On Monday night, the Crookston School Board approved new cooperative agreements for boy’s hockey with Fertile-Beltrami and Sacred Heart Schools.
Superintendent Jeremy Olson said both he and Activities Director Greg Garmen felt the agreement would provide additional players for the program from schools that Crookston doesn’t compete with for enrollment. “We have been in some conversations and discussions regarding co-oping,” said Olson. “We feel that this would be a strong partnership. There is not an enrollment competition at all between the districts and schools. We also feel this will be a very strong partnership down the road.”
Olson noted that he felt it was a strong move to alleviate some of the current struggles with participation numbers with a handful of students the first year and a potential pipeline long-term. “It’s really difficult to put a number on possible players, so right now we’re looking at about four for next year,” said Olson. “Down the road, we feel like there will be a pipeline with Sacred Heart to provide players for our program. We do also have some very natural partnerships with Fertile. Some of their students are already participating in youth hockey and some of those programs. We feel this will be a very strong partnership with both Fertile and Sacred Heart.”
CONSTRUCTION TRADES UPDATE
The board also received a demonstration from Construction Trades Instructor Travis Oliver on the new computer numerical control (CNC) router used in the advanced woods classes. The school got the equipment through The Century Program Grant issued to a regional group of schools, explained Oliver. “The Century Program is set up to the Pine to Prairie Co-op,” said Oliver. “It was a grant program involving 38 schools. You can check out some of the projects that other schools are doing, projects we’re doing here in Crookston, and more about the actual grant on there. We’re trying to push what the machine can do and what the kids are doing with it.”
More about the grant is available here. Each district got a CNC machine and the computers to create their designs and communicate with the router through the grant. “The machine itself was, I think about, $21,000,” said Oliver. That was the table, the router, and then, we have 10 computers that were about $1,500 each. We download the program we use there, and it’s called Vectric. Vectric is out of the United Kingdom. They have great tech support and a robust amount of programs for you to use. They give you a bunch of stuff you can do on there without having to do anything. You can cut different signs, curves, and as I learn the program more and more, it helps with the kids.”
The program requires the students to learn a little about graphic design and ensure that the router can cut what they are creating. Oliver said all the schools were fortunate to have their partnership, and the students get to make some pretty cool items. “I think it was great that Tom (Leuthner – Red Lake Falls) was able to get this grant,” said Oliver. “There are a lot of schools that maybe this was their budget for a couple of years. It’s a positive across the board to be able to put these kids in front of something that’s a little newer, higher technology than what they’re used to dealing with. And it’s still hands-on. You still have to make the product to go in there, and then you’re programming the computer to tell it what you want it to do, whether it’s a logo, wording, a cutting board drip tray. It’s pretty cool, to say the least.”
Oliver used the machine to create some customized pieces for the school board during his demonstration.
TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT PROFESSIONAL
Last fall, the school board approved a one-year position for a technology support professional to help with the elementary schools’ IT needs during the pandemic. Olson said the district was fortunate to find Joel Pyles, whom they hired in October, and on Monday, the school board approved making the position a reoccurring permanent position. “We really felt fortunate to have the right person come along at the right time,” said Olson. “We had a gentleman move into our district who had a strong technology background and a lot of experience working on technology with schools right at the time we were going through a pandemic and needing more technology support. It was a very nice addition to our staff. Originally, the school board had appropriated an amount of money for a one-year position. The year was going to be used as a trial period to determine if this was needed and supported by our elementary teachers. We found out this was a badly needed position that did support our elementary teachers.”
DONATIONS/GRANTS
The Crookston School Board also accepted five grants and donations to the school district totaling $21,472.93. Olson said he was thankful for the donations to the district. “We were very fortunate to receive several donations that we were very thankful for,” said Olson. “We wanted to list and recognize those people that contributed to our school.”
The district received:
- $1,242.93 from Hugo’s for the music program
- $15,795 from the June Shaver Endowment for various programs
- $4,435 grant from NW Links for incurred expenses for internet and distance learning
Board Chairman Frank Fee gave the public summary of Superintendent Olson’s mid-year review (here). The school board also approved its personnel items – approving Dawn Bruscoe as a School Age Care Coordinator and Nikk Caputo as an Assistant School Age Care Coordinator; updates to the 500 series district policies, the achievement and integration budget, and the school calendars for 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. Both calendars are below –
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