Students speak out in Carlton

Nearly 40 people filled the Carlton library for Monday's Carlton School Board meeting as superintendent Donita Stepan continued her advocacy of a merger with Barnum.

But not before a large group of students stood to address the school board, most of them members of the Raptors cross country team, which competed at State earlier this month.

Wrenshall junior Isabel Riley addressed the board on behalf of her team, pointing to the success of the Carlton/Wrenshall sports teams and what it has meant.

"More important than wins and losses are the connections we've worked through this cooperative we've created ... friendships that will last a lifetime," Riley said. "I'm urging the Carlton school board to continue talks with Wrenshall. ... The Raptors are worth it. We are Better Together," she added, echoing the motto of a popular local Facebook page.

Cross country coach Brenda Knudsen stressed that the section wins and trips to State could not have happened without joining Carlton and Wrenshall athletes, because neither school had enough runners on its own to compete as a team. She shared that coaches, parents and kids have worked hard melding the Carlton Wrenshall Raptors together.

"We do not want to start over with someone else," she said. "Please, as our representatives, I ask that you hear us and reflect our strong desire to keep these teams together and to stay 'Raptorstrong.' Please don't separate these kids from each other or from us, their coaches. We love the kids and care about them."

All options could be considered for the future, said youth baseball coach and Wrenshall farmer Rick Dalen, who advocated Carlton move ahead with Wrenshall.

"At this stage of the game, like we're ready - the community is ready to move forward. Let's do this thing and stop dragging feet," he said.

All three speakers were applauded by an audience that filled every available seat.

Later in the meeting, in a time set aside for long-range planning, Stepan repeated some of her arguments from last week's work session, warning about merging with Wrenshall and pointing out the precarious financial situation of both Carlton and Wrenshall school districts based on their

enrollments.

Moody's Investment Services has downgraded Carlton's rating from an A2 to an A3, a move that could affect future borrowing costs. Also, there was added information about the nature of Wrenshall's open enrollment picture. According to Stepan's updated report, 172 Wrenshall students (a majority) reside outside the district, which pulls students seeking a smaller school from the Duluth school district boundaries along with some from Carlton and other area schools. Stepan speculated that many of those open-enrolled students would not follow into a combined Carlton-Wrenshall school district.

"We talked about last time ... a 600 student school district isn't big enough to survive. Certainly a 350- to 400-student school district is no easier to survive," she said.

Something similar could be asked of the proposed merger with Barnum.

At last month's regular meeting when the controversial communications with Barnum were announced, Carlton board member Ryan Leonzal noted the 20-minute drive time between Carlton and Barnum, and predicted not all current Carlton students would attend a district combined with Barnum.

"There's going to be a lot of people that land at Wrenshall, there's going to be a lot of people that land at Cloquet," he said, expressing skepticism of Stepan's estimate of 1,000 students for a combined Carlton-Barnum school system.

According to a Minnesota Department of Education chart of enrollment data for Minnesota schools in 2022-23, there were at least 46 school districts in Minnesota with between 400 and 600 students two years ago and many with student numbers in the 300s, including local schools Cromwell-Wright, Carlton, Wrenshall and Willow River.

Last week, the Wrenshall school board sent a letter to Carlton expressing a willingness to resume meeting on consolidation. The letter was acknowledged by board chair Julianne Emerson Monday, but she said the board would not discuss it until December's meeting.

Much like they did during last week's work session - the first meeting since pro-Barnum board members Emerson and Eryn Szymczak lost their bid for reelection - Carlton board members asked no questions and made no comments

about consolidation during the meeting.

Longtime board member Sue Karp, who has two years left on her term, was asked after the meeting what the next step should be.

"I believe that it should be left up to the new board," she said, herself preferring to move forward with the Wrenshall consolidation initially while not ruling anything out for the future.

"Maybe all three combining [while] keeping our own elementary," she said.