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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Ely school board to interview two more superintendent candidates

Keith Vandervort
Posted 6/20/19

ELY - Two school administrators with Iron Range connections are the newest candidates to be considered for the next superintendent post for the Ely School District. Board members selected John …

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Ely school board to interview two more superintendent candidates

Posted

ELY - Two school administrators with Iron Range connections are the newest candidates to be considered for the next superintendent post for the Ely School District. Board members selected John Klarich and Erik Erie as finalists for the district’s soon-to-be-vacant part-time position at a special meeting last week.

Klarich was superintendent at Mt. Iron-Buhl School District for 12 years and previously served as a principal and superintendent at Nashwauk-Keewatin School District for 21 years.

Erie is recently retired after working as high school principal at Mesabi East in Aurora for the past 11 years. He was previously a principal in the Fisher School District in Illinois from 2002 to 2008.

Both are scheduled to be interviewed on Tuesday, June 25. Interviews are open to the public.

The two finalists were selected from a list of nine candidates in the board’s second attempt to fill the position that Kevin Abrahamson hopes to vacate when his contract expires at the end of the month.

Ely board members had a difficult time selecting a top administrator earlier this spring. They considered as many as 10 applicants and completed four interviews in early May with finalists, Kevin Ricke, Steve Thomas, Bruce Houck and Beth Zietz, but could not agree on offering the position to any of those candidates. As many as six of the original applicants asked to be reconsidered in the board’s second attempt, according to Abrahamson.

With a huge price tag facing the district for a building renovation project, board members then delayed their search for a top administrator to explore a possible collaboration with the St. Louis County School District that could have included sharing a superintendent. They hope to tap into funding from the Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation by working together with other school districts to enhance educational opportunities for their students. A major bonding referendum, at first considered for this fall, will now likely be delayed until early 2020, or later. The school renovation cost has been estimated at between $5 million and $12 million.

According to two sources who did not want to be named by the Timberjay, Erie is apparently the unidentified “Candidate H” who was originally passed over for an interview in the first search because he did not hold a superintendent’s license.

School board chair Ray Marsnik suggested “Candidate H” be added to the pool of interviewees last month. Other board members rejected the idea and instead agreed to repost the job, with the requirement that a new administrator have state licensure by Oct. 1. Apparently, “Candidate H” needs to complete an eight-week practicum, overseen by a licensed superintendent to obtain his licensure.

Abrahamson’s contract expires on June 30, and he has indicated he would consider staying on until a new superintendent is seated. Earlier this month he also indicated he would be willing to help a candidate complete the on-the-job practicum required for licensure, Any temporary contract with Abrahamson has yet to be worked out.