The Crookston School Board approved moving first graders from Washington School to Highland School and making proposed cuts and they approved to move forward with ICON of Grand Forks, North Dakota as the bus garage architect and setting November 2019 as the referendum date for the bus garage referendum and operating capital referendum renewal at their meeting today in the Crookston High School orchestra/choir room.
The meeting started with the open forum where the public was able to share their concerns and comments.
Andy Pokel and Katya Zepeda (pictured right) questioned the cut of the ELL (English as a second 
language) position. Superintendent Jeremy Olson said the school district only receives $30,000 from the state for ELL and they currently spend $120,000 and with the non-renewal proposed the district would spend $60,000. “We understand the needs of the students have to be met and the number of students in ELL have gone down and we are basically trying to right size the program,” said Olson. “The numbers have gone down because we are successful in exiting students because they pass the test, so our success in the program has led to a decrease in numbers.”
The next person to appear before the board was Elizabeth Rowan. She thanked Superintendent Olson for being transparent in the process and answering questions she had.
Marcia Meine said she was concerned about the district not filling Belinda Fjeld’s choir position and only having one person to take care of the school districts choir needs. “I think we need a choral director at the high school 100 percent of the time,” said Meine. “Ms. Dalzell (Highland School choir teacher) has done a great job at Highland School and I think we are going to regret not hiring a choir director. It kind of upsets me when the arts and theatre and music department always gets the cuts and I want that concern to be out there.”
Angelika Shanley said she has two kids going to Washington School and one of them uses the special education services. She said Ms. Willits and the staff have done a great job and she was concerned that her job might be cut. Her son was comfortable with Willits and she wanted to say she appreciated everything she has done for her son.
Nobody spoke against moving first graders from Washington School to Highland School.
The School Board thanked everybody that came before the board and moved on with the meeting. The board had two options on the proposed cuts. The first option was cuts of $431,700 and the second option, after talking to the music Department and Pirate Fine Arts Boosters, was about $408,000 with an option of hiring a one/third choir position if they find the right person. Both options included moving first grade to Highland School. Also included in the cuts was Superintendent Olson not getting his raise next year (which is in his contract). The board voted 3-2 to pass the $408,000 option with Frank Fee, Dave Davidson and Patty Dillabough voting yes and Kari Miller and Adrianne Winger voting no. Tim Dufault was not able to make the meeting. Miller and Winger said they couldn’t vote for it because they were not filling the choir position. Dillabough, Fee and Davidson all said they reluctantly were voting yes and wish they didn’t have to make any cuts. Superintendent Olson said they will have a meeting with next years first grade student families. “We will be communicating with first grade parents with first grade teachers and do some work with first grade teachers and Kindergarten teachers and make sure they (the kids and families) will feel comfortable within Highland,” said Olson. “We have enough classrooms to make it happen and will have to do a minor amount of construction internally within Highland to make things work. We will have four classrooms for first grade and they will be in a different section from the sixth graders.”
The board delivered a setback to the plans when they voted 3-2 to not approve the resolution relating to the termination and non renewal of the teaching contract of Wendy Willits, a probationary teacher. Miller, Winger, and Dillabough voted no and Fee and Davidson voted yes.
The next item was the approval of the proposal to place Matthew Curry on an unrequested Leave of Absence. The board voted 3-2 to approve the resolution. Fee, Davidson, and Dillabough voted yes and Miller and Winger voted no. With the board voting down the non-renewal of Willits’ contract, that means Superintendent Olson will have to find $71,000 to cut somewhere else. “The simple reality is we have to find $400,000 to cut and this reduction would have been about a $71,000 reduction,” said Olson. “We have to go back to the drawing board and find $71,000 to cut.”
School Board member Dave Davidson said they had lost 150 students in the last three years and that is the equivalent to $1.2 million dollars per year they have lost, which is the reason they are being forced to make the cuts.
Coincidentally, over the last three years test scores in Crookston have gone up and test scores in Fisher and Climax have gone down.
The board approved the retirement requests from Vanessa Crowell (Crookston High School custodian), Terry Clauson (Paraprofessional at Highland School), and Eddie Desrosier (Paraprofessional at Highland School). The board approved the resignation letters from Dan Bratvold as a bus driver and Hunter Kopff as Chemistry Teacher at Crookston High School. The board approved the employment with Elizabeth Erickson as long-term substitute teacher at Highland School and hiring Amber Sannes as a .2 full-time equivalent gifted and talented instructor. Highland School Principal Chris Trostad said Terry Clauson, Eddie Desrosier and Michelle Hulst will be missed and did a great job at Highland.
The school board members all expressed they didn’t want to make the cuts and Frank Fee said they appreciated the emails and calls from concerned parents and school district residents, but he said when people say the board doesn’t care about the kids, “You are dead wrong.”
The next school board meeting will be Monday, April 22 at 5:00 p.m. at the Crookston High School choir/orchestra room.
We will have the story on the bus garage architect, referendum and donations on Wednesday.
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