ELY – The Ely school board and superintendent Kevin Abrahamson reached a contract extension agreement at a special meeting last week.

Abrahamson was set to resign his position here when his contract expired on June 30 but agreed to extend his career a bit longer to support the district in transitioning to a top administrator.

Abrahamson, who has been with ISD 696 for four years, signed a memorandum of agreement following a short school board meeting Friday night, that will keep him with the district until Oct. 1, or until such time as a qualified successor superintendent has been seated.

Beginning July 1, Abrahamson will be paid $6,000 per month during the transition period.

Abrahamson will continue in his duties as superintendent during the extension period, and will assume the additional duty of mentorship of ISD 696 superintendent candidate Erik Erie, who must complete 280 hours of unpaid practicum mentorship necessary to qualify to obtain a superintendent’s license in Minnesota.

Board members agreed to offer Erie the position on a 4-2 vote earlier last week after an extended search period where six candidates in all were interviewed for the part-time position. Background and reference checks must be completed and a contract must be negotiated with Erie once he obtains his superintendent’s license.

Erie recently retired as high school principal at Mesabi East in Aurora, a post he had held for 11 years. He was previously a principal in the Fisher School District in Illinois.

Other business

In other business at a special meeting on June 24, the school board:

Approved propane purchase contracts for 2019-2020 with Superior Fuels and Lakes Gas Co. at $1.01 per gallon for the tank and $1.12 per gallon for the bobtail, respectively.

Accepted the lone quote received from Fat Chicken Feed Store for winter snow removal.

Approved the MREA membership renewal for the 2019-2020 school year at $1,679.

OK’d a managed services contract with Voltz for IT services for 2019-2020.

Approved a quote from Per Mar Security Services for security cameras on the playground, Washington Elementary and the Industrial Arts building.

Agreed with a memorandum of understanding for a shared German teacher with ISD 2142 for the 2019-2020 school year.

Hired Clara DeRemee for the second-grade teaching position and Brenda Check Olson for the sixth-grade teaching position for the 2019-2020 school year.