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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There's a new superintendent in Wrenshall following unanimous school board approval Monday. Retired Deer River superintendent Jeff Pesta was approved for a part-time role. It's what the financially strapped district could afford and what Pesta, 58, wanted to work. "I wanted to continue to work part-time," he said. "It's like scratching an itch. Working through challenges, solving problems, that's something I still want to do." Pesta replaces Kim Belcastro, who spent 11 years in the role,...
Although they weren't always the most well-behaved students, the Esko Class of 2023 garnered high praise from school administrators and each other during Friday's commencement for the way they embraced life in many different unique ways, learning yet also teaching lessons along the way. Four students and principal Greg Hexum shared their thoughts before the 82 members of the Class of 2023 walked across the stage one by one and graduated. "My journey to getting here was not always easy," student...
Barnum seniors celebrated their graduation last Friday in the high school gym. In addition to the 57 official high school seniors, principal Jodi Fanth took the opportunity to award an honorary cap and tassel to Oliwia Sekowska. Sekowska came to Barnum as a foreign exchange student and has since graduated in Poland. Returning to Barnum for the graduation ceremony, she was given the tokens of American graduation to signify her time spent as a part of the Barnum community. Valedictorians Kathryn...
The fourth-grade Math Masters teams from Cloquet's Churchill and Washington elementary schools competed at a competition in Duluth on April 21. The team from Washington finished in sixth place, with Ethan Hansen, Sebastian Hanson, Paisley Crotteau, and Marco Gentilini placing in the top 20 as individuals, said a news release. Participation in Math Masters was made possible by a grant from the Cloquet Educational Foundation....
Dave Perry curled his hand in front of his face, forming a small circle. "What I like to see is a kid with that hood, and all you see is about this much of him or her," he said. "And all of a sudden that hood comes off. It might take a week, it might take five months. But all of a sudden we see who that person is above the neckline. ... If I had a hand in that, that's awesome." Perry was describing his work as a teacher for the Cloquet Area Alternative Education Program in a nomination video...
The English department at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College is accepting submissions of high-quality creative work for the 11th edition of the Thunderbird Review. The deadline for submissions is Dec. 15. Based at FDLTCC, the Thunderbird Review is an inclusive journal that looks for work that speaks to the human condition and fulfills the college’s goal to create a union of cultures. Submissions will be accepted from current residents of, or individuals with a strong connection to, the Twin Ports area and the surrounding counties and t...
In debt by more than $300,000, Wrenshall schools administration and its school board are expected to begin three rounds of cuts in December. The first cuts will total $50,000, followed by further rounds of more substantial cuts in January and June. "We have to right-size the school district by the next budget for sure," superintendent Kim Belcastro said last week during the board's committee of the whole meeting. On Monday, the board unanimously approved borrowing $500,000 against future state...
What started in March as a group of sports-minded private citizens, business owners and coaches brainstorming ways to fundraise for artificial turf at Cloquet High School has now turned into a much larger project. Cloquet school board members gave their approval Monday for school district officials to explore possible revenue sources and a construction process/timeline for the following items: replacing the grass football/soccer field with turf, moving the tennis courts and doubling the size...
After overturning a vote on $8.3 million in projects in March, the Barnum school board voted 4-3 to bond for $10.85 million on Tuesday, Oct. 25. Beth Dinger, Beth Schatz, Steph Ferrin and board chair Jessica Unkelhaeuser voted yes, while Paul Coughlin, Louie Bonneville and Jamie Fuglestad voted no. “We were trying to push for a referendum, but everyone voted against it,” Schatz said. “We’re in a bad spot. This will give us the money to start. We can pick the projects from there.” The projects for the elementary school are window replaceme...
Mike Tusken grows into leadership role at college There were days as Duluth police chief when Mike Tusken was exhausted, yet still found himself driving to Cloquet to teach a three-hour night class on community policing. "You're going 150 miles per hour in that job and I was coming here dreading it, because I was out of gas," Tusken said. "But when you're doing education, you've got people who are anxious and excited about getting into this field. I got energy from that. I left here invigorated....
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College will soon be offering a four-year degree targeting those in pursuit of a career in elementary education. Announced this month, the move makes it the first two-year college in Minnesota approved to offer a bachelor's degree. Classes will officially begin for the first round of future educators in January. The new program is also the first in the state accredited by education boards to incorporate Indigenous cultural values and learning approaches into the...
Struggling financially and facing declining enrollments, the Carlton and Wrenshall schools agreed to bring together all junior high and high school sports earlier this week. The move to combine sports gained approval from both school boards, with only one dissenting vote among the two boards. “We need to give this opportunity to our athletes,” Wrenshall board member Ben Johnson said, explaining there are seasons in which, going alone, the schools would not have enough players to field teams. “We...
An amicable gathering last week brought together most of the Wrenshall school board candidates in a public forum for the first time. As it concluded, the six candidates in attendance expressed pride in the school, and appreciation for one another. It stood in contrast to the tumult which has mired the board throughout the past year. But in subtler ways it also further illuminated the chasm between four relative newcomers and incumbents Deb Washenesky and Jack Eudy, along with board appointee...
