The Crookston School Board met on Monday evening at the Crookston High School Choir and Orchestra room. Before the meeting started, the new Crookston School District teachers were introduced to the school board members.
MAIN AGENDA –
The board approved the staff handbooks for the Highland School and Crookston High School staff handbooks and approved the District Employee handbook.
MENTORSHIP PROGRAM-
The board also unanimously approved a Mentorship program. The mentorship program will pair new teachers in the district with top veteran teachers to help them through their first year in the district. There are three parts to the mentorship program. Step one is the little things like showing them where the copier is and other basic new employee questions. Step two is what do they teach, curriculum, and other items like that. The third step is the art of teaching, helping them learn how to get the ideas, skills, and how to assess what they are teaching is sinking in with the students. “We want to support our teachers. The number one indicator for student success is the teacher and we want to make sure that we create an environment in which teachers can be successful and grow,” said Superintendent Jeremy Olson. “We identified some key teachers that are strong and really good at what they do to teach the craft of teaching. The mentors will be teamed up with no more than three mentees. This program will be an ongoing program throughout the year.”
OLD BUS GARAGE –
The topic of the old bus garage was added to the main agenda at the start of the meeting and the board approved one of the two bids they received on the sale of the old bus garage. The bids were $31,700 from Mike Jobe/Advanced Tire, and another bid that was $26,000 less. The board approved the bid from Mike Jobe. After the first rounds of bids were in, the City of Crookston decided that the wooden portion of the old bus garage would have to be torn down if there was a sale so the School District had to reopen the bids. The winning bid came from the same person that won the original bid but at about half the price. “We don’t have a specific date of transfer at this point so we will sit down with the winning bidder and go over what everything looks like,” said Olson. “We will look at when it is advantageous for the winning bidder to take over and as we exit how do we exit in the very best way possible.”
BUS DRIVERS –
Crookston School District Transportation Director Rick Niemela said they had bus inspections last week and all the busses passed inspection and are ready for the first day of school. Niemela added they are still looking for bus drivers with a starting wage of $23 per hour. If you would like to drive bus (the district busses are all automatic with navigation systems) and don’t have a bus license (CDL), the district will help you with behind-the-wheel training. “If they come we can train them,” said Superintendent Olson. “If you are interested in driving a bus and don’t have a CDL we can work with you to get the CDL. We will help with the written tests and the behind-the-wheel while providing the bus for the pre-trip inspection.” Once you get your license the district will hire you with a lot of opportunities for driving bus on school routes and extracurricular trips.
PRESCHOOL AT HIGHLAND AND JR HIGH MODEL PLANS SUBMITTED –
The Crookston School District has turned in plans for the preschool plan at Highland School and the Junior High model plan at the High School to the Minnesota Department of Education and are now awaiting a response. “It has been 11 days since we sent in the plans and we still haven’t heard back from them,” said Superintendent Olson. “Sending in the plans is something we have to get approval before we can even do some of our local site planning and communication with our community.”
TRACK AND FOOTBALL FIELD COMPLEX –
Superintendent Olson said Zerr Berg Architects of Fargo are currently working on estimates for the proposed Crookston School District turf football field and track complex. “We are expecting we will have more information in our September board meeting for possible approval of a project moving forward,” said Superintendent Olson.
CONSENT AGENDA –
The consent agenda had the approval of Melissa Palamo as a Paraprofessional at Highland Elementary School, Corey Winger as Head Custodian at Highland Elementary School, approval of Lane Advance Requests, approval of the Master Agreement with AFSCME (Custodial Union for 2020-2023), approval of the updated Fall Coaches list (the list is below), and accepting the resignation of Karen Cooley as Instructional Assistant at Washington Elementary School.
The board also approved Emma Morlan, Rochelle Chaput, and Jasmin Hanson as Instructional Assistants at Washington School, and Janise Dorman as a part-time Title Aide at Washington School.
TRUTH IN TAXATION HEARING –
The Crookston School District Truth in Taxation hearing has been scheduled for December 13 at 6:00 p.m.
The next school board meeting will be Monday, September 27 at 5:00 p.m. at the Crookston High School Choir/Orchestra room.
COACHES LIST –
Football –
Head Coach – Nate Lubarski
Assistant Coaches – Darin Zimmerman and Dave Hennings
Volunteer – Brian Boll
Freshmen – Brett Brenden and Dan Rooney
8th grade – Jeremy Lubinski and Dan Halland
7th grade – Don Edlund and Tim Moe
Volleyball –
Head Coach – Katie Engelstad
Assistant – Brandi Nesseth
Freshman – Molly Cordes
8th grade – Mercedes Coan
7th grade – Jasmine Hanson
Girls Tennis –
Head – Sue Tiedemann
Assistant – Pat Janorschke
Junior High – Kylie Simmons
Girls Swimming –
Marley Melbye
Girls Soccer –
Head Coach – Sarah Reese
Assistant Coaches – Anna Brekken and Shelly Erdmann
Boys Soccer –
Head – Lon Boike
Assistant – Jason Tangquist
Trainer – Luke Biermaier
Auditorium Manager – Steve Biermaier
Student Council – Linda Morgan
Choir Director – Gabby Foede
Band Director – Caitlin Becks
Orchestra Director – Haley Ellis
FFA Advisor – Whitney Repprecht
