A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
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The Carlton school board approved a levy for 2025 that reduces school taxes by about 4 percent. In the same meeting, there was troubling news about facilities, and mixed news about finances. Before the regular meeting Monday, Carlton schools held this year’s Truth in Taxation hearing, which presents a detailed picture of next year’s taxation and allows for public comment. Jennifer Smith from Arrowhead Regional Computing Consortium told the board and the public that the district would see a reduction in the levy totalling $1,135,540.76. “That is...
At their working session Monday night, the Carlton school board acknowledged and formed a response to a letter from Wrenshall asking for continued discussion of a possible merger. The letter from Wrenshall, dated Nov. 12, had only one sentence which contained 15 words: “We are ready to meet to discuss consolidation between Wrenshall and Carlton when you are.” It was signed by all six members of the Wrenshall school board. Board member Sue Karp, who has two years left to go on her term, thought the superintendents needed to be involved in any...
Nearly 40 people filled the Carlton library for Monday's Carlton School Board meeting as superintendent Donita Stepan continued her advocacy of a merger with Barnum. But not before a large group of students stood to address the school board, most of them members of the Raptors cross country team, which competed at State earlier this month. Wrenshall junior Isabel Riley addressed the board on behalf of her team, pointing to the success of the Carlton/Wrenshall sports teams and what it has meant....
Carlton Schools superintendent Donita Stepan delivered a side-by-side comparison of the two consolidation options facing the district on Tuesday night, with a strong push to pivot to Barnum. It was the first time the board met since Stepan and Carlton chairwoman Julianne Emerson dropped the bombshell that they had initiated talks with Barnum about consolidation. Stepan began by stating that the merger talks with Wrenshall were stalled. "We've been trying to consolidate with Wrenshall for over...
Two more pro-consolidation candidates were elected to the Carlton school board Tuesday. Challengers Ben Nilsen and Dan Solarz will join the board in January: both have indicated they strongly favor pairing with neighboring Wrenshall. Another advocate for a union with Wrenshall was Ryan Leonzal, who was re-elected Tuesday after winning a special election a year ago. Each of the winning candidates received over 20 percent of the vote, a strong showing in a race where voters could vote for up to three candidates. Leaving in January will be...
A week after a board training session on school board rights and responsibilities, Carlton school board chair Julianne Emerson expressed regret for suggesting at an earlier meeting that some board members talk more than others. “One of those people is me,” she admitted during Tuesday’s work session. “This is by far and away the best group of people that I’ve had to work with,” she added while expressing the desire for participation from all board members. Having thus cleared the air, the Carlton Board discussed plans for a self evaluation...
Back on Oct. 7, the Carlton school board itself went to school. Members met for three hours with a representative of the Minnesota School Board Association to receive instruction on Minnesota law, school board rights and responsibilities, Robert's Rules of Order, and several other subjects pertaining to the proper function of a school board. Carlton schools are facing significant challenges, but all six of the people governing the schools still found time to work on making themselves better...
The Esko schools superintendent had good news for taxpayers Monday. Superintendent Aaron Fischer told school board members the maximum levy for the Esko district would be an increase of only 0.77 of 1 percent. “And that means … you will have an under-1-percent levy increase for the taxpayers,” he said. After the meeting, Fischer explained the almost-zero increase was due to loans that were paid off and, “we just didn’t add a lot onto the new debt,” he said. The total planned levy will be around $2.3 million from district taxpayers. Local gover...
Ian Erickson addressed the Carlton school board during Monday's regular meeting, informing the board he was taking two of his children out of the Carlton school district. Erickson emphasized that he liked the school district, teachers, and principals, "but we feel like the four-day week has forced our hand," he said. Child care was not an issue. Instead, Erickson thought his two younger children should be in school more than four days in a week to provide the kind of educational continuity they...
The Esko school district updated its student handbooks to tighten rules on student cell phone use, including no phone on students while they sit at their desks. At Monday's school board meeting, superintendent Aaron Fischer introduced the revisions which are intended to standardize the rules for all the classrooms. The Minnesota legislature in the last session directed schools to set cell phone use policies by March 15, 2025. The legislation did not directly prescribe how the policies should be...
At Monday night’s Carlton school board retreat, board members had a freewheeling discussion about the major challenges to be faced in the coming school year. A large amount of discussion centered around the four-day school week which starts this September. Board members were supportive, but expressed doubts. Board member Ryan Leonzal was direct. “I’ve had anywhere from 10 to 15 families tell me that they’re leaving, and they’re not particularly ones that I would have assumed [would] go,” he said, and went on to warn the board about the gamble...
An upbeat Carlton schools superintendent Donita Stepan believes the school district's switch to a four-day school week in September will trigger an uptick in enrollments. Nothing definite in terms of filed paperwork, "But we've done several tours," she said in an interview Tuesday. "We've probably got at least eight or nine new kids interested in coming so far." Regarding families possibly leaving over the same issue, Stepan indicated she had not seen any paperwork for kids leaving the...
