The Crookston School Board met on Monday night inside the Crookston High School Choir/Orchestra room. The meeting began with the board approving all the Consent Agenda Items unanimously.
CONSENT AGENDA
The Consent Agenda included accepting resignation letters from Crookston High School Spanish Instructor Tayler Christenson, Highland Elementary School Paraprofessional Kylie Brekke, Crookston High School Success Coach Nathan Sorenson, Washington Elementary School Head Custodian Ronny Ostgard, Crookston Head Baseball Coach Scott Butt, Crookston Assistant Basketball Coach Collin Cunningham, and Highland Elementary School Teacher Tina Leach. The Consent Agenda also included approving employment agreements with Kris MacGregor as an Elementary School Counselor, and Katie Scott as a Preschool Teacher. The last items on the Consent Agenda were the approval of the Administrative Assistant Master Agreement for the next three school years and a Leave Of Absence request from Jennifer Knutson for the 2022-2023 school year.
MAIN AGENDA
The Main Agenda featured the approval of many items for the 2022-2023 school year. One of the items was Breakfast & Lunch price increases for the upcoming year. The price increases for Breakfast and Lunch will only be going up slightly due to federal law. “These are all minimal increases because we have to comply with the federal government as far as charging goes,” said Crookston Public Schools Superintendent Jeremy Olson. “So, we will only be doing the minimum five-cent increase for breakfast and ten-cent increase for lunch. The reason we are doing this option is that it complies with the federal government, and we know it could be tough on families. So, we don’t want to do more than we have to.”
The board approved the price increases. Superintendent Olson also noted every year he has been a Superintendent, he remembers the minimum cost set by the federal government going up. Another key item on the Main Agenda was the approval of the Preliminary Budget for the 2022-2023 school year, which according to Business Manager Laura Lyczewski, is very similar to past years. “It is very similar to past years. It will be a red budget which isn’t something we look forward to, but it is,” said Lyczewski. “We are buying a couple of school buses and a suburban for this year which does take a draw on our general fund. I’ve increased costs for utilities which we’re all seeing. Our food service department is going to go up, and the cost of diesel is obviously up as well so those are the big-ticket items in the budget for this upcoming year that are going to cost more.”
The board approved the preliminary budget. The Main Agenda also included approving Dave Kuehn as the School District Identified Official with Authority for the Minnesota Department of Education, approving Bread & Milk Renewals for the upcoming school year, and approving the Local Literacy Plan for the 2022-2023 school year. The board approved all of those items as well.
The School Board also approved the contracts with the administrative assistants for the next three years and the bus drivers for the next two years. Starting next year the bus drivers starting wages will be $24 an hour compared to $21 this past year. Drivers transporting students and teams in extracurricular activities will also make $18.50 compared to $18 an hour from this past year.
The board also had a discussion on ESSR dollars and how they will plan to use them. the ESSR dollars are from the pandemic and over $4 million are available for the School District. One option for the School District is to use the money and reconfigure Highland Elementary School so it also holds an elementary school. That plan will also include putting in a self-contained middle school at the High School. The lowest bid to complete the projects came in at around $5.2 million, however, and the school board is unsure if they are comfortable taking the extra money out of their general fund to complete the project. The other option is to use the funds to update and upgrade other facilities within the district.
After some discussion, the school board decided that they will hold another meeting on Thursday, July 7, at 8:00 a.m. at the Crookston School District Conference room at the Crookston High School to make a final decision. The meeting is open for the public to give their opinion.
The meeting was also the last school board meeting for Olson who said his goodbyes to the School Board and the community. “I’d like to thank the community of Crookston as they have been great to work with,” said Superintendent Olson. “I would continue to ask that the community supports the School District as it is a great School District. So many individual people I can’t even start to thank cause there is so many, but I am very grateful for my time in Crookston and I’m excited to see Dave (Kuehn) lead the district as he is a fantastic leader and I know he will do a great job. Lastly, I would end by saying Go Pirates!”
The School Board also gave their year-end evaluation of the Superintendent and it can be found down below.
The next school board meeting will take place on Monday, July 25, at 5:00 p.m. inside the Crookston High School Choir/Orchestra room.
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