District sees rare increase in students

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 students.

Stepan could not say with any certainty just what was causing the increase, but she guessed that a new strategic plan was a factor, along with the benefits of a small school district.

“Kids leave, and they come back,” she said. “I think it has a lot to do with our small class sizes and the relationships that our teachers have with our students.”

School board members voted against renewing Indian Ed coordinator Graciana Studier’s contract Monday to clear up a technicality.

“Gracie does a great job for us,” Stepan said the next day. Because Studier is a licensed teacher and the Indian Ed position does not require that, she should not be in the teacher’s collective bargaining unit. To continue working for the district, she will need to be rehired under an individual at-will contract.

Stepan said Studier is a big reason for the vast improvement in cooperation in the Carlton Indian Education program. Each year, parents of indigenous students evaluate the school district when they file a vote of concurrence or non-concurrence through their American Indian Parent Advisor Committee.

In past years, the district routinely received a grade of non-concurrence with a long list of discrepancies listed. This year, the committee issued a vote of concurrence with the words “with one exception” handwritten on the form, the goal of embedding American Indian Standards into all content areas.

“Although we are close, our AIPAC wants to see more,” Stepan said.

Consolidation discussed

Also Monday, Carlton school board chair Julianne Emerson reported on talks between Carlton and Wrenshall consolidation committee members regarding the merger of the two school districts, tentatively set for 2025. The committee decided to pause talks for a month at the March 12 meeting.

“We decided to take a little step back,” Emerson said. “Not by any means not moving forward. We want to continue to share information and drill down on the facts and the finances, which is part of the reason we want to have our financial managers get together,” she said, referring to the board’s request that Carlton finance director Angela Lind set up a meeting with her counterpart at Wrenshall.

Emerson discussed the areas in which the districts remain apart, while still expressing optimism at finding solutions.

The main sticking point was Wrenshall’s requirement that the new district’s board would make all the hiring decisions for the consolidated school district. That means, Emerson said, agreeing “that no individual contracts can extend past the proposed consolidation date.”

This primarily affects Carlton superintendent Donita Stepan, whose contract — which would pay her roughly $140,000 in the 2025-26 school year — isn’t up until July 30, 2026. Carlton also recently hired an elementary school principal to allow Stepan to function as full-time superintendent instead of trying to do both jobs. Wrenshall is currently seeking an “intern” superintendent, mentored by a licensed superintendent, for next school year to replace interim, part-time superintendent Jeff Pesta.

Any consolidation under Wrenshall’s preconditions would mean Stepan’s contract would have to be renegotiated (including possibly not being rehired) by a new combined board. Carlton wants to keep her on the job.

“Carlton’s position is that a shared superintendent would allow for the most successful transition to a fully consolidated district,” Emerson said in an email Tuesday.

The proposed merger date appears to be in flux, as well, to give contracts time to play out if needed. Consolidation was originally expected to happen in summer of 2025, but Wrenshall is OK with going to 2026 or beyond.

“We’d probably only reluctantly agree to such a proposal as the timing for consolidation seems ripe right now and there’s a natural momentum to making it successful,” Emerson said.

The next consolidation meeting is scheduled at 5 p.m. April 24 in Carlton. Despite the “step back,” as Emerson called it, “we all remain very optimistic.”

Board members passed the final draft of the cooperative agreement between the two school districts regarding

sports and other extracurricular activities.