Carlton business manager Angela Lind said busing costs are too high, and driving a deficit for the next school year. At their regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, the Carlton school board approved a budget for the 2024-25 school year that showed a deficit of $102,380, with $6,206,726 in estimated revenues, and $6,309,106 in estimated expenses. "The revenues we receive for transportation do not ... come close to our expenses," Lind said. "There's a $192,000 deficit in transportation."...
An impasse between the Carlton and Wrenshall school boards is threatening consolidation efforts by the districts. The Carlton school board reached a consensus at its working session Monday to not have further discussion with Wrenshall until August at the earliest. An email later this week between superintendents - obtained by the Pine Knot News through a public records request - confirmed the Carlton position. "(B)ecause sending letters back and forth to each other doesn't seem to be getting us...
During a break in consolidation committee meetings, Carlton and Wrenshall school boards have continued to negotiate via written communications. The most recent letter came from the Carlton board May 14 in response to Wrenshall’s April 8 proposal to move the consolidation’s start date to July 2026. The Wrenshall board had pushed the date back from 2025 after learning the Carlton superintendent Donita Stepan’s contract runs through the 2025-26 school year. Wrenshall had previously stipulated it did not want any long-term contracts spilling over...
The Carlton school board, fresh from sending a four-day school week proposal to the state for approval, returned to the issue of consolidation with Wrenshall. At Monday’s working session, superintendent Donita Stepan was directed to answer a Wrenshall letter which proposed consolidation in summer 2026, instead of an initial consideration of July 1, 2025. Wrenshall’s correspondence was positive in tone, promising that Wrenshall would “lean into all sharing opportunities,” although declaring their board members had agreed with each other that the...
Carlton students will have classes only four days a week next year, provided the district's proposal is approved by the state. Nearly 30 members of the public were present Monday for the last of three required public hearings on the subject. After a presentation by superintendent Donita Stepan, 10 people addressed the board with voices both for and against the proposal. Stepan outlined the plan, mostly repeating what she had said at the previous hearings, while emphasizing certain points. Early...
Carlton superintendent Donita Stepan created a stir last week, when she announced April 3 to school district staff that a plan was being drafted that would move Carlton schools to a four-day school week as soon as next year. On Monday, during the first of three hastily scheduled public hearings announced Thursday, Stepan reflected for the school board on what she told teachers and staff. "I understand this is quick and I understand this isn't normally how we would do business, to move this...
Esko superintendent Aaron Fischer told the school board Monday that he was cautiously optimistic the district would not have to face any retrenchment as a proposed budget for 2025 is being formulated. "Our forecast showed that we were going to be projecting to be OK, so we are moving forward without any cuts," he said. The number of students is the backbone of state funding and, unlike neighboring school districts, Esko has experienced a steady enrollment even with an overall decline in...
Carlton school board members got some healthy news this week: enrollment numbers in the district are on the rise, and the American Indian Parent Advisor Committee gave the school district a passing grade, both things that haven’t happened in recent years. Superintendent Donita Stepan reported enrollment numbers had shot up to 315 students as of the beginning of this month. Carlton had begun the school year expecting 295 students. If sustained, the new numbers are a reversal of a years-long trend. Last year, the district lost more than 50 s...
Senior Isaac Hill sat in the auto shop building at Cloquet High School Friday morning, parking an 18-wheeler over and over again, a different scenario popping up on the video screen in front of him each time, then being graded after each simulation. Hill can feel the change in steering pressure as he practices each maneuver. Most of the time he gets 100 percent, when 80 percent is required to pass. On the parallel parking exercise, he got only 96 points out of 100. That's because he turned too...
The Carlton school board met Monday in a working session devoted mostly toward preparing for the next night’s consolidation committee meeting with Wrenshall. Carlton was still smarting from a set of emails exchanged primarily between the board chairs regarding information and agendas. The messages are terse, and like all emails had the potential to stir up raw emotions if written or received in a tone not intended. A March 4 meeting between the consolidation teams was intended to smooth over the disagreements and was partially successful, b...
Superintendent Donita Stepan asked the Carlton school board to downsize staff by more than four full-time positions, including three teachers, during Tuesday’s school board meeting. Included in the cuts were one full-time position at South Terrace Elementary and the band program at the middle school/highschool. Declining enrollments and the accompanying decrease in revenue from the state have driven the retrenchment. In her remarks on the issue, Stepan pointed to the unassigned general fund balance — which should be kept to at least 16 per...
Public finance advisers Ehlers told the Carlton school board on Monday that a consolidation with Wrenshall would be close to revenue-neutral with only a slight decrease in state aid for the new combined school district. Aaron Bushberger, Ehlers’ municipal advisor, forecasted revenues that could be expected from a consolidation between Carlton and Wrenshall. Because the new district would be larger, it loses certain state aid to the tune of $61,000, which is partially offset by an increase of over $23,000 in the total tax levy, resulting in a n...
The Carlton school board received the results of the annual audit on Monday night and learned that this year’s deficit is lower than expected. Janel Bitzan of the accounting firm BerganKDV outlined the results via remote video presentation. “The amended budget called for a decrease [in the general fund] of $463,000. The actual was a decrease of about $65,000. So about $397,000 better than you anticipated the fund balance to come out,” she said. Why the big disparity between the anticipated and actual? Mostly it was federal dollars coming into...
