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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An upbeat Carlton schools superintendent Donita Stepan believes the school district's switch to a four-day school week in September will trigger an uptick in enrollments. Nothing definite in terms of filed paperwork, "But we've done several tours," she said in an interview Tuesday. "We've probably got at least eight or nine new kids interested in coming so far." Regarding families possibly leaving over the same issue, Stepan indicated she had not seen any paperwork for kids leaving the...
Carlton business manager Angela Lind said busing costs are too high, and driving a deficit for the next school year. At their regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, the Carlton school board approved a budget for the 2024-25 school year that showed a deficit of $102,380, with $6,206,726 in estimated revenues, and $6,309,106 in estimated expenses. "The revenues we receive for transportation do not ... come close to our expenses," Lind said. "There's a $192,000 deficit in transportation."...
An impasse between the Carlton and Wrenshall school boards is threatening consolidation efforts by the districts. The Carlton school board reached a consensus at its working session Monday to not have further discussion with Wrenshall until August at the earliest. An email later this week between superintendents - obtained by the Pine Knot News through a public records request - confirmed the Carlton position. "(B)ecause sending letters back and forth to each other doesn't seem to be getting us...
During a break in consolidation committee meetings, Carlton and Wrenshall school boards have continued to negotiate via written communications. The most recent letter came from the Carlton board May 14 in response to Wrenshall’s April 8 proposal to move the consolidation’s start date to July 2026. The Wrenshall board had pushed the date back from 2025 after learning the Carlton superintendent Donita Stepan’s contract runs through the 2025-26 school year. Wrenshall had previously stipulated it did not want any long-term contracts spilling over...
The Carlton school board, fresh from sending a four-day school week proposal to the state for approval, returned to the issue of consolidation with Wrenshall. At Monday’s working session, superintendent Donita Stepan was directed to answer a Wrenshall letter which proposed consolidation in summer 2026, instead of an initial consideration of July 1, 2025. Wrenshall’s correspondence was positive in tone, promising that Wrenshall would “lean into all sharing opportunities,” although declaring their board members had agreed with each other that the...
Carlton students will have classes only four days a week next year, provided the district's proposal is approved by the state. Nearly 30 members of the public were present Monday for the last of three required public hearings on the subject. After a presentation by superintendent Donita Stepan, 10 people addressed the board with voices both for and against the proposal. Stepan outlined the plan, mostly repeating what she had said at the previous hearings, while emphasizing certain points. Early...
Carlton superintendent Donita Stepan created a stir last week, when she announced April 3 to school district staff that a plan was being drafted that would move Carlton schools to a four-day school week as soon as next year. On Monday, during the first of three hastily scheduled public hearings announced Thursday, Stepan reflected for the school board on what she told teachers and staff. "I understand this is quick and I understand this isn't normally how we would do business, to move this... Full story
Esko superintendent Aaron Fischer told the school board Monday that he was cautiously optimistic the district would not have to face any retrenchment as a proposed budget for 2025 is being formulated. "Our forecast showed that we were going to be projecting to be OK, so we are moving forward without any cuts," he said. The number of students is the backbone of state funding and, unlike neighboring school districts, Esko has experienced a steady enrollment even with an overall decline in...
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 s...
Senior Isaac Hill sat in the auto shop building at Cloquet High School Friday morning, parking an 18-wheeler over and over again, a different scenario popping up on the video screen in front of him each time, then being graded after each simulation. Hill can feel the change in steering pressure as he practices each maneuver. Most of the time he gets 100 percent, when 80 percent is required to pass. On the parallel parking exercise, he got only 96 points out of 100. That's because he turned too... Full story
The Carlton school board met Monday in a working session devoted mostly toward preparing for the next night’s consolidation committee meeting with Wrenshall. Carlton was still smarting from a set of emails exchanged primarily between the board chairs regarding information and agendas. The messages are terse, and like all emails had the potential to stir up raw emotions if written or received in a tone not intended. A March 4 meeting between the consolidation teams was intended to smooth over the disagreements and was partially successful, b...
Superintendent Donita Stepan asked the Carlton school board to downsize staff by more than four full-time positions, including three teachers, during Tuesday’s school board meeting. Included in the cuts were one full-time position at South Terrace Elementary and the band program at the middle school/highschool. Declining enrollments and the accompanying decrease in revenue from the state have driven the retrenchment. In her remarks on the issue, Stepan pointed to the unassigned general fund balance — which should be kept to at least 16 per...
Public finance advisers Ehlers told the Carlton school board on Monday that a consolidation with Wrenshall would be close to revenue-neutral with only a slight decrease in state aid for the new combined school district. Aaron Bushberger, Ehlers’ municipal advisor, forecasted revenues that could be expected from a consolidation between Carlton and Wrenshall. Because the new district would be larger, it loses certain state aid to the tune of $61,000, which is partially offset by an increase of over $23,000 in the total tax levy, resulting in a n...
