Carlton Board approves next step toward talks with Wrenshall

Carlton and Wrenshall school districts got one step closer to discussing consolidation Monday, after several months of sending letters back and forth and delaying conversations for elections and new school board members.

After one failed motion, Carlton school board members voted 3-2 Monday to respond to a letter from Wrenshall school board chair Matthew Laveau and suggest the two districts “move ahead with consolidation discussion.”

Board member Ann Gustafson made the motion and said she wanted to leave it short and sweet, with no terms. School board members Gustafson, Jenn Chmielewski and Sue Karp voted “yes” to the motion, while board members Tim Hagenah and LaRae Lehto voted “no.” Board member Sam Ojibway was absent. The board also directed Carlton superintendent Gwen Carman to look into options for hiring a facilitator to work with both boards during the consolidation discussions.

The motion didn’t address Laveau’s suggestion in a Jan. 21 email that the Wrenshall School Board is “only interested in discussing a two-site solution.”

That assertion caused a lot of discussion between board members and one failed motion by Jenn Chmielewski, who motioned that the board agree to discussions about a two-site option with a facilitator. Chmielewski and Gustafson voted “yes” on that first motion, while Hagenah, Lehto and Karp voted “no.”

Lehto, Hagenah and Karp all advocated strongly for a broader discussion of all options, and balked at being limited to discussion of only a two-site option.

Equally important for school board chair Lehto was that the discussions be moderated or guided by a neutral facilitator, selected and hired by both districts. She pointed out that every other round of consolidation discussions between the neighboring school districts — the towns are four miles away from each other — has ended in a stalemate.

“If we continue to do the same thing, shame on us,” Lehto said. “We can’t keep cramming board members into a room to come up with solutions and fail.”

She pointed out that if the districts want to ask the state for money to help with consolidation, they will have to show that they considered all the options.

Hagenah suggested that the board look at the “big picture,” and consider how consolidation would affect everything from the students to the staff, administration and debt.

“It needs to be planned out,” he said. “I want it to work. I don’t want two communities. I want one district … if we don’t do it right then what are we going to have?”

Gustafson pointed out that Wrenshall might be hung up on two sites, but the Carlton board seemed to be hung up on one site.

“Unfortunately it does come down to facilities,” she said. “That’s the elephant in the room. If we don’t do a two-site option, then what do we do? We just stick with what we have and try to limp along with some online classes?”

She pointed out that the birth rate isn’t going up in the area, and the geography isn’t going to change. She also pointed out that both districts would gain resources by working together.

“If we don’t at least try to look into the two-site option then we’re are stuck with our two-site option that we’re paying for all by ourselves.”

She stressed that the Calton board has to be sincere with Wrenshall, and vice versa.

“Otherwise it’s just another round of hot air, which we’re all sick of,” Gustafson said. “We have to have good effort for sure. If we have to go to the legislature and tell them we can’t get communities together any other way — maybe in 10 years we can get down to one site. If we don’t agree to work with our neighbors, we can’t have any option at all.”

Karp said she’d like to see all the costs for the different options.

Lehto and Carman said they would draft the letter to Wrenshall and get approval from the other board members before sending it.

In other matters Monday, the Carlton school board agreed to:

• Begin discussion of the draft strategic plan for the district at Committee of the Whole (COW) meetings, one part at a time;

• Approved a significant raise for Community Ed director Daisy Rose, along with lesser raises for community ed staff, by unanimous vote after extensive discussion;

• Approved coaching staff for spring sports.

The next school board COW meeting is at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 4 and the next regular meeting is 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 25.