Chisholm School District hires business manager

CHISHOLM—The Chisholm School District has hired an individual to serve as the district’s business manager.

At the meeting on Monday the school board voted unanimously to hire Noah Kaczor and is working on finalizing a contract for the position.

Chisholm School Superintendent Mark Morrison said the district has a verbal agreement right now, and he’s anticipating a contract between the district and Kaczor to be included in the board’s next meeting on May 8. His anticipated start date is around May 20.

Morrison said the district is still in the process of filling the payroll position.

For the greater part of the past three years the Hibbing School District has provided Chisholm with business office services through a collaborative agreement.

The Hibbing School District earlier this year voted to terminate the agreement, effective June 30, which is the end of this fiscal year.

This marks the second time in a little less than a year that Hibbing notified Chisholm it would be ending the contract. Chisholm briefly hired its own business manager in March 2023, following notification from Hibbing, and by July had voted to eliminated the business manager position after a renewed interest in collaboration between the two districts.

Hibbing School Superintendent Rick Aldrich, following this latest decision to terminate the agreement, said in the past three years the Hibbing Business Office has undergone changes, and the current staff is being stretched too thin while providing services to both districts.

The board took up the following other matters on Monday.

• Approved roughly $1.3 million in bids for the school district’s building project. Bids for a metal wall panel, acoustic ceiling, and fire suppression were rebid at the recommendation of InGensa, the firm hired to serve as project manager.

As it stands now the project is roughly $3.7 million under budget allowing funds for other projects the district is considering.

The sum of the three bids came in at $1,337,289 bringing the total of the base bid and alternates to $27,755,308, according to InGensa.

• Authorized increasing the Superintendent’s spending authority from $5,000 to $50,000. The change allows for timely payment of items related to the construction project, but does not include any change orders, which must still come before the school board for approval.

• Approved a corrective plan from the Minnesota Department of Education. The plan is related to a lack of segregation of duties—a finding the district has experienced for the past 27 years, and is common to school districts with a small staff.