The Crookston Community Education Advisory Board held its final meeting for the 2023-24 school year in the Crookston School’s District Office.
E.C.F.E. SPRING EVENT RECAP AND FALL PROGRAMMING
The meeting began with E.C.F.E. Parent Educator Gina Gunderson informing the board regarding E.C.F.E. program updates. The Crookston E.C.F.E. is wrapping up its spring programming.
Gunderson gave recaps about events such as the Celebrate the Young Child (CYC), which hosted 134 children and parents and 40 volunteers to help run the event. “We had our Celebrate the Young Child family festival in April,” said Gunderson, “This was a lot of fun, and it was a great opportunity for families to come out and play with their kids and find out what’s happening in the community and from local entities to find resources that are available to them.”
The Dolly Parton Library program was also highlighted during the meeting. This program continues to draw participation from students at Washington School and Highland Elementary. This year, there were 202 total participants, and 72 students graduated from the program.
E.C.F.E. programs will discontinue on Saturday, May 18, and throughout the summer. Families that participate in the E.C.F.E. will have an opportunity once a month (through August) for E.C.F.E. play dates in local parks; however, those will be the only events scheduled during the summer. Gunderson also explained that those dates are not set, but notices will be sent out soon when those dates are finalized.
SUMMER PLANS AT WASHINGTON SCHOOL
The Crookston School Board voted to keep Washington School in March after the city offered to purchase the building for childcare services. The school district has opted to keep the building, which will continue to be used as a preschool. “The benefits of keeping (Washington) as a preschool is that we’ll hopefully have an opportunity for parents to have their kids grow and learn,” said Crookston School District Superintendent Randy Bergquist, “Ultimately, the goal is to keep those kids from preschool, all the way through 12th grade. From a Superintendent’s standpoint, the more kids we have, the more money we get from the state. From a parent’s standpoint, it’s a great way to have your kids start their learning path early.”
Washington School will begin its summer programming with ‘Safety Town’ for incoming kindergarten students during the first week of June. Safety Town covers safety rules and procedures that are crucial for young children to know. “We cover topics like stop, drop, and roll in case of a fire, how to call 911 appropriately,” said Washington School Principal Denice Oliver, “We set up the Washington School gym as a little town with roads, railroad tracks, and sidewalks, and the Crookston Police Department are on the town every day, and the kids can practice their seatbelt rules while riding in the car.” Safety Town will take place from June 3-7, and registration has already reached capacity with 45 students. Along with Safety Town reaching total capacity, Summer Care at Washington School has filled quite quickly and is not accepting new registrations.
School Readiness will also take place this summer, with Washington School looking to utilize all six of its classrooms for incoming preschoolers. Parents can register their kids (ages 3-5 years old) for either the half-day or full-day programs. Three-year-olds can only register for the half-day program, and four and five-year-old students can register for the full-day program. “I think the beauty of having Washington (school) open is having the capacity to grow if we are able to do that,” said Oliver, “We have a collaborative with Head Start (Tri-Valley), and that’s part of our voluntary Pre-K grant that we received from the state, and we collaborate with Head Start to offer a classroom there.”
Parents will have another opportunity to register their children for Early Childhood Screening on August 7 at Washington School if they missed the first screening opportunity in March of this year. It is required from the Minnesota Department of Education that children who turn three years of age by January 1, 2024, and four and five-year-olds must partake in the Early Childhood Screening.
The meeting concluded with board members discussing ideas on ways to further improve the Community Education Board meetings and the subjects that will be covered during the 2024-25 school year. “We’re finding ways to offer different things to community members and provide what’s needed in our community from birth to 99 years old,” said Oliver. It’s nice to have the experts around the table to help with the planning of all of that.”
