CLOQUET — American Indian students attending Cloquet High School or Fond du Lac Ojibwe School will continue to have the option to participate in all of the Minnesota State High School League-sponsored activities offered between the two schools under a pending new three-year agreement with the MSHSL.
The Cloquet School Board voted unanimously to pass the agreement at its Monday, May 9, meeting, while the FDL Board will hold its vote on the agreement at its next meeting on June 3. Approval by the MSHSL is also required before the agreement is officially implemented.
The pact, which would go into effect July 1, 2022, and remain in effect until June 30, 2025, was originally established in the summer of 1990 as a way to reduce dropout rates among American Indian students in the districts by encouraging participation in extracurricular activities.
Under the conditions of the agreement, a student at Cloquet High School may compete in football, for example, during the fall season before participating in basketball for Fond du Lac Ojibwe School during the winter.
One-year of varsity ineligibility is required if a student wanted to return to Cloquet High School to play basketball after playing one year with Fond du Lac Ojibwe School.
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Renewal of the agreement between the districts and the MSHSL is required every two years.
Cloquet Transit Company contract renewed
In other business, the Cloquet School Board unanimously approved a new two-year transportation contract with the Cloquet Transit Company.
The contract will officially go into effect Aug. 1, 2022 and will remain in until July 31, 2024, with an option to extend for an additional two contract years for 2024-2025 and 2025-2026.
The first year of the contract includes a 4.1% increase in student transportation service costs with projected regular route expenses amounting to $828,864, up from $796,222 projected for this year.
The increase in costs comes as a result of labor shortages and increases in fuel prices.
“They’re facing the same concerns that all of the rest of us are with keeping bus drivers, staff and fuel, so we felt like that was a pretty reasonable request based on recent history and some of the pressures that they’re facing,” Superintendent Michael Cary said.