Esko board approves maximum levy The Esko school board held a special meeting Monday, Sept. 26 to approve the proposed levy payable in 2023. The board was not able to vote on the levy at its normal meeting on the second Monday of the month because there were details on a few projects, such as the newly proposed fitness center, that still needed to be worked out. With some of those details ironed out, according to superintendent Aaron Fischer, the district felt more comfortable with the board approving the levy that was presented to them at the...
Nothing changed at Churchill Elementary School on Friday when U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona announced the 2022 National Blue Ribbon Schools - and the Cloquet school as one of 297 to make the list. Teachers and staff at the school were still doing what they do, students were still attending classes, studying and hanging out with friends. But there was extra excitement in the air, a little sense of being recognized as something special. It's a big deal. National Blue Ribbon Schools...
Superintendent John Engstrom confirmed Monday that the Carlton school district will proceed with further talks with Wrenshall on sharing sports and other after-school activities. Engstrom noted that both district boards have passed an agreement to split costs evenly. After Carlton approved the agreement earlier this summer, the Wrenshall board unanimously approved an agreement this month. “My recommendation is that the subcommittee gets back together and talks about when the agreement should officially take effect, and if there are some c...
The Wrenshall school board’s stamina for conflict proved unyielding Monday, when its regular monthly meeting devolved into bickering and generated new insights into ongoing turmoil. Board member Nicole Krisak revealed that board members looked into superintendent Kim Belcastro’s work emails, fishing for information without informing the superintendent or having a specific reason to do so. “We looked into her emails,” Krisak said. “She didn’t know that. We had no right to do it. We still did it.” It was a surprising revelation from a meetin...
Finding a balance between funding streams and paying school district staff adequate wages in a time of inflationary pressures is challenging, Cloquet superintendent Michael Cary told school board members Monday. The Cloquet public school district received a 2-percent increase in state funding equating to roughly $300,000. The money will be used to give staff members throughout the district a raise. The district has already settled contracts with its secretaries and principals, but they’re still negotiating with paraprofessionals and c...
At their first meeting of the new school year, the Esko school board heard good news from district administrators. Principals Greg Hexum and Brian Harker told the board Monday, Sept. 12 that there is excitement in the building like never before. With a handful of new teachers, and classrooms being somewhat back to normal after the height of the pandemic, students arrived eager to learn. Superintendent Aaron Fisher said enrollment numbers have remained similar to last year, despite the predicted reduction in numbers this year. All told, 1,265 Es...
The Cloquet Area Alternative Education Programs, a small alternative school for grades 6-12 which draws from 12 school districts, made a list of 371 schools that will receive extra support by the state department of education last week. The program’s four-year graduation rate was below 67 percent for all students, triggering the extra support. Located in Cloquet’s Garfield School, the school ironically reported its highest percentage of graduates last year at 59.4 percent. According to the state’s Minnesota Report Card for CAAEP, the school had...
The superintendent's introduction of a formal complaint form for use going forward opened the floodgates at Wrenshall Schools on Wednesday. Meeting during the committee of the whole, board members praised a new complaint form, designed to go to the superintendent, or board chair should the complaint address the superintendent. Complaints can come from students, parents, employees or community members. "We need to be transparent about where to go," board member Nicole Krisak said. Superintendent...
There were more questions than answers Wednesday, Aug. 24, when the Wrenshall school board agreed to discipline an employee during a specially called meeting. The meeting was planned to review results of a personnel investigation which began earlier this summer involving the school’s information technology director, Jaime Hopp, and superintendent Kim Belcastro. The board met in closed session for three hours. Afterward, it declined to name who it was disciplining. But since the disciplinary resolution voted on by the board authorized B...
The Carlton-Wrenshall Raptors football program won’t take the field for varsity action this season. It’s a victim of not having enough players despite the cooperative agreement between schools in the eastern half of the county. The schools will try to rebuild the football program by participating in the junior varsity and junior high levels. The possible expansion of a sports and activities co-op between Carlton and Wrenshall came to a halt this month, after the Wrenshall school board balked at the 13-page agreement approved by Carlton. “Th...
A quiet summer for the Esko Public Schools has allowed administrators and school board members to move forward with plans for a few school improvement projects that will begin construction during the 2022-23 school year. The Esko school board approved the district’s contract with Minneapolis-based ICS, the construction company the district has used in the past, for the construction of a new fitness center and to complete the new water treatment system. Superintendent Aaron Fisher said these p...
High school students from across the state were invited to present food security research findings and participate in the Minnesota Youth Institute on May 16, an educational program hosted by the University of Minnesota’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and the World Food Prize Foundation. Barnum students Jasmine Akurgo, Brenan Class, Samuel Collier, Henry Dammer, Brooke Doran, Amri Gilbertson, Kailey Halverson, Hudson Kasberg, Rayna Klejeski, Lacie O’Leary, Reese Miletich, Max Moors, Joe Peterson, Lilly Pettit, Kay...
