Change is coming to Cloquet school board

The Cloquet School Board welcomed the return of incumbent Melissa Juntunen and two new board members - LeAnn Butler and Nichole Diver - who attended Monday's meeting. In total, Juntunen garnered 4,428 votes in the Nov. 5 election, Butler had 3,593 votes and Diver, who ran as a write-in candidate for the third open spot, received 417 votes. Included in that count were various versions of her name, including Diver, Nichole, Nichole Buckanaga and Nichole Diver.

An additional 240 write-in votes weren't for Diver. Names ran the gamut from serious possibilities like former school board members or previous candidates to the standard Donald Duck and Bugs Bunny, one vote for Jesus and six for Kerry Rodd, who ran as a write-in for Scanlon City Council.

That wasn't the only election news. With the election of incumbent school board member Sarah Plante-Buhs to Carlton County Commissioner District 1, Plante-Buhs announced she will step down from the school board sometime after Jan. 1.

The fact that Plante-Buhs will leave with less than two years left in her term means the school board has two choices to fill her seat: appoint someone for the remainder, or hold a special election, explained superintendent Michael Cary.

"Special elections are extremely expensive, because the school district bears the full cost of the election across all precincts," Cary said. "Simply out of cost consideration, I would recommend appointing someone."

According to Cary, Plante- Buhs can submit her retirement at the next meeting, effective in January, so the board can ask people to apply to fill the vacancy and start the process of selecting who they appoint. Even if they know who they want to appoint, they must wait until after the resignation is complete. Then, once the selection is announced, then the board has to wait another 30 days "for petition from the community" before it can actually seat the person.

That means by February or so, the board will likely see half its membership turn over.

In other matters Monday, board members delayed a decision on surveying the public over the idea of realigning the elementary schools to avoid moving kids from one school to another when class sizes get too high. That could mean putting preschool, kindergarten and first grade classes in one building, and grades 2-4 in another.

Cary had suggested using a firm that does polling over the phone exclusively, but several board members advocated for a multi-pronged approach, insisting that online and/or text polls should also be included.

"I think a mix has to happen," said board chair Nate Sandman. "Limiting ourselves to one option limits us."

Board members also asked Cary to get staff feedback at both elementary schools on the idea before doing a community poll. Cary suggested the board form a subcommittee in the new year.