The Crookston School Board met on Tuesday evening and approved the summer programming schedule, a high bid on a skid steer, and several personnel items, including resignations, contract agreements, donations, and more.
SUMMER PROGRAMMING
The school board approved the summer programming schedule unanimously, with Jaclyn Tiedemann absent from the meeting as she is the co-head coach for the Pirate Girls Golf teamcompeting in the sub-section golf tournament in Roseau. The summer programs include community education programs such as Safety Town and Summer Care, the summer band and orchestra schedule, and the special education program.
Safety Town reached capacity again this year, and 42 students will participate in this year’s program. “I would say that 40 is our standard number, but we had so many who registered with good timing there that we allowed in 42 students. So we are very happy with that,” said Brandon Neibauer-Adams, Crookston Community Education Director. “We also got 14 high school volunteers to be mentors to these students. They help lead them around to the different stations and help the teachers with the week-long program.”
Another summer community program is Summer Care, which provides children from kindergarten to 4th grade with additional learning opportunities and continued reading. The program is fee-based, and the goal has been to involve as many students as possible to keep it financially feasible. “Originally, we had some numbers down, so we did some outreach to some of our families to see if they were interested in summer care,” said Neibauar-Adams. “We were hoping to have at least 20 students in it, and we were able to meet that threshold.”
The board also approved the summer band and orchestra schedules. The band, led by new director Zachary Lunde, is set for 40 hours of rehearsals over the summer in preparation for three performances: Ox Cart Days on August 15, the McDonald’s Marching Band competition at the Minnesota State Fair on August 30, and the UND Potato Parade on September 7. The schedule also incorporates lessons for sixth through eighth graders on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays in August. The orchestra schedule for director Lori Carlson includes lessons and Valley Fiddler rehearsals in August, Mondays through Thursdays.
OTHER AGENDA ITEMS
The board approved the termination and non-renewal of Crookston High School social studies teacher Brandon Lee in a unanimous vote. The decision not to renew Lee’s contract was made because the district decided to go in a different direction with the position.
“Brandon Lee is a terrific person. He does a fine job, but at this time, we felt that maybe it was time to go a different direction with that position,” said Randy Bruer, Superintendent of Schools.
The board also unanimously voted to approve the sale of a 2001 New Holland skid steer to Stoen’s Hydrostatic Service for a high bid of $4,000, which Bruer said was well executed by district staff, including Transportation/Building and Grounds Director Rick Niemela.
SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT
Superintendent Randy Bruer gave the board an update on the University of Minnesota Crookston athletic department possibly using the school district’s new track and field facilities, with the addition of Men’s and Women’s track at the university. Discussions about potential shared use of the high school’s track and stadium have been on hold since December, and reminded the board that any agreement with UMC would need to be approved by the state’s Board of Regents, which meets only about two or three times per year.
“We got a brand new facility here, and UMC would like to use it and vice versa, we want to use some of theirs,” Bruer said. “And we want to keep a positive reflection on the school and UMC because we both have something to gain here. So we need to itemize that use agreement with UMC so that both parties want to work with it.”
Another topic brought up by Bruer was the district’s plans for two 40-kilowatt solar facilities at the high school and Highland Elementary School, which were also put on hold in December to pursue a separate electric grant. With that grant period now passed, Bruer says it’s time to revisit the solar facilities plan to help with utility costs. “What this involves is putting two 40 kW solar units: one for Highland and one for the high school, where they generate some power for the school. From what I’ve heard, it’s probably a two to three-year payback, which is a good number,” said Bruer. “It’s a grant we could get that would pay 100 percent of it. So it can go on for 30 years, and something that I think would benefit our school district in electrical payments or utility bills.”
CONSENT AGENDA
The consent agenda items approved were a master agreement with the administrative assistants for the 2025-28 school years and the resignation of Alexis Durden, Brittany Dietz, and Victoria Bahr as special education paraprofessionals, Hansja Braam and Joe Guliekson as elementary teachers at Highland, Dr. Brittanie Watson as math teacher at the high school, Kory Baril as middle school social studies teacher, and Lon Boike as head boys soccer and assistant girls basketball coach.
The board approved employment agreements with Marilyn Wahouske, Jennelynn Sadudaquil as a special education teacher at Highland, Zachary Lunde as band teacher at Highland and the high school, Ashley Westerlund as kitchen helper at Highland, and Glynnis Winand as assistant cook at Highland.
The board accepted a donation of $8,800 from the Crookston FFA Alumni and Supporters for the greenhouse project, on behalf of organizations including Red Lake Electric Operation Round Up, Ottertail Power Company Foundation, Enbridge, and Polk County Soybean Corn Growers Association. In addition, $14,304.18 in donations were accepted, including $3,750 from the United Way of Crookston for the Summer Eat United and PATCH programs, $1,000 from Get Kids Outdoors Adam Parnow Memorial for the Itasca trip, $360 from an anonymous donor for the middle school field trips, $2,670.18 from the Polk County SHIP Grant for the greenhouse project, $1,100 from Wagner Mobile Welding & Repair Shop for softball uniforms, $300 from Loren & Marjean Sanderson for the Itasca trip, $1,343 from the Crookston FFA Alumni for transportation to the State FFA Conference, $1,781 from the Eagles Ladies’ Auxiliary for the special ed department, and $2,000 from Halstad Telephone Company for HTC scholarships.
The next Crookston School Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 22 at 5:00 p.m. in the Crookston High School choir/orchestra room.
