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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Carlton school board filled its leadership positions at its organizational meeting Monday. Julianne Emerson was re-elected to her position as chair. This will be her fourth consecutive year in the role. To date, she has served on the board 11 years total, leaving in 2018 and returning in 2020 as a write-in candidate. Over her previous terms starting in 2010, she served as chair for six years. Salaries for board members were renewed without change. Board members receive $1,000 a year plus $40 a meeting. Based on the tentative schedule, a member...
Carlton schools superintendent Donita Stepan plans to relinquish her role as elementary principal at South Terrace Elementary and focus solely on her superintendent duties. Stepan wears two hats now, part of an arrangement conceived earlier this year as a cost-saving measure. With Stepan holding two positions and high school/middle school principal Warren Peterson working part-time, savings to the district could be in the range of $85,000 to $90,000. As the mid-school year approaches, it has become apparent to Stepan that South Terrace needs...
A new dawn for Carlton and Wrenshall schools appears closer than ever before, after Carlton school board members on Monday talked about moving ahead with consolidation. Carlton board members softened their position on a one-site-only plan Monday, agreeing to start with two facilities — a merged high school at Wrenshall and combined elementary at South Terrace in Carlton. The board left open a vision for construction of a combined one-site school down the line. News of Carlton’s willingness to proceed in earnest with consolidation was met pos...
Carlton teachers will receive a pay increase of 4.25 percent for the 2023-24 school year and an additional 2 percent for the 2024-25 school year, according to a new contract approved by the Carlton school board at its meeting Monday, Nov. 20. Other than that, there were few changes in the new contract with the Carlton Education Association, the union which represents teachers in the district, according to board chair Julianne Emerson. “The things that we really wanted to do is to raise salaries and raise the entry level salary,” Emerson sai...
Stormhaven Studios, maker of the "Embers Adrift" online video game, is operated by three members of the Cloquet High School Class of 2005: John Gust, Seth Anderson and Wade Larson. "North of the Great Chasm, humanity struggles to survive. Venture into the untamed lands, battle ferocious beasts and thwart treacherous schemes that would see your new home burn!" So reads the summons to videogamers who explore "Embers Adrift," the creation of Cloquet High School graduate John Gust and a few others...
At their respective meetings Monday, the Carlton and Wrenshall school boards converged on a date to tour each district’s facilities. The boards will walk through three school properties beginning at 5 p.m. Nov. 13. The tours are the latest step as the boards work toward a potential consolidation between the districts. Because the tours are legally a joint meeting of the boards, the public will be allowed to join them. “People would not be restricted from following along,” Wrenshall super...
At the committee of the whole meeting on Tuesday, Carlton school board members again took up the issue of consolidation with Wrenshall. Consensus formed around having superintendent Donita Stepan contact Wrenshall and arrange for both boards to tour the buildings of both districts, in response to a letter sent a month ago by the Wrenshall school board. In August, Carlton agreed to discuss a merger, but only on the basis of having one campus which would have to be at South Terrace, the current site of the Carlton Elementary School. In their...
Esko Schools superintendent Aaron Fischer told school board members Monday the construction of the new fitness center was progressing, but with unexpected costs. Previous work when the school was expanded in 1998 uncovered drain pipes that were no longer needed, but instead of being removed, were left in the ground. "It's a $10,000 cost to remove that because it was underneath our new fitness center," Fischer said. He also reminded the board of another issue, an extra door that a state reviewer...
The Carlton school board officially and unanimously appointed Graciana Studier as Indian Education coordinator Monday, replacing Kevin Kot, who was dismissed in June. Superintendent Donita Stepan was excited about Studier’s performance so far. “She’s doing a great job,” Stepan said. In her report to the board, Studier made it plain she did not wait for her official appointment to get started, describing how she took 12 students to a wild rice camp demonstration held at Chambers Grove Park on Sept. 15. The students had the hands-on experie...
Esko school board members voted Monday to add both boys and girls lacrosse to its slate of available sports starting in spring of 2024, following the same vote by the partnering Cloquet school board in August. The girls lacrosse team will be a cooperative of five schools including Hermantown, Proctor, Carlton, Cloquet and Esko. Board chairman Jerry Frederick wanted to know if five schools is too much. “Who would our competitors be with all five schools together?” he quipped. “You will be traveling … and that’s one of the challenge...
After considerable debate and public input, the Carlton School Board resolved to begin talks with Wrenshall about consolidation, with the condition a new district would have only one location — at the South Terrace Elementary School site in Carlton. Currently, Carlton has both a secondary and elementary school while Wrenshall serves grades K-12 in one building. According to numbers provided earlier this month, Carlton projects 295 students this year, with Wrenshall budgeting for 325. Monday’s meeting began with a Truth in Taxation Hearing for...
The Carlton school board discussed a new letter from the Wrenshall school board regarding a merger between the districts during Monday’s committee of the whole meeting. Consolidation ideas have been on again, off again for decades, with this being the latest, this time initiated by Wrenshall. The letter was signed by all six members of the Wrenshall school board, and contains no preconditions or specifics, only a request for discussion with both school boards in attendance. Reaction to the idea by the Carlton board was desultory. Board clerk S...
