ELY- The Ely school district unveiled its proposed cell phone policy at last Monday’s school board meeting, and it will likely make students who like to text in class unhappy.
“In our conversations with the faculty (for the Ely Memorial High School), cell phones are a nuisance, a distraction, and not good for kids in the education environment,” Superintendent Anne Oelke told the board.
A cell phone policy is now a state requirement, explained Oelke, and must be approved by March 15 of next year. She said the Legislature directed the state’s school administrator organizations to provide guidance to the districts on cell phones, but noted that the groups “haven’t come out with anything yet.”
Lacking that guidance, Oelke said her administration queried the faculty on cell phones so a policy could be included in the revised student and parent handbook for the upcoming school year. Oelke distributed a draft of the new handbook to the school board at the Monday meeting. “We’ll see how it goes,” she said. “At the elementary school, we’ve always had (cell phones) put away in lockers. For grades six through eight, we will have phones in lockers and students can’t use them during the day at all. Then, for grades nine through 12, phones must be out of sight completely.”
The revised handbook is a departure for the district. The administration took the former Ely Memorial High School and Washington Elementary School handbooks, and combined them into one, according to Oelke.
“We wanted to get (the new handbook) into your hands so that you would have two full meetings to look at it — this meeting and the study session (on July 22). We can talk a little bit more about it at the study session before we do the approval at the August board meeting.
School board election
The Ely School Board set dates to file for candidacy in the upcoming fall election. Those wishing to run for a seat on the ISD 696 school board can file their affidavit of candidacy between July 30 and Aug. 13 at 5 p.m. Three seats with four-year terms will be up for election.
The school district clerk will have the affidavit of candidacy forms available at the district office at 600 E. Harvey St. The filing fee is $2. A candidate must be an eligible voter, 21 years or older on assuming office, and a resident of the school district for at least 30 days.
In other business, the school board:
• Approved the financial report, receipts of $865,665, and disbursements of $308,431 for June.
• Approved a “purchase of service agreement” for the transportation of students in foster care with St. Louis County, effective July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2026. Federal law requires the district to work with the relevant child welfare agency, which for ISD 696 is administered by St. Louis County, to provide transportation for foster care students. According to the agreement, the county and ISD 696 will split the costs.
• Approved the district’s long-term facilities maintenance plan. State law requires every school district to create and update such a plan annually.
• Hired Peter Schamber for the 0.80 full-time equivalent English teacher position for the 2024-25 school year.
• Hired Nicole Roy for the sixth-grade teacher position for the 2024-25 school year.
• Approved an agreement with Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc. to conduct a sports facilities assessment, effective July 3. 
• Accepted a $6,000 donation from the Ely Educational Foundation to pay for items on the district’s 2024-25 wish list, an $800 donation from Morse Township for community education, and a $200 donation from the Ely Womens’ Golf Association for the girls’ golf program.