The Crookston School Board met Tuesday evening and approved having graduation on July 25, the addition of a Hispanic Liaison, upgrades to the high school weight room, and several hires.
GRADUATION DATE CHANGE IS OFFICIAL
The school board unanimously approved the Class of 2020 Crookston High School graduation date of July 25 after 80 percent of the senior parents voted to delay the ceremony. “This is in hopes that we will have a more traditional ceremony,” said Superintendent Jeremy Olson. “We are going with whatever the guidelines are at the time, provided by the state. We are hoping for improved conditions at that point.”
HISPANIC LIASON –
The board approved a Hispanic Liaison position for the district that will be funded by integration and achievement funds. Hispanic students make up 25 percent of the district’s enrollment. “To bring back the position, we were able to tap into integration and achievement dollars which won’t affect education dollars,” said Superintendent Olson. “The dollars are allocated and kind of a use it or lose it deal. It will be a 34 hour per week position and we want to make sure we strengthen the bond between the families and the district.”
MINNESOTA STATE HIGH SCHOOL LEAGUE MEMBER APPROVAL
The board approved renewing the district’s membership in the Minnesota High School League. The Fee per sport used to be $90 per month and a couple of years ago it increased to $110 per sport and for the school year 2020-2021, the Minnesota State High School League wants $160 per sport and one dollar for each student. The increase to the district for the $50 per sport will be an extra $1,200 according to the District Business Manager Laura Lyczewski.
WEIGHT ROOM UPGRADE APPROVED
An upgrade to the Crookston High School weight room was unanimously approved by the board. The work on an upgraded weight room started about a year ago and Activities Director Greg Garmen has received quotes with BSN Sports/Tom Piche doing the initial work. Most schools in the area use BSN Sports and schools like Bagley, Ada-Borup/West, and others have been happy with their upgrades through Piche. “This is one part of making a good-faith step towards improving our athletics at Crookston Public Schools,” said Olson. “Will this be the thing that gets us over the top? Probably not, but it is one strategy many districts are using to improve athletics.”
The upgrade will mean new equipment. “There will be new equipment, new flooring and we want to make it a little brighter with new lights,” said Olson. “We are trying to make it the best place we can with the space we have.”
Renderings of the weight room are at the bottom of the page.
SPRING SPORTS COACHES PAY
The Crookston School District is saving $44,700 in supplies and transportation by not having spring sports. The board discussed a plan to pay the spring sports coaches 33% of their coaching salary. The board seemed to be in favor of the 33 percent or up to 50 percent of the salary. The topic will be discussed further and will be up for approval at the next meeting on June 22.
GAS FILLING STATION
Superintendent Olson asked for direction on a gas filling station for the district. The board seemed to be in favor of putting in a new gas filling station at the new bus garage. Olson said they feel they have enough money to cover most of the cost on the project and he noted the current tanks by the current bus garage are getting towards the end of their life and they will need to do something in the near future. The board will decide what to do in their next meeting.
TRANSITION FROM ALC TO ALP
The board approved changing the Alternative Learning Center to the Alternative Learning Program. The change brings the district into compliance with the Minnesota Department of Education. There will be no changes to the student experience and will require some paperwork for the district. “On the student and parent end there won’t be anything different,” said Olson. “It allows us to be in compliance with the state and that is a pretty big deal for us.”
OTHER ACTIONS –
The Board approved the naming of Superintendent Olson as the Identified Official with Authority for next school year. “The Department of Education has systems for districts to report students enrollment, truancy, discipline and others,” said Olson. “So I will give access to everybody else that needs to use it.”
The board also approved policy updates 303, 307, 413, 414, 419, and 421 as recommended by the Minnesota School Boards Association. All the changes were minor tweaks to the district policies.
CONSENT AGENDA-
The personnel items on the consent agenda include the acceptance of resignations of Karen Danielson, head cook at CHS; Brandi Gilleland-Narvaez, a paraprofessional at CHS; Gayathri Venkatachalam, title aide at Highland Elementary School (HES); and Kaia Bubna, kindergarten teacher at Washington Elementary School (WES). The board approved employment agreements with Linda Morgan, youth service director for 2020-2022; Emily Samuelson, success coach for 2020-2021; Matthew Torgerson, as assistant principal at CHS for 2020-2021; and Dave Emanuel, Indian education coordinator from 2020-2022.
The board approved employment with Tracy Hoffman as elementary music instructor at Highland; Christine Erdman, head cook at the high school; Caitlin Becks as band instructor; and Janelle Swanson as a business instructor at the high school.
The board graciously accepted the donation of a Baritone instrument to the band program from Erin LaPlante. They also approved the April 27 meeting minutes, and approved the current bills.
The next Crookston School Board meeting will be held on Monday, June 22 at 5:00 p.m.
