New sports facility nears finish line

Weather permitting, it’s looking “pretty likely” that the homeless Cloquet football and soccer teams will get to play at least one game in the revamped athletic grounds this fall.

Superintendent Michael Cary is optimistic, but stressed there are no guarantees; but “if the option is there, we’ll take it,” he said.

Dylan Carlson, facilities manager for the Cloquet school district, told school board members Monday that workers are putting the final surface on the tennis courts this week, followed by the track surface next week. The turf field is filled with three layers of silica sand and crumbled rubber. Installation of the video scoreboard was expected to begin next week. Then it’s painting the track and tennis surfaces.

“We can almost see the finish line for that project,” Carlson said.

With the start of school, Cary told board members enrollment numbers bring mixed news. At 2,543 for all schools including CAAEP, total enrollment is up by 30 students from the end of last year. The concern, he said, is total enrollment is down by 27 from the opening of the 2022-23 school year.

“It’s not as bad as it seems,” he said. “That’s a head count, it’s not talking about how much each of those kids counts for their district coffers,” he said, explaining that 14 of the lost spots were for halftime programs. A smaller kindergarten class made up nine more spots.

He suggested the district consider keeping some grade levels — depending on classroom sizes — available for open enrollment past the usual ending date in late September.