Birch Grove Community School is scouting out alternative locations to the one in Tofte where a school has served area families for decades. School Board Chair Judy Motschenbacher and School Director Diane Blanchette asked the Schroeder Township Board on December 10, 2013 to consider the Schroeder town hall as a potential site.
Blanchette said they are looking at numerous potential locations and would like to figure out their options as soon as possible.
Why move since they are in a building that has always been a school? Schroeder Township Treasurer Alicia Kangas asked.
One advantage to moving west would be to get more students from the Silver Bay area, Motschenbacher said. “We need to increase our enrollment.”
“We want to know that we have options,” Blanchette said. The optimal location, however, is where they’re at, she said.
Charter schools generate annual lease aid of $1,200 per pupil, which amounts to $24,000 with the 20 students they have now. If they remain at the Birch Grove Community Center (originally ISD 166’s Birch Grove Elementary School), they may have to supplement that lease aid with general education dollars, Motschenbacher explained.
The community has gone to a lot of effort to keep a school on the West End, Blanchette said, and they would like to continue to have a school on the West End.
“It’s a real asset to a community,” Motschenbacher said.
“Our preference is obviously to keep it on the West End,” said Blanchette.
“We have to have a landlord that puts the school as a priority,” said Motschenbacher.
Blanchette indicated that the charter school is dealing with issues related to the roles of the school, the community center, and the township of Tofte, which owns the building. They will have more bargaining power if they have options, she said, and they want to do what’s best for the school.
Schroeder Board Chair Tina McKeever asked how they could help. Blanchette suggested that the board ask some questions officially as a board.
Schroeder Area Historical Society
Linda Lamb reported that the Schroeder Area Historical Society’s annual Christmas event at the Cross River Heritage Center was very successful. For the second year in a row, she said, someone who bought a quilt raffle ticket the day of the event won the quilt.
Monday game nights at the Heritage Center will begin again after Christmas. Lamb said they have been well attended.
Township park
Design engineer C.J. Fernandez went over the proposed plan for improvements to the township park and Baraga’s Cross area. The project could be done in stages with funding coming from a variety of sources. Fernandez cited several potential funding possibilities.
Fernandez said the design plan could be looked at as a “menu” from which the township could pick and choose what they want. The plans and estimated costs will be discussed at the township annual meeting in March. Fernandez said Beaver Bay has constructed a park of this scale.
Skip Lamb, on the task force that has been working on the plan, said he liked that fact that some of the potential features, such as information kiosks and observation areas, would be tied in with local history. The site was once the hub of the township, with a hotel and fishing and logging businesses operating there.
Building rental
The board voted to raise the cost for renting the town hall to out-of-towners for large gatherings to $200 in order to avoid taking business away from local businesses that could also host those events.
The board accepted an offer from North Country Crafters for a donation of four new eight-foot tables in exchange for two years of free rent (worth $50/year) for their annual craft event. This will enable the club to not have to haul tables from Tofte. The board discussed how to store all the tables safely and the possibility of having someone make some dollies so they could be moved around easily.
Terms up
The terms of Clerk Doug Schweke and Supervisor Roger “Bill” McKeever will be up in March. One of the elected officials said, “Don’t vote for me!”
Citizens are encouraged to consider running for office.
Fire and rescue report
“It’s cold and quiet,” Fire Chief Phil Bonin reported.
“Very cold,” said Bill McKeever.
“Quiet,” said Tina McKeever.
“That’s a good thing,” said Bonin.
Bonin reported that they had a few calls in the last month. He said they were awarded a grant from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for replacement of some worn equipment.
They need to be careful not to get the fire trucks stuck in the snow, Bonin said. A tanker could be ruined if it was full of water, got stuck in the snow, and froze up. He said one time a fire department truck got stuck and a county truck came to help and it got stuck, and two more rigs had to come and get them out.
Maintenance
The board discussed the challenges of keeping township roads plowed and sanded. Bill McKeever said they need to make sure the roads are sanded where they meet the highway. Greg Miron said that over the holidays, people from the Cities come up without four wheel drive and can’t make it up the hills. McKeever said it was helpful when the county came and sanded whenever they knew it was needed.
Recreation
Roger McKeever summed up the recreation situation by saying, “Play in the snow!”
Cemetery
Tina McKeever asked Supervisor Deb Johnson how things were going at the cemetery. “It’s pretty quiet,” Johnson said. “Everybody’s chillin’.”
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