Board candidates address district’s challenges

ELY— How to teach controversial subjects was among the first topics put to Ely School Board candidates at a pre-election forum at the Minnesota North-Vermilion Campus Theater. It came up again and again over the course of the evening.
Candidates were generally in agreement that students should encounter difficult subjects. Their discussion focused on how those subjects should be approached in the classroom.
“I would say that as a responsibility to raise educated future members of our society, that we should expect some sort of civil discourse within our classrooms and looking at current events and political issues,” said incumbent Jennifer Westlund, one of six candidates seeking three open seats on the board this November.
Westlund explained that parents upset with material taught in a classroom can talk to teachers about it individually.
“We have to realize that there is an established chain of communication and chain of command. So, if a parent has concerns about what is occurring in the classroom, my first response would be to encourage that parent to go directly to the teacher and speak with them about their concerns,” Westlund said.
Steve Hornstein echoed the sentiment, explaining that civic participation requires engaging with thorny subjects.
“Talking about controversial things in the classroom is absolutely vital to developing civic competence and participation in kids. Why wouldn’t we want them talking civilly, civilly kindly, and with information-based data about the issues of the day? That’s absolutely crucial,” Hornstein said.
Bailey McLinn-Belehar took the strongest stance. She doubled down on the position that challenging students, even with the emotions that brings, is part of learning about history.
“World history is full of atrocities, and atrocities should be upsetting. You should be upset by the things that have happened, and you should take that fear and that anger, and you should use it to be a better citizen,” Bailey McLinn-Belehar said.
Most of the discussion of controversial topics revolved around world history and whether and when certain material is taught. Religion in the classroom came up briefly when Hornstein was asked what he would do if a teacher wanted to post the Ten Commandments in the classroom.
“Instilling religion in schools, there is a national movement towards that. We can talk about the constitutional issues, but my belief is that when you elevate a single religion and teach a single religion, you make our schools much less welcoming to those who aren’t part of that religion. And I don’t think we should be doing that to our schools,” Hornstein said.
McLinn-Belehar added that the district has policies which allow religious materials such as art, music, literature, and drama to be taught through an objective lens that does not privilege one religion above others.
The forum, organized with support from the American Association of University Women and the Ely Rotary, went on to cover promoting student belonging, school funding, technology and AI, and the role of the school board. Westlund, Hornstein, McLinn-Belehar, John Kannas, and Derekah Kingery took part. The sixth candidate, Joe Weise, did not attend.
School belonging
The candidates also discussed how Ely could foster a more accepting school community where students do not feel excluded or targeted.
Kingery highlighted a recent survey which said that half of the students at Ely Memorial heard or experienced “harmful behavior” at school. The most reported type was the use of racial slurs.
“The survey that exists that reflects a lot of what I’ve been hearing from kids in our school, from teachers that I’ve talked with,” Kingery said, adding that “I would like to look at the surveys and the discrepancy between what faculty and staff and students experience and the rate at which behavior is officially being reported and the rate that officially reported behavior receives action, and figure out in the policies that do exist where are the leaks? Where is it not working in the way it should?”
Hornstein added that the prevalence of racism is cultural, and that students, staff, faculty, and parents all need to work together to improve the school environment.
“All those things are cultural,” Hornstein said. “They’re not an easy fix. You can’t just put a program in here. We have to start from the ground up, build a culture that says this is what we expect in schools.”
It was a sentiment Kingery agreed with.
“There’s rarely an issue that we have in our schools that we don’t see some taller version of outside of it. So, if we can do better, then we can teach our students to do better,” Kingery said.
Candidates were also asked how the district could make LGBTQ+ students feel included and accepted. Kannas said the school should provide a welcoming and respectful environment for all students and staff.
On wider concerns about bullying and school safety, Kannas emphasized the difference between the board’s role and the day-to-day responsibilities of administrators. In his view, the board should set expectations for the superintendent regarding behavior, harassment and bullying, while the superintendent and principal handle individual cases.
“We do have a role of setting expectations for the superintendent. So being able to set those expectations for the superintendent that any type of behavior issues, harassment, bullying, anything like that is not acceptable, and then it’s up to the superintendent and principal to really move forward with that and make sure that doesn’t happen,” Kannas said.
School safety also came up during a question about the fear of school shootings. Westlund pointed to physical security improvements made through the district’s building project, including limiting access points. She also emphasized the need to address students’ anxiety and provide access to mental health resources.
Student mental health was a recurring thread. Candidates linked it to bullying, LGBTQ+ students and school safety, and connected students’ ability to learn with their overall sense of safety and well-being. Westlund said the district has a strong relationship with Range Mental Health and that maintaining stable funding will be important to keeping those services available.
“We have a great relationship with Range Mental Health,” Westlund said. “We need to focus on having a stable school funding source so that we continue to offer those programs to the students.”
McLinn-Belehar similarly encouraged families to use the mental health resources available through the school and community.
School funding
School funding came up implicitly throughout the evening, but candidates said little about it directly.
Asked where he would first look for potential budget cuts, Hornstein said the district has already made difficult reductions. He suggested delaying new textbook purchases, examining extracurricular activities based on participation and cost, and potentially increasing class sizes. He acknowledged that none of those options would be ideal.
