ELY- In an uneventful meeting here on Monday, the Ely School Board approved holding a special meeting on June 24 to approve the school district’s 2024-25 budget, which state law requires be approved by June 30.
The special meeting will be at 6 p.m. and will be held in the media center due to ongoing renovations in the board meeting room. According to Lori Westrick, the superintendent’s assistant, the special meeting will also include approval of the principals’ contracts.
In other action, the board:
• Approved the low bid of 96.963¢/gallon for tanker propane and $1.2172/gallon for bobtail propane from Edwards Oil Inc. The propane bids were five cents cheaper than last year according to Superintendent Anne Oelke.
• Approved the low bid of $182,432 for insurance premiums from Vaalar Insurance.
• Approved quotes from Pan-O-Gold Baking Co. of St. Cloud for bread, Prairie Farms of Woodbury for milk products, and Phil Hegfors & Sons Construction for snow removal. These were the only quotes submitted for these products or services.
• Approved the financial report, receipts of $1,245,263, disbursements of $398,915 for the month of May.
• Approved membership for the upcoming school year in the Minnesota State High School League.
• Approved the contract between the Arrowhead Regional Computing Consortium and ISD 696 for 2024-25.
• Approved the professional services contract between ISD 696 and the Range Mental Health Center for 2024-25.
• Approved $8,150 for the Minnesta School Board Association proposal for strategic planning services.
Hired Logan McLouth for the full-time Science teaching position for the 2024-25 school year.
• Approved the following coaching positions for the fall and winter seasons as recommended by Tom Coombe, athletic director: Louie Gerzin, head football coach; Megan Wognum, head volleyball coach; Jayne Dusich, head boys and girls cross country coach; Tom McDonald, head boys basketball coach; Tomi McDonald, head girls basketball coach; Todd Hohenstein, head boys and girls Nordic skiing coach; Jake Myers, head hockey coach; Desirae Smith, head dance team coach; Jim Wittrup, assistant football coach; Randi Walker, assistant volleyball coach; Sarah Spate, assistant cross country coach.
• Accepted the following resignations effective at the end of the current school year: Monica Gross from her part-time custodian position; Mike Rouse from his extra-curricular assignment as the director of the high school musical; Amy Kingsley from her extra-curricular assignments with the Gamers Guild and Youth in Action; and Elyssa Erickson from her extra-curricular assignments as junior class advisor and with the Junior Banquet.
• Approved the second reading of the revised Minnesota School Board Association policies on disability nondiscrimination, public and private personnel data; and harassment and violence.
• Approved the early childhood through grade 12 assistant principal job description.
• Approved superintendent’s contracts with Anne Oelke, for June 1 through June 30, and for July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025. The one-month contract fills in the contract gap created when John Klarich retired at the end of May last year.
• Approved the Amended Joint Powers Agreement with the Northland Learning Center.
• Approved a permanent display of Ely Memorial High School Hall of Fame inductees as requested by the Ely Sports Hall of Fame committee.
• Approved entering into a cooperative agreement for 2024-25 with Northeast Range School for boys and girls track and boys and girls cross country with Ely as the host school.
• Approved entering into a cooperative agreement in wrestling with Northeast Range School for the coming school year, with Northeast Range serving as the host school. Ely will have no financial expenditures for this activity other than Minnesota State High School League dues.
“We have nothing to lose,” said Athletic Director Tom Coombe. He also said that wrestling would add another winter sports option.