The Crookston School Board met on Monday evening at the Crookston High School Choir/Orchestra room.
The meeting started with two people speaking during the public forum. The first was Crookston Interim City Administrator Daren Selzler, who provided a bit more information on the Housing Incentive program with the City of Crookston, which the board would vote on later in the meeting. The second person to speak to the board was Shawn Murphy, a father of two kids in the district, who was concerned on the possible closing of Washington School. Murphy asked what the cost of remodeling Highland School, and he added that the concerns of the public at the community meeting haven’t been heard and he hopes the board listens to the concerns they have.
MAIN AGENDA
STORM MAKE-UP DAY WILL BE APRIL 6
The district has had six storm days, forcing it to add another day of instruction to ensure students receive the legally required number of instructional hours. The board unanimously approved having school on Monday, April 6 (the Monday after Easter) to meet the state requirement. “We have had six storm days at this time. We have to look at the teacher contract days, but we also need to consider instructional days. The calendar shows that we have the seniors graduating early and have three fewer days of school. So we give more days to the K through 11 and fewer days to the 12th graders,” said Interim Superintendent Randy Bruer. “The Minnesota statute tells you the days and hours that students need to have. And if we don’t do something about that with hours, we could be short.”
SCHOOL BUS PURCHASE
The board unanimously approved the purchase of a 77-passenger Blue Bird School Bus, up to $200,000. The money for the bus has been budgeted and the district will save $2,500 by purchasing before April 1. “We’re going to buy a 77-passenger conventional bus, which is the one with the hood, which we went away from, and we’ve had the flat-nose ones for all these years,” said Crookston Transportation Director Rick Niemela. “The reason for that is the difference in price of $19,000 (between flat-nosed buses and those with the hood). We asked for it to be approved tonight rather than waiting until the end of June because there’s a $2,500 price increase that takes effect on April 1st. So we’re saving $21,500 essentially by approving that bus tonight.” The new bus will replace a 22-year-old bus with 212,000 miles.
TABLING OF ATHLETIC PURCHASE CONTRACT
The board unanimously voted to table a five-year contract proposal to purchase athletic equipment with either BSN Sports or Game One. The board wanted more information before making a decision.
HOUSING INCENTIVE PROGRAM
The City of Crookston asked for approval of the Housing Incentive program for 2026 and 2027. The board unanimously approved participating in the program, which provides a tax abatement for two years to someone who builds a home on a vacant lot in town, along with several other incentives offered by the City. “We’re trying to attract new residents, support the workforce, and try to just build the community for long-term vitality,” said Interim City Administrator Darin Selzler. “So the next steps will be presenting to the city council for approval. And then final to the county commissioners for the county to approve that, and then move forward.”
PURCHASE OF NEW CHROMEBOOKS
The board approved the purchase of 200 new Chromebooks. The purchase is in the budget as it is part of the four-year replacement cycle. The purchase is earlier than usual because the price will increase soon. The cost is $75,300. The Chromebooks come with Google Chrome management, a UBL rugged hard case, and a 4-year platinum warranty.
RIVERSIDE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL COOP
The board unanimously approved establishing a co-op with Riverside Christian School in East Grand Forks for boys’ and girls’ soccer and boys’ and girls’ tennis. Crookston High School Activities Director Evan Pederson said they expect to gain two or three in girls’ soccer, two to seven in boys’ soccer, and one or two in both boys’ and girls’ tennis. All the kids will be middle school age. The agreement is for two years, and a hockey coop agreement will wait another year since there aren’t any kids that would be on the team next year.
CONSENT AGENDA
The board approved the employment of Brittany Weber as a paraprofessional at Highland School and Wes Colburn as a part-time substitute custodian at Highland School.
The Seniority list was approved, with Sara Geist and Renee Tangquist at the top, beginning their employment in August 1993. Sue Wagner and Susan Erickson are next starting for the district in August of 1994.
The board reluctantly accepted the resignation of Girls Tennis Coach Gina Gunderson.
The Crookston Pirate Spring activities coaches were approved. They are listed at the bottom of the story.
Boys Tennis
HC – Pat Janorshcke
Assistant – Tanner Janorshcke, Robert Janorshcke
Softball
HC – Sara Bowman
Assistant – Kris Nelson
JH – Jennifer Ehlen
Volunteer – Katelynn Nordine
Baseball
HC – Tyson Siegle
Assistant – Cesar Espinoza, Jason Casavant
JH – Dan Halland, Kory Baril
Track and Field
HC – Lon Boike, Lisa Conzemius
Assistant – Jasmine Brennan, Kris MacGregor, Anna Berwanger
Volunteer – Shannon Dillabough, Tatianna Bannert, Garret Kolin
Boys Golf
HC – Steve Kofoed
Assistant – James Mathews
Girls Golf
HC – TBD
Assistant – Marley Melbye, Jaclyn Tiedemann, Evan Pederson
3 Act Play
HC -Andrianna Winger
Assistant – Allison Reinhart-Richards
Clay Targets
Volunteer HC – Randy Prudhomme
