The Crookston School Board met on Monday afternoon to establish Superintendent goals for new Superintendent Jeremy Olson. The meeting was the final chapter in the hiring process of Olson and it was facilitated by Sandy Gundlach of the Minnesota School Board Association. The three-and-a-half-hour meeting was a good and productive one, according to Crookston School board chair, Frank Fee. “We had a great discussion with the new superintendent,” said Fee. “We don’t have the goals set in stone yet, but we have talked student achievement, finance, enrollment, Pirate Pride, communication, visibility and things like that.” In December they will conduct a mid-year evaluation of superintendent Olson and in May or June they will have another review.
The second school board meeting of the day was the regular school board meeting. The board heard from Alan Dragseth in the public forum portion to start the meeting. Dragseth heard they were working on the sidewalk in the front of the high school and was wondering if there was anything they could do about shortening the walking distance from the parking lot to the main entrance as it can be long for the elderly, especially in the winter. He said he understands they just redid the parking lot and added jokingly that they should put that in the notes for 20 years from now when they redo the parking lot. Dragseth also asked the board if they knew anything about Crookston School District land being transferred from the district to the Climax-Shelly District. Superintendent Olson said he would contact Dragseth and they would try to get more information on the subject.
One of the topics on the main agenda was the increase of Crookston School District breakfast and lunch prices by five cents per meal instead of the Federal Government’s suggestion of 10 cents per meal. “Each year we have to fill out a paid lunch equity tool, which is required by the USDA and all public school districts need to fill that out. Ours is about 28 cents below the national average and with that, the max we can raise is 10 cents, so we are recommending to only raise five cents to be less of a burden on families and just do it across the board, for lunch and breakfast prices,” said Crookston Food Service Director Anna Brekken. “I looked at other school districts in the area and we are in the middle or at the lower end with the surrounding towns, so I hope a five cent increase will be too much of an impact.”
The five cent increase will help cover rising food costs. “With the requirements with whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables, obviously those increase every year as well as low sodium products and hopefully it will help us break even,” said Brekken. “We don’t want to make money, but we don’t want to lose money either.”
Superintendent Olson commented that it is important for all families to fill out free and reduced lunch forms because it could help the Crookston School District to the tune of $1,500 for a free meal student and $750 for a reduced meal student. “We would love to see everyone in the school district to apply for free and reduced prices. Even if you think you are way over or even just a little bit over we try to work with you,” said Brekken. “It’s not only a benefit for yourself or the food service program, it is a benefit for the school district as a whole. It is a benefit of applying for grants for the district and we are trying to put a big push this year.”
The board accepted the resignation of Hailey Karas, special education instructor, who lives in East Grand Forks and took a job close to home. The board approved employment of Gina Gunderson as the ECFE Parent Educator at Washington School, Kristy Fitzgerald as a speech-language pathologist, and the employment of Brooklyn Anderson as a long-term substitute at Washington School as a first-grade teacher. Anderson will take Stacy Olson’s spot while she is on a leave of absence.
The board approved membership in the Minnesota School Board Association at the cost of $5,400.
The board approved the long-term facilities maintenance plan (10-year plan), which is required once a year by the Minnesota Department of Education. “The highlights are planning some roofing, maintenance of little things like tile, flooring and so forth,” said Superintendent Olson. “A lot of it is boring building stuff, but it is things if you push down the road and can turn expensive. We don’t want large ticket items to pop up.”
The district received bad news on the sidewalk project in front of the high school when the company told them on Monday that the project will cost more money because more work on the base work underneath the concrete needs to be done. The crew working on it said they will need to pull out the dirt and put some gravel into shore up the base of the concrete and no cost estimate has been given yet.
The main agenda included the designation of the official financial institutions –
The payroll account will be at Northern Sky Bank, the financial account is with Bremer Bank, and the lockbox account will be with Bremer Bank.
They will designate the investment authority as Jeremy Olson, Superintendent; Laura Lyczewski, business manager; Nancy Nottestad, fiscal services director.
The designation of official signatories –
Financial operations – Frank Fee, school board chair; Adrianne Winger, school board clerk; Tim Dufault, school board treasurer; Jeremy Olson, superintendent; Laura Lyczewski, business manager; and Nancy Nottestad, fiscal services director.
Crookston High School Activity fund – Eric Bubna, principal; Robin Reitmeier, administrative assistant; Nancy Nottestad, financial services director; Laura Lyczewski, business manager.
Highland School Student activity fund – Chris Trostad, principal; Jana Hodgson, administrative assistant; Nancy Nottestad, fiscal services director; Laura Lyczewski, business manager.
They will designate personnel to lease, purchase and contract for budgeted goods and services – Jeremy Olson, and Laura Lyczewski.
The board approved the formation of a long-range planning committee, they approved student handbooks for the upcoming school year for Crookston High School, Highland Elementary, Washington Elementary, School Readiness, and ECFE. School Board Chair Fee said they handbooks could be changed after the policy committee meets and makes some changes.
The last item on the main agenda is the approval of membership of the Minnesota State High School League for the upcoming school year.
The board will be asked to accept a donation from the Crookston Pirate Boosters in the amount of $1,500 for the upcoming Hall of Fame banquet and a donation of $2,800 from Independence Plus, Inc. to go towards expenses for the Europe Trip.
The next regular meeting is scheduled for August 13 at 5:00 p.m.
