The Crookston School Board met on Monday evening in the Crookston High School media center.
DAYCARE CENTER UPDATE
The feature program was an update from Stephanie Okroi (pictured right), who is looking to open a daycare center in Washington School. She is a daycare center owner in Grand Forks, North Dakota, with 83 kids. Okroi gave a disheartening
update on the progress of the daycare center in Crookston, saying it doesn’t look like she will be opening a center anytime soon thanks to the slow-moving State of Minnesota. “It has been very frustrating. I started this process in June of 2021, and I am still fighting to get my doors open,” said Okroi. “The paperwork has been completed for over a year, and now they have to do their job to come in and see my sight, and they also have to realize we are a lot different than the metro area. We don’t have the resources, and parents don’t have the resources.”
Okroi, who has a Ph.D. in Early Childhood, said it only took 30 days to start a daycare in Grand Forks, North Dakota, while serving 83 children. “I have talked to many others that have opened daycares, and it has taken anywhere from two to five years in Minnesota,” said Okroi. “We follow the same regulations, rules, and everything in North Dakota except Minnesota requires more education for the employees than North Dakota.”
Okroi thanked everybody for their patience and said she would be opening a center in Crookston and added, “these families need it, the community needs it, the school needs it. I would love to collaborate and do things with the school.”
MULTI-USE FACILITY REFERENDUM
The school board unanimously approved a special election on Tuesday, February 14, 2023, to ask district taxpayers to vote on a $4,963,110 referendum for a multi-use sports complex to be built on the north end of the Crookston High School. 
The asking price is $1 million more than the previous referendum but will only cost someone with a house valued at $200,000, about $34 per year, an increase of five dollars more than the last referendum. “We wanted to make sure the board approved the date and the amount to put things in place to officially run a referendum,” said Superintendent Dave Kuehn. “We knew the price of the project was going to be more, and we are only going to trim back the amount of concrete a little, but it will still be an eight-lane track, it is still an artificial turf football field, 750 seat bleachers, a press box, and it still includes bathrooms and a concession stand and get that done with the $4.9 million-plus project.”
Kuehn added that they will wait until the election is over in November before ramping things up for the referendum.
AUDIT REPORT FROM BRADY MARTZ
The board received an audit report from Tracee Bruggeman of Brady Martz and Associates of Thief River Falls. Bruggeman said the audit was clean, and she passed along that over the last five years, the Crookston School District’s Average Daily Attendance (ADM) went from 1,157 in the 2016-17 school year down to 1,118 in the 2021-22 school year, a decrease of 39 students over five years.
Crookston School District Business Director Laura Lyczewski gave the board financing information on the two building projects at Highland and the high school. “We will be taking some money out of fund balances,” said Lyczewski, who gave the list of where some of the money will be coming from for the remodeling projects.
$200,000 from the school construction fund
$122,151 from the School Readiness Plus fund
$400,000 for the elevator at Highland School from the long-term facilities budget
$250,000 from the Operating Capital Fund
The remaining money will come from Covid Money from the Federal Government.
MISCELLANEOUS-
The board approved the Minnesota State High School League Form A (Scholarship) application, which uses the money to cover the costs of students who cannot pay to play in activity fees. Any money the district receives would go into the activity fee fund.
The board approved the replacement of the current District Reading and Math Proficiency goal for the 2022-23 school year. The Crookston School District Staff Advisory Committee, which includes administration, teachers, and staff, proposed an increase of three percent in the test scores, and the board approved it.
CONSENT AGENDA –
The board unanimously approved the consent agenda items that included the following –
The employment of Elementary Phy Ed. Teacher Benjamin Parkin, Highland Kitchen Helper Theresa Brule-Haggerty, and High School Kitchen Helper Karen Reierson. The board accepted the retirement letter of Highland Elementary School fifth-grade teacher Marcia Scholler. They also accepted the resignation letter of High School Kitchen Helper Cindy Johnson and Highland Elementary Special Ed Teacher Stephanie Tappe and a Leave of Absence request from High School Science Teacher Jessica Hanson.
WINTER COACHES LIST –
The board approved the Crookston High School Winter Coaches list, and the coaches are below –
Boys Basketball
Head Coach – Greg Garmen
J.V. Coach – Jason Tangquist
Freshman – Lon Boike
8th grade – Jack Garmen
7th grade – Austin O’Hare
Girls Basketball –
Head Coach – Darin Zimmerman
J.V. Coach – Ben Nesseth
Freshman – McKenzie Klatt
8th Grade – Brittany Deitz
7th Grade – Carolyn Pavlish
Boys Hockey –
Head Coach – Josh Hardy
Assistant Coaches – Sam Melbye, Connor Morgan
Girls Hockey –
Head Coach – Emily Meyer
Assistant Coaches – Amanda Lien and Stacy Olson
Wrestling –
Head Coach – Wes Hanson
Assistant Coaches – Dan Rooney, Cade Peterson, Colton Weiland
Dance –
Head Coach – Grace Espinosa
Speech – Brandon Adams and Phyllis Hagen
One Act – Beth Carlson JH – Brandon Adams
Skating – Erica Uttermark
Knowledge Bowl – Katelyn Stegman
Jr. High Knowledge Bowl – Sue Wagner
Math Counts – Dana Erickson, Andrea Adrian
FFA Advisor – Carolyn Pavlish
Treasurettes – Adrianne Winger
