William Kelley Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

After an 18-month journey, the construc­tion at William Kelley School wrapped up with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Thurs­day, November 12, 2024. The ceremony was held in the new choir room, and com­munity members gath­ered at 4:00 p.m. to hear special speakers and tour the building.

The afternoon be­gan with superinten­dent Gina Kleive wel­coming attendees and introducing the first speaker, Silver Bay Mayor Wade LeBlanc. Mayor LeBlanc rec­ognized WKS alumni and spoke about how he, his children, and someday his grand­children will graduate from the school. He also thanked Senator Grant Hauschild for securing funding for the building. “Stuff you don’t see – wir­ing, plumbing, water lines…all that stuff was 60 years old and now we should be good for another 60 years.”

Former superinten­dent Jay Belcastro spoke next. “I want to share just the amount of time the staff put into getting the com­munication out, talking about the why, meeting with different stakeholder groups, re­ally getting the vision together.” Belcastro discussed how infla­tion and supply chain issues pushed WKS over budget, and how students remained hopeful that the school improvements would be completed. He thanked those that se­cured funding to make up for going over budget, and thanked everyone else who supported the project. “I can’t tell you how proud I am to be part of this district and see the finished project.”

The next speaker was the Minnesota Senator for District 3, Grant Hauschild. “Education’s really important to me, and I think the reason that it’s really important is because I wasn’t really a very good student… certain kids just don’t really fit into the reg­ular way of things, and it really takes a… moment to really dis­cover a passion or an area that you have a strength in, and I had that in a swim coach and a teacher in my high school, and it re­ally cascaded into me having huge academic success.” He empha­sized how hard it is for students to find where they excel if they lack facilities or teachers to help them learn. Sena­tor Hauschild touched on the difficulties faced by more “rural” school districts, in­cluding the Lake Su­perior School District. He also emphasized how he intends to be a voice for mining com­munities in District 3, ensuring that these communities, includ­ing Silver Bay and Babbitt, receive fund­ing for what he termed critical needs, such as schools and infrastruc­ture. Hauschild con­cluded by mentioning a piece of legislation he and Representa­tive Roger Skraba are working on that will make sure seasonal recreational property owners will pay into the school districts in­stead of the funds just going to the state. He invited community members to reach out to him with questions and concerns.

WKS Principal Dan Johnson followed Senator Hauschild. Principal Johnson spoke about the flexibility “and extreme patience” the project required of staff, students, and community. “Last spring I would say we had anywhere from 70-80 contractors on site. There was a lot going on…last Monday it was the first day there were no contractors in the building.” Many community members, students, and staff volunteered to move fur­niture and otherwise help with the building project.

7th Grade Student Ki’Ryn “KJ” Johnson, one of the students who volunteered to move furniture, spoke next. “Oh, wow, there’s a lot of people in here,” KJ quipped, before giv­ing a brief overview of some of the improve­ments to WKS.

11th Grade Student and National Honor Society member Christina Kaiser spoke on behalf of William Kelley’s NHS members. “The construction means a lot to the stu­dents…William Kelley has been the same for decades with very little advancements. While you all know and love the old William Kelley, this construction shows our school’s ambition to improve the building…and has granted us an upgraded and more modern­ized environment to utilize.” Kaiser contin­ued, “The process of construction has not been easy for us students, but it has been a good experience. We’ve learned to adapt to many things.” Christina Kaiser concluded by thanking all those who worked and made the construction possible.

3rd Grade Student Rowen Bautch was un­able to attend, but his words were still read to attendees. “The new furniture and the wiggle stools are a lot of fun…really likes the new playground upgrades, including the gaga pit.”

The final speaker was ICS Project Ex­ecutive Ekalath Sophaphahn. Sophaphahn thanked everyone for coming to the ribbon cutting, and everyone involved in the project “from concept to completion”, including the community for approving the referendum, the school board and project oversight commit­tee, Steve VanHouse, Al Ringer, Dean Kor­ri, Jay Belcastro, Joe Nicklay, Gina Kleive, Dan Johnson, the business manager, business partners, and project architects.

After Ekalath Sophaphahn finished speak­ing, attendees gathered in the hall for the ribbon cutting and photo ops. The event con­cluded with NHS members giving guided tours of the school.

Thank you to community members and all who pulled together to see the William Kel­ley school vision become reality!