in the school district we would really come out good,” he said.

Other business

In other business, the school board took to following action:

• Approved the 2017-2018 annual membership dues with Arrowhead Regional Computing Consortium for $27,257;

• Accepted a quote for the district’s liability insurance for the 2017-2018 school year for $58,307;

• Accepted a quote for the district’s worker’s compensation insurance for the 2017-2018 school year for $19,106;

• Accepted a quote for the district’s cyber liability insurance for the 2017-2018 school year for $2,627;

‰Approved the reimbursement to the Ely Track Club for participation fees in the amount of $1,287;

• Accepted the resignation of Valerie Beale from the Early Childhood Family Education Parent Educator position at the end of the 2016-2017 school year;

• Accepted the resignation of Lynn Lockhart from the Special Education teacher position effective June 2, 2017;

•Adopted resolutions relating to probationary position contracts with teaching license variances for Heather Cavalier, Molly Olson, Charles Plantz and Laurie Stewart Warner.