.jpg)
Ely School Board members accepted more than $40,000 in donations to the district on Monday, the bulk coming from the Ely Educational Foundation.
During a brief monthly meeting, the board heard reports, made several personnel moves and dealt with a large list of contributions.
The largest was a $12,200 gift from the EEF for a projector for the Washington Auditorium.
The organization also provided $6,000 for a Smart Board with a stand, $4,700 for floor hockey equipment, $3,800 for a floor mat and $2,800 for wall art.
Other contributions were for computer science ($2,380) an art grid ($1,890), the elementary end of the year carnival ($1,685), concrete for tables ($1,500), food for “Fresh Food Fridays” ($750) and funds for the high school Spanish class ($477).
Those weren’t the only donations on the agenda, as the board also accepted $3,360 from the Ely TD Club for weight room equipment, $1,000 from John Musich for the Bill Braun Courage Scholarship and a general donation of $1,015 from Vicky Cherne, with a match from the Land O’ Lakes Foundation.
Also Monday, the board was briefed by superintendent Anne Oelke about a working group that is looking at potential recommendations for spending $5 million allocated for athletic facility improvements.
The funds were set aside by legislative action last year and can only be approved for athletic facilities.
“We had a great first meeting,” said Oelke. “There were representatives of all of the (athletic areas), different coaches, our PE department, board members were all there. They already knew what the needs assessment said. This was more about further identifying needs and priorities and any available funding sources.”
The district’s facilities committee will get involved next.
“We’re compiling all of that information to bring back to the facility team and we’ll move forward from there,” said Oelke.
In other business, the board:
• Accepted the resignation of Jake Myers, Ely’s high school hockey coach. Myers is leaving the program after four seasons at the helm.
• Renewed the contracts of head baseball coach Frank Ivancich, head boys track coach Will Helms, and head girls track coach Jill Ellerbroek.
• Accepted the resignation of elementary teacher Elyssa Erickson, effective at the end of the 2024-25 school year.
• Hired Kayla Foy for a cafeteria aide position.
• Received a notice of intent to begin contract negotiations from the local AFSCME unit, which represents secretaries, cafeteria workers, custodians and other school staff.
• Hired Max Gantt as assistant baseball coach, Darren Visser as assistant boys track coach, and Beth Ohlhauser as assistant girls track coach.
• Approved volunteer assistant coaches including Derek Johnson (baseball) and Jayne Dusich (girls track).
