.jpg)
by Tom Coombe
Ely School Board members gathered Monday for the first time since the passing of longtime chairman Ray Marsnik.
Marsnik’s seat at the head of the table was empty, but a photo and floral arrangement were placed nearby and his colleagues paused for a moment of silence prior to the start of the regular board session at Ely High School.
Marsnik passed away in late-September at age 83, and after a better than 22-year stint on the board and 19 years as the chair.
Rochelle Sjoberg, who was appointed to replace Marsnik as chair for the remainder of the year, saluted Marsnik’s service to the district and said “he’s living on with all of us.”
“You get to be very close when working on this board, as family, beyond school,” said Sjoberg. “I know the amount of passion Ray had for this district, our staff, our students, this entire community. It was more than we ever could have hoped for.”
An Ely native and a retired teacher, Marsnik was known for his advocacy for public education, and particularly his attention to detail when it came to issues facing the Ely district or public education as a whole.
“The shoes are super, super large for all of us to make sure we keep up with how much Ray participated in,” said Sjoberg.
Board members dealt with business related to Marsnik’s passing, voting to appoint Sjoberg as chair and Hollee Coombe to Sjoberg’s previous post as board clerk.
Marsnik’s board seat will remain vacant for now.
He was not seeking re-election and his term on the board was to expire at the end of this year.
District officials consulted with the Minnesota School Board Association and opted not to pursue a process that could result in a new appointee for one or perhaps two regular board meetings.
Three seats, including the one that had been held by Marsnik, are up for grabs in next month’s school board election.
Marsnik started his teaching career in Lake County but spent the bulk of his career as an elementary teacher in Biwabik, which later merged with Aurora-Hoyt Lakes to become Mesabi East.
Not long after retiring in 1998, Marsnik moved back to Ely and was elected to the school board in 2001.
