The Crookston School Board met on Monday night in the Crookston High School Choir/Orchestra Room. The meeting featured multiple staffing approvals and accepted bids for milk and bread for the upcoming school year. The meeting also included the approval of a long-term ten-year maintenance plan.
CONSENT AGENDA
The consent agenda included the approval of Sutton Junkermeier as HS Social Studies Instructor, and Danielle Edlund, Jessica Holzer, Cindy Johnson, and Emma Sherman as Paraprofessionals.
The consent agenda also included the approval of student handbooks for the 2021-2022 school year for Washington Elementary, Highland Elementary, & Crookston High School.
The board then designated investment authority to Superintendent Jeremy Olson, Business Manager Laura Lyczewski, and Fiscal Services Director Nancy Nottestad. Superintendent Jeremy Olson explained what authority Lyczewski, Nottestad, and himself have. “All the people designated as investment authority figures were the same from years past,” said Olson. “What we do is we try and capture the most amount of money that we can by investing in CD’s using a latter approach. We try and invest the upfront dollars we receive to maximize their use throughout the year, and so that’s what we will try and do.”
Following that, the board elected to designate official signatories for Financial Operations. The signatories will be School Board Chairperson Frank Fee, School Board Clerk Adrianne Winger, School Board Treasurer Tim Dufault, Superintendent Jeremy Olson, Business Manager Laura Lyczewski, and Fiscal Services Director Nancy Nottestad.
The board also designated Official Financial Institutions for the upcoming school year. The payroll account will be with United Valley Bank of Crookston, and the financial account and the Lock Box Account will be Bremer Bank of Crookston.
MAIN AGENDA
The main agenda began with a resolution providing for the sale of the general obligation of school building refunding bonds. Senior Municipal Advisor for Ehlers Public Finance Shelby McQuay spoke on what was in front of the board and their course of action for Crookston schools. “When a school district issues a bond, there is generally a call date on that of about six to eight years,” said McQuay. “We’re coming up to that point now where the school could refinance that, and the school board took action to refinance the bonds this coming November, which will save the taxpayers money.”
The estimated savings cost for the fiscal years of 2023-2035 will be just below $400,000. McQuay noted that anyone in the market would recommend taking the estimated savings and refinancing the bonds.
TEN-YEAR MAINTENANCE PLAN
The school’s ten-year maintenance plan was then presented to the board for approval of long-term maintenance. The ten-year plan is updated every year, as a ten-year plan is mandated to use grant money awarded to the school.
Superintendent Jeremy Olson explained more of the decisions behind the ten-year plan. “The plan has a ton of different components to it, including doors, windows, flooring, and roofing,” said Olson. “The only change this year from last year is we’re starting to invest a larger amount of money in roofing so that ten years from now we can replace the Highland roof or at least have the resources to replace it if we need to.
The plan is updated yearly and will continue to be reviewed by the board. Currently, the board will put more money towards the roof as it is viewed as the most needed replacement down the road.
MILK & BREAD BIDS AWARDED
The milk & bread bids were awarded for the 2021-2022 school year, the milk bid was given to Prairie Farms of Woodbury, Minnesota, and the bread bid was given to Pan-O-Gold Baking Co. of Fargo, ND.
Chair of the School Board Frank Fee explained the decision to go with the two companies. “They were the lower bids out of the ones we got,” said Fee. “Anytime a quality company has the lowest bid, they’re going to be selected. Pretty dry cut decision and an easy one to make them the suppliers for the coming school year.”
The companies will be the school’s suppliers for this upcoming year, and then the board will re-evaluate and make new bids for the following school year.
OTHER ITEMS
Other Items on the main agenda included the contract approval with the City of Crookston for the School Resource Officer Service Agreement from 2021-2024 and approval bids for the sale of the old bus garage. Fee explained why the School Resource Officer Service Agreement is such a great deal for the school. “We have a lot of great benefits that come out of this deal,” said Fee. “Officer Don Rasicot is the one we’ve had in the past, and he’s done a great job with the students and getting to know the kids. I think the parents are appreciative to have a police officer presence in the school and not just the High School but all the schools he goes to.”
Fee mentioned that Rasicot is back on duty in the streets with the Crookston Police Department, but the work he’s done in the school has been fantastic over the years. Fee also believes it’s important to have a presence in the school and a great benefit for all involved.
The old bus garage bids did not get approved, however, due to changing circumstances. Olson explained more about the bids on the old bus garage and the board’s decision to hold off on accepting them. “The recommendation change was based on information changing,” said Olson. “The bidders were placing bids based on the belief that they would have access to both garages, which is not the case. This caused a drastic change because people placed bids on this belief, so to be fair, we decided to reject all bids and re-evaluate the situation.”
One last item added to the agenda before the meeting was a recommendation not to offer Crookston Head Football Coach Scott Butt a new contract. The motion was passed, and Butt will not receive a new contract for the upcoming season.
The board then shared an evaluation of Superintendent Jeremy Olson. The board believes Olson has accomplished or distinguished 85% of the goals he’s set out to achieve, and the board feels pleased with his performance. The numbers of Crookston students flocking out of the schools have diminished significantly since Olson arrived at Crookston.
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS
The meeting ended with Denice Oliver of Washington Elementary, Chris Trostad of Highland Elementary, and Nicki Martinez of Crookston High School giving administrative reports. Superintendent Jeremy Olson also gave the Superintendent Report.
Trostad noted in his report a couple of good teachers that Highland will be losing going into this upcoming year. “We’re losing a couple of phenomenal employees this upcoming school year,” said Trostad. “One of those is Kenny Winger, and he’s basically worked for the school district out of High School. He took a lot of pride in his work and was always one to go the extra mile. That building (Highland Elementary) is just unbelievable, and it’s because of his work.”
The winger turned in his letter of retirement after working for 40 years at Highland as a custodian. He has trained younger custodians over the years, and Highland will be left in the good hands of those he has taught.
The next school board meeting will occur Monday, August 23, at 5:00 p.m. at the Crookston High School Choir/Orchestra Room.
