Ely School District 2026 Election Guide

Contributed

Age on Election Day: 33

Community: Ely

Employment: I own a small business, Stonecatcher Consulting, where I provide strategy consulting to small business owners and leaders of mission-driven organizations. While building my business I work as an independent contractor doing marketing, crowdfunding, and community management for clients in the tabletop roleplaying, board game, and general "geek media" space. I also work and volunteer with Ely Community Resource for a few hours a week.

Please share any prior experience and education that you believe qualifies you for office.

I have worked with students kindergarten through college in some capacity for the last 15 years, most through serving as the Assistant Program Director for the Decatur Family YMCA's Summer Camp and worked in their Before and After School Program while in undergrad. I was a Sunday School teacher for kindergarten and first graders for about 10 years, and was a Campus Staff Minister for students, faculty, and staff for Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. I mentor an Ely high schooler and work with students through ECR.

I have a B.A. in Human Services with a focus in social work. I have an MBA, and am a local business owner working with other businesses and organizations in the community on building a foundational strategy that helps them better work towards their mission. I've served for 3 years on the Alumni Board of my alma mater, including becoming the Co-Vice President this year.

Why are you running?

I am running for school board because I care about the flourishing of the Ely community. I also am a trusted adult for many students in middle school and high school who talk about their school lives and peer interactions with me. Parents, knowing my investment in their students' wellbeing, have also shared their concerns and perspectives. I learned a lot through asking questions and listening about how a healthy future for Ely is tied to the thriving of our schools. I decided that the school board is a place where I can roll up my sleeves with the other board members and use my skills and experiences for the good of all students, parents and guardians, faculty, staff, and our community as a whole. As I continue putting down roots in Ely, I am excited for each opportunity to be a part of its flourishing well beyond my lifetime.

Why should voters elect you?

I work well on a team. I will ask good questions, not to stir the pot, to but to make sure we are living up to our mission as a school board. I can navigate well the nuance of situations and I have a lifetime of and listening to and working with folks who have differing opinions and frameworks than I do. I have a track record of advocating for our students, for forming intergenerational community, and for being all-in on Ely.

Please describe the roles and responsibilities of the office you are running for.

The school board members together create policies and processes for the district as well as provides financial and operational oversight and accountability. The school board also acts as a bridge between the community and administration, navigating a variety of input on important topics impacting students, their parents and guardians, faculty and staff, and the community, to make the most informed and positively impactful decisions. As a board, they are meant to work together as a team, meaning no one person controls the decisions being made.

School board members don't control the day-to-day operations of the schools, including teaching methods teachers use in their classroom. They also are not responsible for the direct supervision of faculty or staff beyond the superintendent.

Name a public leader you admire and explain why.

I admire Jill and all she does as Executive Director of Ely Community Resource. She cares about all of the students as if they were her own, listens to their needs, and works to make sure their needs are met. She has the respect of her Board of Directors and her staff. Thank you, Jill!

What are your priorities, if elected? Please describe specific goals.

If elected:

1) I will advocate for a district culture where all students feel safe and want to come and learn.

2) I will support the financial stability of the district while prioritizing faculty and staff jobs.

3) I will push for district performance measures that are publicly accessible, understandable, and clearly used to guide decisions.

What do you believe is the biggest challenge facing your district, and how do you plan to address it if elected?

I want Ely to stay an Independent School District. One of the ways to do that is to do what we can to minimize the students leaving the district because the school isn't meeting their needs. I would like to do an in-depth study about why families are choosing to not return to our schools, why students opt into specific PSEO options, what issues those in the schools daily see and experience, and any other factors in our sphere of influence as the school board.

What is one success in the district that you would offer support for as a board member?

I would support our district's connections with community organizations that, together, help us provide holistic services to students and their families.

Contributed

Age on Election Day: 72

Community: Ely

Employment: I'm retired

Please share any prior experience and education that you believe qualifies you for office.

I have been involved in public education for virtually my entire professional career. I have worked as a kindergarten and elementary school teacher, as a school principal, as a professor of education preparing teachers, and as a union president. I have a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education, a master's in School Administration, and a Ph.D in Teacher Education.

I have also served as a literacy and math consultant to schools in Northumberland (England), Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania as well on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico and the Tohono O'odham reservation in Arizona. For the past three years I have been reading with students in ECR's after school program once or twice a week.

Why are you running?

Serving on the school board is a way for me to use my academic preparation, my 45 years of experience in schools and my leadership skills in service to children and the local community. If elected my stance will be to seek the inpuit of parents, teachers, staff, students and the larger community as we work together to create the best school experiences possible for our students.

Why should voters elect you?

Voters should elect me because the focus of my work as a a board member will be
- Attending to the welfare of our children by providing excellent, inclusive, welcoming and expansive schools and by supporting teachers to meet the individual needs of students to the greatest extent possible; and
- A commitment to transparency and to insuring the voices of parents, faculty, staff, students and the greater community are heard and considered in the board's decision making.

