HIBBING — The Hibbing School Board voted 5-1 to close Greenhaven Elementary School at its meeting Monday, March 30.
The district estimates closing the school, which serves second and third grade, will save it at least $516,000 as it works to address a $2 million budget shortfall. The closure will be effective June 30.
About 50 people attended the meeting in the Hibbing High School Auditorium, most of whom to hear the Board ratify its contract agreement with AFSCME Local 480. The union approved the contract in a vote shortly after the Board meeting.
Acting Superintendent Carrie McDonald and Acting Board Chair Kim McLaughlin both acknowledged the emotional toll of the Board’s decision to close Greenhaven. McDonald was previously the Greenhaven principal.
“We recognize that this carries real emotion. It carries uncertainty and, for many, a sense of loss,” McDonald said. “Please know that we see that. We hear that and feel it as well. This is not a decision that has been made lightly.”
“This is gut-wrenching, and I share what Superintendent McDonald has said,” McLaughlin said. “And I just want the community to know we are all on the same team.”
Parents have expressed concern, online and at a public hearing Thursday, about plans to move the sixth grade to the high school as part of the reconfiguration. Under the current plan, sixth grade will be self-contained on the third floor, and second and third grade will move to Lincoln.
McDonald said the plan is designed with long-term stability in mind.
“For example, if we were to place second grade at Washington Elementary and keep sixth grade at the Lincoln Middle School, there is a strong possibility we would need to shift grade levels again if enrollment increased K-6,” she said.
“ ... What we need as a district right now is some stability. Our priority is to stabilize the district finances and begin rebuilding trust with our community. I am concerned that making adjustment now that could require additional changes shortly after would create further disruption for student, staff and families so soon after this year’s transition.”
Budget woes
The savings from the Greenhaven closure will mean cutting roughly five to seven fewer teachers, according to McDonald, as the district looks to find an additional $1.5 million in cuts in the coming weeks.
The forces impacting Hibbing’s budget are not unique to the district: unfunded mandates from the state, the loss of one-time COVID-19 dollars and declining enrollment are impacting districts across the state. Bemidji Area Schools was also considering closing an elementary school because of budget cuts.
But the present fiscal health of the district is uniquely precarious. Hibbing’s unassigned general fund, essentially its savings, dropped to just $20,000 by June 2025, an audit revealed in December. Districts are generally recommended to maintain enough savings to cover 10% of its expenses; that would be roughly $4 million for Hibbing.
The district began dipping into its general fund in the 2018-19 school year and has yet to stop.
In an interview after Monday’s meeting, McLaughlin acknowledged that in the district’s 2024-25 budget, projected expenses more than revenue — by about $576,000. But she said the Board thought it had enough reserves to sustain that.
Instead, the audit showed expenses were $2.1 million more than the budget counted. According to the audit, salary and benefits were the greatest increase in expenses, including required additional special education staff and a 12% increase in insurance premiums. McLaughlin also pointed to lower-than-projected enrollment, which means less revenue than expected.
For 2025-26, the Board in June 2025 passed a budget with a $334,000 projected surplus. But after the audit, administration took a deeper look and found another nearly $2 million shortfall — or about $830,000 in overstated revenue and $1.1 million in understated expenses. This prompted the release of $4 million from the district’s Other Post-Employment Benefits fund to stabilize the budget situation. But these dollars must be returned so the district can keep its promises to retired employees.
“Our goal is to be able to regrow that fund balance and recalibrate,” McLaughlin said.
The future of Greenhaven
Chair John Berklich was the sole vote against the closure.
“Because all these years, I told people I represent the majority,” he said in an interview after the meeting. “And [there were] all the people that called up and asked for that kind of vote.”
Berklich said he’s still working on measures to prevent the closure, such as leasing it for a year or two.
“It’s more than an idea,” he said. “And hopefully, it will come to fruition.”
The Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency expressed interest in purchasing Greenhaven around the same time the district’s administrative team started exploring facility consolidation, McLaughlin said. The district approved an appraisal after the nonprofit reached out.
Some residents have questioned the decision to close Greenhaven, rather than another building, as it was updated just last year, using grant funding from the state Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation.
McLaughlin said Greenhaven has fewer classrooms than Washington or Lincoln, and the district wouldn’t have enough space if it closed one of those schools instead. She also noted that Greenhaven is farther away from the rest of the school’s facilities. The other schools are all within one-third of a mile of each other, with Greenhaven roughly a mile farther south.
