ELY – School board members here received some good news and bad news Monday night concerning ISD 696 budget numbers for the rest of this year and looking ahead to next year.
For the fifth consecutive month, school enrollment figures show a slight but gradual rebound, but for the third time in three meetings, board members were asked to approve more school staff reductions.
In one of the briefest regular school board meetings in recent memory at just 25 minutes, Interim Superintendent John Klarich did not add any new information to the district’s budget woes. He said he is meeting regularly with the district’s business manager, Spencer Aune. “We’re tracking everything and we’ll probably have a presentation at the next meeting (April 25),” he said. “We’ll get an update on this year’s budget, but for next year’s budget, the (state) legislature is still in session. They have $9 billion, let’s be honest. Education is trying to make an inroad there and get some things straightened out, but nothing is finalized yet.”
Klarich talked in generalities about the district’s overall budget picture for next year, adding, “We’ll get a helping hand which helps us in the long run,” he said.
As part of the consent agenda, and with no discussion, school board members approved the reduction “of the following temporary AFSCME positions due to budgetary constraints effective June 3, 2022: Mary Schwinghamer, nurse; and Justin Olson, custodian.
School board members also approved the termination of Cameo Gillson from the paraprofessional position, effective May 13, 2022, and adopted three resolutions “relating to the termination and non-renewal of the teaching contracts” of probationary teachers Brenda Check-Olson, Matthew Koch and Anja Nienow.
School enrollment for the 2021-2022 school year has shown a steady incline since last fall. On Sept. 9, enrollment was recorded at 530 students. Just a month later, as COVID-19 public health protocols were mandated and some parents protested by removing their children from school, enrollment plummeted to 504 students on Oct. 5. In November, student numbers dipped to 501. Since then, student enrollment has ticked up: Dec. 7, 502 students; Jan. 3, 504 students; Feb. 7, 510 students; March 7, 511 students; and April 4, 513 students.
State aid for schools is determined by school enrollment and plays a big part in the district’s overall budget picture.
Coaching legend retires
School board members this week accepted a resignation letter from Paula Anderson, longtime head Nordic ski coach for Ely schools, who announced her retirement.
Athletic Director Tom Coombe said, “I remember being in this room in the late 1990s, Paula was part of a group to help convince the (school) board to sanction Nordic skiing as a varsity sport.”
The Ely school Nordic ski program has been operated by the Nordic Ski Club, and not ISD 696, since its inception. The school district took on paying the coaches two or three years ago, according to Coombe.
“What (Paula) has done with the program through the years is nothing short of amazing,” he said. “This is not a sport with enrollment divisions like other sports. We’re in with Burnsville, Apple Valley, Eden Prairie, and all the biggest schools in the state.”
The Ely Timberwolves Nordic ski team is well known across the state. “We’ve had section champion teams. We’ve had section champion individuals year in and year out,” Coombe said.
“We are always sending individuals from both the boys and girls teams to state. It seems like every year at least one or two of the teams, and sometimes both, qualify as a team. We’ve had at least one state individual champion. We’ve had a state team champion. We’ve had top five finishes in both boys and girls at state in the one enrollment division,” he said.
“What Paula has done with that program, and she will tell you she didn’t do it all herself, but she was the spearhead for a couple of decades, plus. We are losing a legend in the world of high school Nordic skiing,” Coombe added.
With Anderson’s retirement, the school district will post the position for a replacement Nordic ski coach to carry the torch for the program.