Curriculum and staffing issues, financial and tax impacts and other concerns are listed among the Carlton School Board's top priorities when considering long-range plans for the district. The board held a working meeting Tuesday, March 9, to discuss these priorities to guide future plans.
This comes after the board paused consolidation talks with Wrenshall in February and began considering tuition agreements with the Cloquet School District. In order to guide the district, board members developed a list of priorities and started conversations about what they each viewed as their top three priorities. However, board members soon shifted to bundling the priorities together.
"I feel like some of these just go hand in hand and can't be separated out," board member Ann Gustafson said. "Staff development dovetails into curriculum and student priorities. We can't really talk about one without the other."
"The same can be said for district financial stability and the impact on taxpayers," board member Eryn Szymczak said.
Superintendent John Engstrom reminded board members that they were working on an initial draft and that they could make changes as they saw fit.
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"We'll keep playing with this and working with it and once we feel like we're ready, we can put the options through the various priorities and work through the details," Engstrom said.
Board Chair Julianne Emerson said she wanted to hear from all board members before proceeding, as Sam Ojibway and Timothy Hagenah were both unable to make the meeting.
The board will continue to work on the document at the next board meeting Monday, March 15.