Nothing is set in stone for the sale of the building, and there is no timeline in place for when a decision may be made. McLaughlin said the hope is to keep the skating rinks and playground if the building were to sell.
“You know what, I’m going to be optimistic, that if it doesn’t sell, something is going to happen up here and our enrollment is going to increase and then we’ll move forward and we’ll have that facility,” she said.
Public hearing highlights resident concerns
About 100 people attended a public hearing Thursday night, March 26, in the auditorium at Lincoln Middle School.
McDonald gave a presentation lasting about a half-hour, explaining the circumstances and how the Board arrived at its options for addressing the budget.
"At the heart of every decision we make is the belief that our buildings matter, but our people matter more," she said.
Eleven community members took the opportunity to address the Board with their concerns, suggestions and predictions on how a closure might affect the Hibbing School District.
Concerns about sixth graders moving to the high school topped the list of comments. Along with a dedicated area for that grade, McDonald said an overall middle school model will be developed within the high school. She noted the district would also seek to maintain recess time and field trips for the younger students.
But several of those who spoke addressed impacts to student safety and whether those that age were emotionally ready.
Justin Fosso, who serves as a member-at-large on the Hibbing City Council, said even with a planned middle school model, moving sixth graders to the high school was a major shift that deserved more community discussion.
"Instead of closing Greenhaven, we should be exploring how to use it more effectively through community partnerships, expanding programming and creating multi-use approaches that keep the building active and valuable," he said. "Greenhaven can be part of the solution, not a casualty of the problem."
His wife Kalee Fosso spoke next, reiterating the big change it would be for not only sixth graders, but also seventh graders, who would move back to the high school after moving to Lincoln in the 2024-25 school year.
"These are younger students with different academic, social and emotional needs, and they deserve an environment designed for where they are, not one built for older students," Kalee Fosso said. "Moving sixth grade also creates new issues and takes away the experience that makes that year special: things like safety patrol, book fairs and even simple traditions like Popcorn Fridays and the Color Run. They matter."
After the meeting, Kalee Fosso said she's heard from around 30 Hibbing families considering pulling their children from the district if Greenhaven is closed.
Jennifer Johnson is the mother of a fifth grader. She said this grade has been through a lot, as they were in kindergarten when the COVID-19 pandemic began.
"They've lost a lot. They've had a lot of hurdles," Johnson said. "I know the finances are bad, but they don't care and they don't need more things and adult problems on their shoulders. They are not ready for the high school."
Between grade-level changes in the buildings after the 2023-24 school year and renovations completed at the end of the 2024-25 year, some teachers have packed up twice in the past two years. Second-grade teacher Jen Forer described the roller coaster that teachers and students at Greenhaven have faced with those recent moves.
"As last August got closer, the staff was growing more and more excited to get in the building and to unpack our belongings in the beautiful new classrooms," Forer said. "We loved our bright classrooms, our updated hallways, gyms, library and the cafeteria. We unpacked our supplies, and could never have imagined that we would be faced with packing things up yet again.
" ... Now because of circumstances beyond our control, we are faced with some uncertainty and packing again to move to a different school, leaving behind these beautiful rooms that provide space for students to grow and learn and be successful."
Twin sisters Ashton and Morgan Martin read back to back from a single prepared statement, saying the Board should take a tough look at administrative pay. Ashton Martin noted the median household income in Hibbing is about $55,000, while the superintendent's salary will be about $197,000 in 2027.
"Our community sent a clear message in November of 2025 when they rejected the tax referendum," Ashton Martin said. "The voters did not say that they don't support our schools. Rather, they said they don't support the current spending priorities.
" ... Before we take a wrecking ball to a community pillar like Greenhaven, we must first ask, why haven't we looked at the administrative office first? Closures are permanent. Salaries are negotiable."
Citizen committees to be formed
Hibbing Public Schools is forming a Middle School Model Committee to help design how sixth through eighth grades will be supported within Hibbing High School as part of the three-building configuration model.
This committee will include staff, students and parents. The district said the goal of the group is to help develop recommendations related to student scheduling and transitions, student supports and programming, dedicated student spaces, and developmentally appropriate middle school structures within the high school setting.
Those interested in joining the committee can fill out an interest form.
McDonald said she would also look to develop a planning committee between Greenhaven and Lincoln staff to prepare for the consolidation.
