Clearbrook-Gonvick School board September 21, 2026
Clearbrook-Gonvick School board meeting September 21, 2026
The Clearbrook-Gonvick School board met in regular session on Monday September 21, 2026. The regular minutes of the previous meeting of August 17 were approved.
Principal Tharaldson Josh Tharaldson had back to school events and first week of school. There was an elementary Open House/Entrance Conferences and High School Open House both went well and had positive feedback from families and staff. He thanked the staff for their patience and flexibility during the first few weeks of school with the front door /roof project. The Elementary teachers screened 7th-10th grade classes to get baseline data on their students in reading and math. Students will again be screened during the winter and spring. This information will provide teachers with another set of data on student levels in math and reading. This is the 6th year of using FastBridge and the data is used by ADSIS & Intervention Teachers and Staff for student placement.
Current enrollment with 3 open seats in 7th, 1 in 8th, 15 in 9th and 10 in 10th.
Upcoming events include September 29 Picture Day, October 1st – HS Parent /Teacher Conferences, 4:00-7:00 p.m. October 15-16 – No school, EM Break.
Superintendents report Ryan Grow expressed his appreciation to the school board for School Board Month. They still have an opening for a Technology Specialist, and head varsity and baseball coaches. He went over the Permanent School Funds that was formed in 1850. Money was set aside to support public primary and secondary education. These funds are generated from state-owned public lands, natural resource revenues like timber, iron ore, and oil/gas royalties. There was $675 million in 2010 and has grown to more than 2.3 billion in the fund that would be distributed to school districts by the per pupil unit. It would go from 2.5% to 4.5% for the school districts if the ballot passes. That amount for the Clearbrook-Gonvick District would be about $48,000 and Bagley would get $90,000 because of the number of pupils attending. Voters must vote on it to change the structure of the school fund. It does not involve any new taxes and if you do not answer the question, it will be taken as NO vote. If it does not pass the money will be doled out at the same rate as previous which will be about half of the previous rate. There will still be money available for the next years at the new rate. There are MSBA workshops that the board can register to attend. They were to let him know what they would like to do. The Legislative session for 2027 will be a budget session and he stated that the school districts would not expect much. They are about done with the auditors and they should have the numbers at the October meeting. Buildings and grounds with the windows and doors in the front with 8 to 10 more days and then the sheet metal to finish. The roof will be done in October. Tremco comes in each week to inspect the work. The enrollment is down to 473 with transfers out. Five home school, 7 online students, 3 out of state, 3 others and 1 private. The sale of the district owned buses to Superior Transportation was $222,000. A report from Food Service was that they will not be offering free summer food program in 2027. It was not cost-effective and the numbers were down.
The Consent Calendar was approved with $400,852.24 for non-payroll and $215,651.24 for payroll. The bond proceed investment less draw – IAQ project was $2,700,000.00 to Construction account. $178,417.55 is left in the account. Payments included: Wagner Plumbing & Heating Inc. $16,950.00; ISD #318 Grand Rapids Publish Schools; Marco $11,235.93; Naylor Heating & Refrigeration $10,012.82; Clearwater-Polk Electric $7,781.42; BSN Sports $4,539.83; Listrom’s Disposal Inc. $3,510.00; Pink’s Repair LLC $3,391.39; Clearwater County Treasurer $2,962.50; Farmers Publishing Company $2,189.64; Northland Conference $2,100.00; Wagner Plumbing & Heating Inc. $2,078.50; ISD 31 Bemidji $1,493.91; Dick’s Plumbing & Heating of Bemidji $1,381.83; Kelly Services 41m,134.87; Garden Valley $1044.81
New Business
The Board accepted the resignation of Cheyenne Burman as Paraeducator. The board hired Abigail Torgeson as Part-Time Cook at .25 FTE Step 3 for $17.92 per hour. Also hired were Keisha Dunbar as Paraeducator at Step 1 for $17.28 and Alex Narveson as Paraeducator at step 8 for $19.86 per hour.
The board approved a salary land advancement for Abigail Ek from BA 20 to BA30.
The contract between Clearwater County Public Health and Clearbrook-Gonvick School was approved at $47,000 for the year. That was up $4,473.00 over last year due to raises at the county level.
They certified the preliminary levy at the maximum limit and that could be lowered in December.
The truth in Taxation meeting will be held at the December Regular School board meeting on Monday, December 21.
The next regular school board meeting will be on October 19, 2026. A strategic planning session will be planned for a Wednesday when that has been decided.