Cloquet schools lay off 23 probationary employees as district balances budget

CLOQUET — The contracts of 23 probationary employees of Cloquet Public Schools were terminated by the Cloquet School Board in a bid to protect the positions of tenured staff while the district confronts an estimated $2 million drop in revenue.

The decision came on Friday during a special meeting of the Cloquet School Board, which unanimously voted to terminate the contracts.

“We have a lot of really good people that unfortunately will not be with us next year, and we wish them the best,” Superintendent Michael Cary told the board.

The shortfall is primarily due to an approximate $1.7 million in grant funding that is set to expire. This is coupled with declining enrollment — primarily in kindergarten — that is estimated to cost the district another $300,000 in revenue. The reduction in staff will save the district an estimated $1.6 million, according to Cary.

The grants set to expire are the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, which was made possible through COVID-era federal funding that provided roughly $3 million to the district over the past three years, and the Comprehensive Literacy State Development Grant, a federal grant awarded to the school for the past seven years that provided around $700,000 annually.

The grants provided funding that allowed the district to fill 17 full-time jobs. The ESSER grant provided funding to employ interventionists, paraprofessionals, counselors, a physical education position and a media specialist, while the Comprehensive Literacy grant employed six literacy coaches and a family engagement coordinator.

Though the positions made possible by grant funding are being eliminated, the employees filling those positions aren’t all being cut. Instead, the district plans to move them into other positions if they are tenured.

“Who was actually going to be out of a job this spring wasn't terribly clear,” Cary told the Pine Journal.

If the district can save a tenured employee's position by moving them into another position, which results in a non-tenured employee being cut, the district is required by contract to do so. Accordingly, the district is moving tenured employees filling grant-funded positions to other positions for which they are qualified. The shuffle created a domino effect which was intended to bump out probationary employees who could be cut.

Staff filling positions funded by ESSER funds were made aware upon their hire that their position was contingent on grant funding and that it was expected to expire, Cary said. However, the situation was complicated by some employees achieving tenure while filling those grant positions.

“I think they took time and great care ensuring that our people have positions,” said Collette Lenarz, a Cloquet Middle School social worker who represents the district’s teachers’ union.

Lenarz commended the district’s administration for not having any tenured employees take a leave of absence and for minimizing the movement of tenured staff to different buildings.

Because tenured employees generally earn higher salaries than probationary employees, the district has to lay off a greater number of probationary employees to maintain the salaries of the tenured staff who will be taking their place.

Cary insisted the impact on the students will be minimal.

The positions funded by ESSER were largely aimed at providing specific support for issues faced by schools during the pandemic. As pandemic-related problems began to subside, the positions became less necessary, according to Cary. Positions funded by the Comprehensive Literacy grant largely supported teachers to improve instruction in the classroom.

“I feel like we're going to be able to continue to do a strong job of providing a good education for the kids even in their absence,” Cary said.

The staffing changes will be most noticeable at Cloquet Middle School, which will see the biggest staffing change, Cary said. However, the impact of staff having their contracts terminated is largely concentrated among elementary and special education teachers, a large number of whom are probationary.

The proposed terminations do not reflect the district’s management of its budget, Cary insisted. With the reductions now in place, Cary is hopeful that the district’s budget will remain stable into the next year.

“We're really hopeful that our budgets stay stable for the next few years and that our enrollment stays stable so that we don't need to consider much in the way of future cuts,” Cary said.

Though the district successfully shuffled staff without laying off a single tenured employee, very few probationary staff now remain. This could leave the district especially vulnerable if it runs into any unforeseen budgetary issues and could make future layoffs even more difficult.

The School Board terminated the contracts of the following employees, though some of the employees will be rehired under new contracts:

• Joseph Backus, a social worker at Cloquet High School.
• Lindsie Biggerstaff, a speech teacher at Churchill and Washington Elementary schools.
• Anneliese Braaten, a sixth grade teacher at Cloquet Middle School.
• Zoe Bystrom, an elementary teacher at Washington Elementary School.
• Elinor Cich, an elementary teacher at Churchill Elementary School.
• Danielle Dupuis, an American Indian Education Program interventionist at Cloquet High School.
• Lauren Empson, a part-time, long-term substitute teacher English teacher and part-time English teacher at the Cloquet Area Alternative Education Program.
• Kennedy Firkus-Houge, a special education teacher at Churchill Elementary School.
• Hailey Graves, an elementary teacher at Washington Elementary.
• Emily Hallgren, a special education teacher at Cloquet Middle School.
• Sarah Hartmann, a special education teacher at Washington Elementary.
• Madeline Jensen, a special education teacher at Cloquet Middle School.
• Crystal Jordan, an elementary teacher at Churchill Elementary School.
• Tyler Korby, a music teacher at Cloquet Middle School and an interventionist at Cloquet Area Alternative Education Program.
• Jodi Lorenz, a special education teacher at Cloquet High School.
• Jenna Lund, an Early Childhood Special Education teacher at Churchill Elementary School.
• Christina McMahon, an elementary teacher at Churchill Elementary School.
• Stephanie Nelson, a social studies teacher at Cloquet High School.
• Wil Osborne, a special education teacher at Northern Lights Academy.
• Brea Schminski, a title intervention teacher at Queen of Peace School and Churchill Elementary.
• Hannah Strand, a special education teacher at Cloquet Middle School.
• Taylor Thole, a Stronger Connections Grant Teacher at Cloquet Middle School.
• Nicole Zander, an elementary teacher at Washington Elementary School.

The story was edited at 6:43 p.m. on April 12 to remove a picture of a former school building and replace it with a current school building. It was originally posted at 5:29 p.m. The Pine Journal regrets the error.