The Crookston Public School District’s Safety Committee meeting on Wednesday night to discuss different issues in each school in the district in the Crookston High School Atrium.
OLD BUSINESS
The board began the meeting with Northwest Service Co-op Health & Safety Project Coordinator Brian Byklum reporting they had done some drug and alcohol testing recently and said they would bring that up for the school’s transportation department over the next two months for them to be tested without any forewarning to get the most accurate results “The testing is for the transportation department and the bus drivers, and it’s random,” Brian Byklum explained. “So I won’t let Transportation Director Rick know until the day of or the day before I show up, so the drivers that are going to be tested don’t know about it until that day.”
Community Projects Travis Oliver reported that after they had heard complaints about loose chairs in the Crookston High School Auditorium, he had gotten five students from his Community Projects class to fix the chairs and re-anchored them to the floor. The school had received reports of the entrance being slippery and requested the school to lay down more carpets to prevent injuries or incidents.
Byklum explained he ordered the Lead Water testing kits from Twin City Water to test the school’s drinking and cooking water to test if it was safe for the students to consume and staff to use. He had ordered the kits recently and was hoping to receive them to test the water over the next two to three weeks.
NEW BUSINESS
Byklum reported he had printed out a Safe Schools Training Log and that he was taking the bus drivers and four others who the school no longer employed off the list of people who had to complete it, which left them with seven employees who still needed to complete it.
Byklum then explained he had completed actions for the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act (EPCRA), which deals with chemicals that exceed certain limits in weight or the number of gallons, and made a report of it to Homeland Security. “The School District has to report that to Homeland Security that they have that quantity of chemicals on hand. Whether it’s, in this case, here in the district, we have 10,000 gallons of diesel fuel at the bus garage and 2,000 gallons of gas. Then we have four 1,000-gallon tanks of propane here at the High School that have to be reported to Homeland Security.” Crookston Transportation Director Rick Niemela reported they had completed the forms and sent them to Homeland Security and a copy to the Crookston Fire Department for review.
Byklum then reported on issues he had received about the eyewash station in the High School woodshop class and found that the flow for the two fountains was not even. “According to OSHA requirements, you have to have an even flow of water, and it currently doesn’t provide that, so I recommended that they have that replaced,” Brian Byklum explained. “So, the school will either purchase the eyewash or have a plumber purchase and come in to install it.” Byklum also requested Travis Oliver to conduct other housekeeping issues that needed to be done daily to prevent slip hazards for the students to prevent any accidents in his classes.
The Committee then opened the board to any reports from the members. Tammy Warcken of Highland Elementary School reported that there were lights flickering and going out in the school’s parking lot since the week before Christmas when the temperatures dropped extremely low and requested for Rick Niemela to check them. Niemela reported that they would look into repairing it in the summer with other summer repairs and projects.
The Crookston Public School Safety Committee will next meet on Wednesday, March 15 in the Crookston High School Atrium.