The Carlton School District needs to find a replacement for Tim Hagenah, who resigned in June, to serve until formal elections can be held in November. Anyone chosen would hold the seat until the winner of November’s special election takes over. State law requires that a successor to Hagenah be appointed until the next election. In an email to the Pine Knot News, board chairperson Julianne Emerson said she hoped there could be a choice ready for the board to select by this month’s regular board meeting on Aug. 21. “Due to the very short term...
The Carlton school district hired Angela Lind to fill the open business manager position, after the previous business manager, Norm Nelis, took a job at the Hermantown school district. Lind formerly worked just up the road at Wrenshall, but was laid off there in a cost-saving measure. “She’s been a fantastic addition,” said Carlton superintendent Donita Stepan during Monday’s board meeting. Under Lind’s new contract, she will earn a salary of $61,000 in her first year with regular longevity increases of $1,000 per year for the next 8 years. In...
Work should begin on the Esko fitness center next week. The project is behind schedule by more than a fortnight, school board members heard Monday night. The permitting process was the first snag to overcome, according to John Erickson and Ian Bradshaw of DSGW Architects. They indicated the state took longer than expected to sign off on its portion, adding that the application was made in March, which allowed an extra three weeks for a study that usually takes 45 days. “The state plan review just got completed last week,” Erickson said. Loc...
In a unanimous vote Tuesday, the Carlton school board ratified a letter from superintendent John Engstrom the ended with the firing of American Indian Education coordinator Kevin Kot, who had been with the district for close to three years. Ratification of the document was a part of the consent agenda, a portion of the meeting reserved for actions with no debate. Of the five active board members, four voted. Eryn Szymczak was absent. When asked for a copy of the letter the board endorsed, board chair Julianne Emerson said it was not available....
Carlton superintendent John Engstrom asked the Carlton school board to renew the current operating levy for another seven years. The per-student levy has helped Carlton with general operating expenses and was voter-approved twice. The Minnesota Legislature now allows school boards to renew, on their own authority, a voter-approved operating levy. Since the funding is based on enrollment numbers, the actual amount each year varies, but in 2022, it meant roughly $400,000. Engstrom was not enthusiastic about asking for an increase to this amount,...
Carlton school board members voted unanimously Monday on a path forward that appears to be unique in Carlton County. At its regular board meeting, superintendent-elect Donita Stepan summarized the new finalized strategic plan. She envisions making Carlton “the leader in educational transformation,” a phrase which headlined the handout she showcased to the board. The new plan will switch the Carlton school district to two lines of learning: one with a traditional curriculum, and another which follows a project-based progression. Students and...
Carlton and Wrenshall have completed the plan to combine all competitive activities with the merger of robotics and speech for next year, Carlton superintendent John Engstrom announced Monday, following the debut of combined spring sports this year. Activities such as theater and prom will have a different approach, he said. Engstrom explained that each school puts on one or more plays and that they should be kept in place, “but also open them up to the student body of each.” The decision whether to combine prom and dances went to the stu...
Nearly 40 people turned out for the Carlton school board meeting Monday, many of them upset by allegations of a threat of violence against a Native American student. In a news release Monday, Carlton Indigenous Student Council leader Ayeden Diver alleged a white male student held a knife to the throat of a female Native American student before spring break in March and that the perpetrator received only a partial-day suspension as punishment. Diver also submitted a letter to the school board in...
Carlton School District officials are working hard to reduce next year’s projected budget deficit, as the small school faces the consequences of years of declining enrollment leading to lower state revenues. Superintendent John Engstrom outlined budget reduction targets for the 2023-24 school year Monday at the Carlton school board committee of the whole meeting. Likely savings would result from not replacing a retiring custodian; non-renewal of full-time building substitute teachers; and combining two current third-grade classrooms into one f...
The Carlton school board formally hired Donita Stepan for the position of superintendent with the approval of her contract Monday, March 20. Stepan will start on July 1 of this year, earning a salary of $134,859, which includes $10,000 for elementary principal duties at South Terrace, health insurance and other benefits. The package is an increase over the amount current superintendent John Engstrom makes. "I took a haircut," he explained, meaning he accepted lowered salary expectations as his...
The Carlton school board heard bold ideas for getting the district to stand apart from neighboring school systems in an effort to reverse declines in student enrollment Monday. The committee of the whole took no action, but seemed excited by the creative thoughts. South Terrace principal Donita Stepan outlined the work of the District Advisory Committee which conceived the concept of a future dual path system for the upper grades. "[We'll have] a traditional track where students [attend class]...
Carlton school board members are facing the double whammy of both student numbers and state dollars dropping even more quickly than anticipated. At Tuesday’s Carlton school board meeting, district business manager Norm Nelis warned of a revised budget that increased the estimated deficit due mostly to declining enrollment. “We had budgeted for a reduction of 25 kids … the deficit for the revised budget we're putting out is more than what we have in the adopted [budget] primarily because the number of kids were down,” Nelis said. In fact, C...
Carlton superintendent John Engstrom surprised school board members Monday when he recommended they not renew his contract in June. Instead he recommended they make South Terrace principal Donita Stepan part-time superintendent and keep her as principal of the elementary school. High school principal Warren Peterson would be asked to increase his hours and days as part of the plan. “From where we were four years ago … this would represent a total savings of around 40 percent,” Engstrom told...