In addition I bring to the board my life long commitment to schools and children, my academic preparation, and over 45 years of experience with public schools as a teacher, administrator, teacher educator, union leader and parent. This history enables me to take the "long view" on what is currently happening in schools, and on how past experiences might inform our current and future decisions.

Please describe the roles and responsibilities of the office you are running for.

The school board oversees all aspects of the school district including budget and funding, proposing tax levies for operations and bonds for capital projects, school and district policies, the physical plant, contracts with unions, personnel matters, curriculum and insures that the district is operating within state and federal requirements. Whereas the board oversees these functions, direct responsibility for many of these tasks is delegated to committees of the board or to administrators, teachers, or staff as appropriate. As an elected body, the school board is ultimately responsible to the larger community of the school district.

Attending board meetings and study sessions and maintaining open communications with parents, teachers staff, union leaders and the greater community are key responsibilities of board members.

Name a public leader you admire and explain why.

Barack Obama.I feel President Obama's vision was of a country of many voices working for the good of all.My hope is that as a school board and a community we can embody that same vision as a community of diverse perspectives working together for the good of our children and the community.

What are your priorities, if elected? Please describe specific goals.

- Assessing the impact of our 4 day week on children, teachers, staff, parents and the community before making decisions about the future,
- Supporting teachers’ professionalism and autonomy, within the curriculum, to make decisions about meeting the needs of their students. Contemporary curricula and even state law tend to limit teachers autonomy. We need to protect that autonomy as much as possible.
- Insuring our schools remain open and welcoming to students and families of all religious beliefs and family structures, rather than teaching a single belief system. Recent attempts to specifically teach Christian beliefs in schools undermine this effort and violate the Minnesota constitution.
- Developing guidelines for AI use so it’s used as a tool for thinking and inquiry rather than for homework or writing.
- Making the school board more transparent and accessible by publishing more documents online and by broadcasting open meetings on Zoom.

What do you believe is the biggest challenge facing your district, and how do you plan to address it if elected?

Having sufficient funds to deliver and maintain high quality programs is clearly our biggest challenge. State funding continues to run far below actual needs. Current birth rates mean fewer students and thus less funding from the state while baseline costs such as salaries, fuel and building maintenance costs continue to rise. Finally, the tax base in small districts provides far less revenue than in larger districts. Whereas funding changes passed during the last several sessions will improve our funding to some degree, school funding in Minnesota remains fundamentally flawed and must be changed.

As a school board we’ll have to work with our unions and community to develop ways to decrease costs and increase revenues as well as working with other boards, communities and legislators to encourage the legislature to fix school funding so districts like Ely can continue to thrive and offer high quality schools.

What is one success in the district that you would offer support for as a board member?

Actually I have three;
- Careful attention to funding and wide consultation as the decision to move to a four day week was made;
- Success in securing funding for improvment in athletic facilities; and (in the future)
- An improvement in students' reading comprehension

KAXE did not receive a response from this candidate.

Contributed

Age on Election Day: (Field left blank)

Community: Ely - ISD 696

Employment: Roots Salon; esthetician

Please share any prior experience and education that you believe qualifies you for office.

Member of Ely's ECFE Parent Advisory Council

Why are you running?

For the love of Ely and education! Schools are the backbones of communities, and Ely is no exception. Ely deserves students who are prepared to be members of the community, and Ely students deserve a school that teaches them to be prepared for the real world, as well as good citizens of our town. As someone who is raising a future graduate of the Ely school system, I want to show my son it's important to be involved in issues you care about.

Why should voters elect you?

I am interested in being on the school board - not only as a parent, but as a citizen of Ely. This community has been incredibly generous to my family, and I'd like to be able to give back by working for our students and our school - as well as the community at large.

Please describe the roles and responsibilities of the office you are running for.

•Hire and evaluate superintendent
•Approve district's budget
•Monitoring district performance and goals
•Establish policies

Name a public leader you admire and explain why.

Costco founder Jim Sinegal. The CEO mentioned raising the price of hot dogs in the food court, and while Sinegal's response to this suggestion is maybe not fit to print, his commitment to keeping hot dogs affordable and seeking out a different solution to cut costs is admirable. He didn't want to compromise the integrity of the $1.50 hot dog and soda combo, Costco figured out a solution.

What are your priorities, if elected? Please describe specific goals.

Managing the budget, with current renovations.
Evaluating the success of the 4-day school week - how does it affect staff, students, and families? Is there enough community support? Are students able to keep up with their work? It won't be able to be properly evaluated until we're a bit into it, but seeing what things pop up right off the bat and figuring out how to manage them.

