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A longtime teacher in the Ely School District will move on at the end of the school year.
Ely native Frank Ivancich, a social studies teacher here since 1991, gave notice to school officials that he’ll retire and his retirement was accepted by school board members during a brief regular meeting on Monday.
One of Ely’s longest-tenured teachers, Ivancich has taught civics and economics, geography, U.S. and world history during the course of his three decades-plus in the classroom.
Ivancich has also been head coach of Ely’s high school baseball team since 2001, guiding the Wolves to four state tournament berths and previously being named the State Class A Coach of the Year.
Under Ivancich’s watch, a senior year tradition was born: the annual class trip to Washington, D.C.
Since 1995, Ivancich has led groups of Ely seniors on a whirlwind tour of Washington, one that has included visits with members of the U.S. Congress, tours of numerous landmarks and historical sites, and side trips to the Civil War battlefield at Gettysburg, Penn.
Later this week, Ivancich will take another group east and he has indicated he will continue to do that - and coach baseball - in retirement.
“Frank over the years has done an excellent job for us over many years,” said board chairman Ray Marsnik, before the board voted to accept Ivancich’s retirement. “It is my understanding that Frank will stay on and coach baseball and also lead the trips to Washington, D.C., so it was good news to hear that.” Once Ivancich retires, the district will have three teachers remaining who were part of a group hired during the early-1990s. They are social studies teacher Tom McDonald, English teacher James Lah, and math teacher Tim Omerza.
Frank Ivancich
• Also Monday, board members reviewed but took no action on a draft policy related to canceling school when Ely teams qualify for state tournament play in several sports.
The policy was developed in part to give school officials guidelines to determine whether to call off school when Ely teams travel 200 miles or more for state tournaments in volleyball, football, boys and girls basketball and hockey.
School was closed for one day each of the last two years when Ely’s volleyball team qualified for the state tournament in St. Paul, but that prompted discussion about a more formal policy.
As proposed, school would be closed if an Ely team makes the state tournament, their contest is held on a weekday prior to 5 p.m., and the event is 200 miles or more away.
The proposal also provides administrators discretion to implement an early release time to allow for safe transportation to a state tournament venue.
This week, Rock Ridge (Virginia/Eveleth-Gilbert) closed school for three days - Wednesday, Thursday and Friday - when its girls basketball team qualified for the state tournament.
In other business, the board:
• Reviewed a draft class schedule for the Memorial Building for the 2024-25 school year; • Renewed the contracts of numerous coaches including Ivancich (head baseball), Cory Lassi (head softball), Will Helms (head boys track), Rob Simonich (head golf), Megan Wognum (assistant softball), Max Gantt (assistant baseball), Darren Visser (assistant boys track).
• Approved numerous volunteer coaches for various spring sports.
• Reviewed policies related to board member ethics, out of state travel, employment background checks, and service animals in schools.
