McDonald to step aside after 36 years in the Ely School District
Social studies classes in the Memorial Building won’t be quite the same next fall.
That’s because Tom Mc-Donald, Ely’s longest-tenured teacher, is retiring after 36 years with the Ely School District.
While McDonald will continue to coach the high school boys basketball team, he will leave a teaching position that he’s held since the fall of 1990.
McDonald has been the boys basketball coach the entire time, and in 2024 he was named to the state’s high school boys basketball coaches hall of fame.
School board members voted Monday to accept Mc-Donald’s retirement notice, and it was one of several personnel moves that figure to alter a still evolving - but difficult - budget picture for the 2026-27 school year.
Board members also accepted the resignation of science teacher Logan McLouth and a leave request from middle school instructor Kaley Hotaling.
Those moves, as well as the retirement of McDonald and longtime English teacher Jim Lah, who earlier this year notified the district of his plans to retire, will all shape next year’s budget.
Superintendent Anne Oelke said the decisions have forced another look at budget proposals for next fall, and that the district’s finance committee will come up with recommendations for reductions by the board’s May 11 session.
“This made us pivot a little bit,” said Oelke. “We’re being responsible and looking at when people resign or retire, it’s a good opportunity for us to look at what we have and see if we can fill from within.”
The moves have forced the district “to go back to the drawing board” on some potential reductions, Oelke noted, and the school board’s finance committee will look at options at an April 22 (4 p.m.) session and again May 4 before a board vote next month.
“We will come to the board with reductions on May 11 at the regular board meeting,” said Oelke. “This kind of pushed us back a couple weeks but we would rather be thorough and confident than rushed.”
As much as $600,000 may be needed to balance the district’s budget in 202627, but the district hopes to save as much as $195,000 by moving to a four-day school week, and a $213,480 gift from the Ely Educational Foundation will also help bridge the gap.
That still leaves nearly $192,000 to be cut, and earlier projections showed the district would save about $75,000 by reducing one teacher with another $50,000 in savings realized by a reduction in paraprofessional staff, a partial cut in the media specialist position and a $12,000 reduction in lobbyist expenditures.
But were it not for the EEF contribution and the anticipated move to a fourday week, the district would be eyeing cuts in Spanish, art, mathematics, physical education, music, special education, elementary teaching staff and administration, according to information released at a previous budget session.
Declines in student enrollment and rising costs have cut deeply into district reserves and led to deficit spending in each of the last five years.
Student population has tumbled from nearly 600 students in the late-2010s to current enrollment of 481.
That trend is expected to continue, with a high school graduating class of 38 this year, some high school classes in excess of 50 students and an incoming kindergarten class of 22.
The district also will likely bleed further revenue to Vermilion Community College, given projections that as many as 51 students will utilize the post secondary enrollment option program, which allows high school juniors and seniors to take courses at Vermilion and simultaneously receive high school and college credit. This year, there are 38 PSEO students. Ely has also lost students to the neighboring Vermilion Country School in Tower.
The district has already made major budget reductions in each of the last two years, but the impact in 202526 wasn’t as much as expected due to some higher than expected insurance costs and the addition of staff to accommodate student enrollment at a particular grade level.
In addition to the four-day week and budget discussions, the board approved numerous other items during their Monday meeting.
In other business, the board:
• Accepted numerous donations, including $11,000 from the Braun family for the newly renamed Bill Braun Memorial Press Box at Ely School Stadium, $5,000 from the Ely Rotary Club for the recent senior class trip to Washington, D.C., and $30,000 from the Ely Educational Foundation for the recently created district grant writer position.
• Hired Wendy Lindsay for the assistant track coach position and approved numerous volunteer coaches.
• Heard a report that 161 students are participating in spring sports activities, the highest number of any of the three seasons.
• Approved a contract with CliftonLarsonAllen LLP to provide audit services for 2026, 2027 and 2028.
• Hired Ammie Peterson for the temporary assistant cook position.
• Approved a leave request from employee Sheila Angus from Feb. 16 through the end of the school year.
• Approved the third and final readings of model policies related to dealing with communicable and sexually transmitted infections and diseases, notification of violent student behavior and development of parent and family engagement policies for Title I programs.
• Received the monthly enrollment report showing 481 students in grades K-12, which was down from 484 at the start of the school year.
• Received word that the district’s facilities team is exploring reductions to the athletic facilities project to bring the work within the $5.25 million budget.
The initial low bid from Max Grey Construction was for about $6.5 million, and once engineering and architectural fees as well as a contingency fund is established, more than $2 million must be slashed from the project that only had $4 million available for construction.