What do you believe is the biggest challenge facing your district, and how do you plan to address it if elected?

The budget! There are so many improvements to be made, both physically within the school and for things like curriculum and staff benefits/raises. Keeping an eye on the budget and trying to squeeze out every cent we can so that students are not negatively affected by any budgetary issues.

What is one success in the district that you would offer support for as a board member?

I think the district has had a really tough few years - between Covid, the budget, and the decision to go to a 4-day school week, there have been some really divisive issues. I admire how the board has been able to navigate through these issues, while being fair and civil.

KAXE did not receive a response from this candidate.

Contributed

Incumbent

Age on Election Day: 52

Community: Ely

Employment: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Parks and Trails District Supervisor

Please share any prior experience and education that you believe qualifies you for office.

Current school board member
Current member of school board policy and finance committees
Current member of City of Ely's Parks and Recreation Advisory Board
Over 18 years of professional experience:
- overseeing and managing large budgets, including dedicated funds
- building and facility maintenance, including building projects
- working with employees represented by various union contracts
- hiring, supervising, and coaching supervisory level staff
- listening and responding to constituents concerns and input at a state agency level
Active volunteer within our community
Parent of two Ely school students - a recent graduate and current 10th grader
Experience on other boards, including Minnesota North Advisory Board and Ely Blue Line Hockey Board
Iron Range area school graduate
Biology and Environmental Science bachelor's degrees

Why are you running?

I am running for reelection to the school board to continue supporting our school - the students, staff and teachers. Both my children have gained so much as students, I appreciate the opportunity to give back. I have truly enjoyed my term on the school board and would be honored to continue. I plan to support the implementation and evaluation of the 4-day school week, as well as support the development of a long-term budget that can maintain an independent school district for our community. The board has undertaken a number of large projects during my term, I would welcome the chance to continue this important work.

Why should voters elect you?

Voters should consider my commitment to our community, as well as my experience as a reason to vote for me. It would be an honor to continue my work on the school board. Ely is a wonderful place to live and raise our children. I want to support the school by continuing the work of the school board. My experience in budget management, project oversight, staff development and evaluation will serve my role on the board. My experience on various community boards and committees, including the current school board, shows commitment to the success of Ely. I am open and honest and value feedback. I welcome the opportunity to serve Ely on the school board and promise to do the hard work.

Please describe the roles and responsibilities of the office you are running for.

The school board is responsible for setting the direction and vision for the school.
The school board is responsible for hiring and evaluating the performance of the superintendent.
The school board is responsible for budget oversight with the administration team.
The school board is responsible to ensure school policies are up to date and meet school needs, as well as state laws.
School board members should be available for community member’s feedback and act as a voice for the community.
School board members should act as nonpartisan members to work together to find consensus to support the school.

Name a public leader you admire and explain why.

As she recently passed, I would say Dolly Parton. Dolly remained steadfast to her roots and her values while achieving global fame. As I think of what a successful leader embodies, I think of someone who lifts others up along the way while maintaining high standards. Dolly encouraged those around her, did not judge and celebrated successes. Her commitment to community philanthropy and children’s literacy brightened those around her.

What are your priorities, if elected? Please describe specific goals.

Declining enrollment is a long term trend that needs to be addressed. We need to continue engaging students and families in conversations surrounding academic needs, specifically families and students that leave our school for other educational offerings. As we continue to learn those needs, look for creative ways we can meet those needs within our district. Our school offers such a rich experience for our students, academic, sports and afterschool options, we need to strive to share this experience with new students and families.

Another priority this school year is the successful implementation of the 4-day school week for students, staff and teachers. As a board we must regularly evaluate this change with focus upon academic measures, community/staff/teacher feedback and budget impacts. We must continue to support teacher development within this new academic framework.

What do you believe is the biggest challenge facing your district, and how do you plan to address it if elected?

The biggest challenge would be establishment of long-term stable funding for our school district. In order to achieve this we need to continue communications and engagement with our stakeholders - community members, local businesses, government representatives, teachers, parents, other school districts - to find ways to give voice to our funding needs and look for new funding, partnerships and efficiencies. As a member of the school finance committee, I am proud of the work our superintendent and staff have done to look for creative solutions to maintain high educational standards amidst a budget shortfall. The work must continue.

What is one success in the district that you would offer support for as a board member?

Our school has much to celebrate for success!
Our students graduate with such well rounded high school experiences, supported by amazing staff, teachers, and community members that celebrate their success. As a board member, I take great pride in the school experience we offer our students in Ely
Another tremendous success within our school is the commitment to our facilities. The recent upgrades completed to the school, as well as the current sporting facilities upgrades are statements to the work being done to relay our needs to solicit funding. I am committed to work with the board to monitor current facility projects to ensure quality and adherence to budget, as well as continue to advance our ongoing needs for additional funding as opportunities arise.