“The four-day school week was a terrific effort to begin reducing the budget,” Hornstein said. “None of these choices are good ones.”
Westlund argued that the district is approaching a point where additional cuts could have significant consequences.
“We’re getting to kind of bare bones,” she said. She argued that the district needs to pursue systemic changes in Minnesota’s school funding structure rather than simply continuing to reduce expenditures.
Kannas similarly argued that the district cannot solve its financial problems through cuts alone. He encouraged voters to support both the local operating referendum and the proposed state permanent school fund amendment.
“We’re not going to cut our way out of this,” Kannas said.
Kingery said financial decisions should be judged not only on their cost but also on what the district receives in return.
“I believe that knowing the value of each line item in the budget, not just the numbers on the page, but also what the return on investment is in terms of the health of the district, is really important,” she said.
Several candidates also discussed the challenge of providing appropriate educational opportunities for students with different learning needs on a limited budget.
Kingery emphasized listening to students, parents, caregivers and teachers and making sure funding is available for special education.
McLinn-Belehar said schools cannot necessarily provide every service for every student on their own, particularly with a tight budget. “It’s very difficult for a school to be all things to all students,” she said. “But there are some programs to fill in the gaps. Again, ECR [Ely Community Resource] has been amazing for the school. They have a homework group. There are specialists, like a reading specialist within the school, who can work with kids and help them out there. So, there are programs available,” McLinn-Belehar said.
Candidates also touched on food insecurity and nutrition. Hornstein noted that Ely participates in programs providing free breakfast and lunch to students and said community organizations can also play an important role in meeting students’ needs. McLinn-Belehar highlighted Backpack Buddies, which distributes backpacks of nonperishable, child-friendly food to students.
Kannas agreed that access to food is important but said the district should also examine the nutritional quality of what is served.
“The bigger question is about the nutrition of the food you serve,” Kannas said. “When it’s donuts and apple juice, and you know, I think that impacts how students learn too.”
Tech and AI
Candidates generally agreed that technology is now an unavoidable part of students’ lives and future workplaces. They differed slightly on how the district should approach teaching with and about large language models.
Westlund said the district needs to recognize that AI is already part of the workplace and prepare students accordingly.
“I think that we need to be cognizant of the fact that it’s here. It is in the workforce. It is part of my job. It is going to be part of every one of our jobs in this audience. So we need to teach students how to utilize it,” Westlund said.
Hornstein said schools should actively teach students how to use and evaluate artificial intelligence rather than trying to keep it out of the classroom.
“We have to teach about AI because the kids are going to use it whether we teach it or not. So, we better be on board with getting going on that,” Hornstein said.
He said students should learn how AI works, including its potential for regurgitating inaccurate information, and that schools should set clear guidelines for its use.
McLinn-Belehar emphasized the importance of balancing technology with traditional skills and hands-on learning.
“Intentional screen time that has a purpose is not necessarily a bad thing. The poison is in the dose,” McLinn-Belehar said. “Being able to write out with a pen and paper or sketch a concept or anything like that is also a really useful skill to have, and I think our students should be able to be as proficient on a screen as they are hardline in the real world.”
Kingery took a similar approach, arguing that students need to develop critical-thinking skills before relying heavily on artificial intelligence.
“I believe that in the same way that you wouldn’t give a student a calculator before you teach them their times table, that they shouldn’t have access to AI before they learn to critically think on their own,” Kingery said.
Transparency and district goals
Candidates were also asked about the role of the school board and how board members should interact with the community and district administration.
Westlund said board members should serve as a connection between the community and administration while remaining accessible to parents and other community members.
“An essential role of the school board is to relay community concerns, parents, the community to the administration. So being available, being accessible, emails, our board meetings are open to the public,” Westlund said.
She added that she has been surprised by how little the community engages with the board during her time as a member.
“I will say, in my term on the board, that is one thing that I’ve been surprised the most about is how little engagement our community actually has with the school board. So, I would totally welcome more opportunities or people to be reaching out more,” Westlund said.
The candidates also discussed what they believe an Ely education should accomplish beyond traditional academic measures.
McLinn-Belehar said students should leave the district prepared to take part in their communities and deal with challenges outside the classroom.
“An Ely education should prepare them to be good citizens of their community, whether it’s here or out in the greater world, and to make sure that they feel confident enough to handle what life throws at them,” McLinn-Belehar said. “Not everything can be taught from a book, but having the ability to think critically and problem solve can go a long way.”
Hornstein argued that student achievement should be measured more broadly than through standardized academic assessments.
“I think our schools should create people who read, people who use mathematics for problem solving, people who participate in civic and the economic life of the community, people who care for the common good, people who interrogate and critique information, particularly the information coming from the media, people who make informed decisions based on data, and who treat other beings with dignity, care, and respect,” Hornstein said.
Three seats on the Ely School Board are available in November. Voters can vote for up to three of the six candidates on their ballot: incumbent Jennifer Westlund, Steve Hornstein, John Kannas, Derekah Kingery, Bailey McLinn-Belehar and Joe Weise.