The Carlton school board received the results of the annual audit on Monday night and learned that this year’s deficit is lower than expected. Janel Bitzan of the accounting firm BerganKDV outlined the results via remote video presentation. “The amended budget called for a decrease [in the general fund] of $463,000. The actual was a decrease of about $65,000. So about $397,000 better than you anticipated the fund balance to come out,” she said. Why the big disparity between the anticipated and actual? Mostly it was federal dollars coming into...
Carlton school board filled its leadership positions at its organizational meeting Monday. Julianne Emerson was re-elected to her position as chair. This will be her fourth consecutive year in the role. To date, she has served on the board 11 years total, leaving in 2018 and returning in 2020 as a write-in candidate. Over her previous terms starting in 2010, she served as chair for six years. Salaries for board members were renewed without change. Board members receive $1,000 a year plus $40 a meeting. Based on the tentative schedule, a member...
Carlton schools superintendent Donita Stepan plans to relinquish her role as elementary principal at South Terrace Elementary and focus solely on her superintendent duties. Stepan wears two hats now, part of an arrangement conceived earlier this year as a cost-saving measure. With Stepan holding two positions and high school/middle school principal Warren Peterson working part-time, savings to the district could be in the range of $85,000 to $90,000. As the mid-school year approaches, it has become apparent to Stepan that South Terrace needs...
A new dawn for Carlton and Wrenshall schools appears closer than ever before, after Carlton school board members on Monday talked about moving ahead with consolidation. Carlton board members softened their position on a one-site-only plan Monday, agreeing to start with two facilities — a merged high school at Wrenshall and combined elementary at South Terrace in Carlton. The board left open a vision for construction of a combined one-site school down the line. News of Carlton’s willingness to proceed in earnest with consolidation was met pos...
Carlton teachers will receive a pay increase of 4.25 percent for the 2023-24 school year and an additional 2 percent for the 2024-25 school year, according to a new contract approved by the Carlton school board at its meeting Monday, Nov. 20. Other than that, there were few changes in the new contract with the Carlton Education Association, the union which represents teachers in the district, according to board chair Julianne Emerson. “The things that we really wanted to do is to raise salaries and raise the entry level salary,” Emerson sai...
Stormhaven Studios, maker of the "Embers Adrift" online video game, is operated by three members of the Cloquet High School Class of 2005: John Gust, Seth Anderson and Wade Larson. "North of the Great Chasm, humanity struggles to survive. Venture into the untamed lands, battle ferocious beasts and thwart treacherous schemes that would see your new home burn!" So reads the summons to videogamers who explore "Embers Adrift," the creation of Cloquet High School graduate John Gust and a few others... Full story
At their respective meetings Monday, the Carlton and Wrenshall school boards converged on a date to tour each district’s facilities. The boards will walk through three school properties beginning at 5 p.m. Nov. 13. The tours are the latest step as the boards work toward a potential consolidation between the districts. Because the tours are legally a joint meeting of the boards, the public will be allowed to join them. “People would not be restricted from following along,” Wrenshall super... Full story
At the committee of the whole meeting on Tuesday, Carlton school board members again took up the issue of consolidation with Wrenshall. Consensus formed around having superintendent Donita Stepan contact Wrenshall and arrange for both boards to tour the buildings of both districts, in response to a letter sent a month ago by the Wrenshall school board. In August, Carlton agreed to discuss a merger, but only on the basis of having one campus which would have to be at South Terrace, the current site of the Carlton Elementary School. In their...
Esko Schools superintendent Aaron Fischer told school board members Monday the construction of the new fitness center was progressing, but with unexpected costs. Previous work when the school was expanded in 1998 uncovered drain pipes that were no longer needed, but instead of being removed, were left in the ground. "It's a $10,000 cost to remove that because it was underneath our new fitness center," Fischer said. He also reminded the board of another issue, an extra door that a state reviewer...
The Carlton school board officially and unanimously appointed Graciana Studier as Indian Education coordinator Monday, replacing Kevin Kot, who was dismissed in June. Superintendent Donita Stepan was excited about Studier’s performance so far. “She’s doing a great job,” Stepan said. In her report to the board, Studier made it plain she did not wait for her official appointment to get started, describing how she took 12 students to a wild rice camp demonstration held at Chambers Grove Park on Sept. 15. The students had the hands-on experie...
Esko school board members voted Monday to add both boys and girls lacrosse to its slate of available sports starting in spring of 2024, following the same vote by the partnering Cloquet school board in August. The girls lacrosse team will be a cooperative of five schools including Hermantown, Proctor, Carlton, Cloquet and Esko. Board chairman Jerry Frederick wanted to know if five schools is too much. “Who would our competitors be with all five schools together?” he quipped. “You will be traveling … and that’s one of the challenge... Full story
After considerable debate and public input, the Carlton School Board resolved to begin talks with Wrenshall about consolidation, with the condition a new district would have only one location — at the South Terrace Elementary School site in Carlton. Currently, Carlton has both a secondary and elementary school while Wrenshall serves grades K-12 in one building. According to numbers provided earlier this month, Carlton projects 295 students this year, with Wrenshall budgeting for 325. Monday’s meeting began with a Truth in Taxation Hearing for...
