ELY- Some Ely high school athletes won well-deserved praise from Ely School Board Chair Ray Marsnik at the start of Monday’s board meeting.
“The girls volleyball team should be recognized,” said Marsnik, for taking the division title and coming home with the state Class A consolation championship after this past weekend’s state volleyball tournament at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Marsnik added recognition for Ely’s cross-country running standouts, freshman Molly Brophy and junior Caid Chittum, who qualified and ran in the state cross-country meet earlier this month, placing 46th and 60th respectively.
In other board business, Superintendent Anne Oelke reported that enrollment was currently 534 students, a gain of five since the start of the 2023-24 school year. A total of 536 students were enrolled in the school at the end of the previous school year.
Oelke also reported that negotiations with the school district’s employee bargaining units were approaching a mutually acceptable conclusion. “We’ll go into a special meeting on the teachers’ contract,” Oelke remarked, “after the study session on Nov. 27.”
In other business, the school board:
• Changed the December study session date from Dec. 25 at 6 p.m. to Dec. 18 at 6 p.m.
• Approved the October financial report, with receipts in the amount of $682,080 and disbursements totaling $468,961.
• Approved the professional growth subsidy for fall 2023 in the amount of $23,400.
• Approved lane change requests from Madeline Olson (BA +24 Step 5 $55,481 to MA Step 5 $57,301), Autumn Boedeker and Megan Wognum (MA Step 6 $59,123 to MA +17 Step 6 $60,942), and Cory Lassi (MA Step 11 $73,018 to MA +17 Step 11 $74,539).
• Approved Frank Ivancich for a 0.20 FTE Social Studies overload assignment for the 2023-24 school year.
• Approved the following extra-curricular assignment as recommended by Jeff Carey, Memorial High School 6-12 principal: Elyssa Erickson and Tim Hogan, for junior class advisor and junior banquet. The stipend will be split between them.
• Approved a request from Max Gantt, K-12 Physical Education/Health teacher, to extend parental leave from Nov. 6 to Nov. 10 under the Family Medical Leave Act.
• Approved a request from Kelly Chick, K-12 Art Teacher, for a medical leave of absence from Dec. 5 through Jan. 1, 2024, under the Family Medical Leave Act.
• Accepted the resignation of Catherine Mindel from her paraprofessional position (6.5 hours/day, 5 days/week, student contact days) effective Sept. 26.
• Approved the renewal of winter assistant coaches Tim Omerza, asst. boys basketball; Tom Omerza, asst. girls basketball; Duane Lossing, asst. hockey; and Tyler Fish, asst. Nordic skiing for both boys and girls. The vote was 5-0, with Tom Omerza abstaining.
• Approved winter assistant coaches Pat and Jake Vanderbeek, jr. high boys basketball; Troy Oelke, Jr. high girls basketball; Nate LaFond and Megan Theile, jr. high skiing; Paula Anderson and Carl Skustad, volunteer asst. Nordic skiing coaches; Emmett Penke, Jen Zgonc, and Erin Lowe, volunteer asst. girls basketball coaches; and Heather Hohenstein, Sarah Sponholz, Liz Anderson, Karl Kubiak, Chris Ellerbroek, Beth Ohlhauser, volunteer asst. jr. high skiing coaches. Stipends for the Vanderbeeks and Oelke will be paid by the Ely Hoop Club. The stipends for LaFond and Theile will be paid by the Nordic Wolves Booster Club.
• Approved the Widseth master agreement, effective from Nov. 3, 2023, to Nov. 3, 2024, and the Widseth service order agreement effective Nov. 3, 2023. School district attorney Kelly Klun reviewed the draft contracts as presented at the Oct. 23 school board study session and some changes were made as a result. Hiring Widseth as a general contractor for interior work was covered in the Oct. 27 edition of the Timberjay.
• Accepted the bid from Blue Cross Blue Shield for the district’s health insurance beginning in 2024, pending bargaining units’ approval.
• Approved resolutions supporting a Form A Application and a Form B Application to Minnesota State High School League Foundation. Athletic director Tom Coombe explained that these applications are for sales tax-funded grant funds. Form A funds are to offset student activity fees. Form B funds are to support athletic and fine arts programs. “Even a few hundred dollars can help,” Coombe explained. “Maybe one place we can put some money into is transportation for some of the kids from the schools we have cooperative agreements (with), even if it is just a Suburban.”
• Approved a resolution to accept donations from two different parties. The first is a donation of $50 in honor of Sharon Anderson from Lynn and Donna Rogers for the art department. The Ely Educational Foundation was the second donor, with $24,000 split as follows: $4,000 for elementary school STEAM, $5,000 for the knowledge bowl, $6,500 for the media center, and $8,500 for two cafeteria booths.