The Crookston School Board held a special meeting on Thursday in the Crookston School District Conference Room to approve several hires and employment changes.
The first item approved was a change to Lisa Conzemius’ job title. Conzemius was hired to be the Middle School Principal, but due to the late hiring window, the district decided to make her the 6-12 principal for the upcoming school year. Conzemius will be paid $116,764 with benefits. Superintendent Bruer was asked why they decided to expand the job to cover grades 6-12. “We looked at it very cautiously to see what best fits our situation here at the school, and we feel she has experience in middle school and high school.” said Bruer. “She wanted to do this, and we feel we need help with students.” Bruer then expressed that the main reason the job was expanded was due to the current hiring cycle, as well the other members of staff who can assist the principal. “We’re hiring at the wrong time period of the year,” said Bruer, ” so we felt, let’s get some more help here, let’s get the Dean of Students involved, and that’s the biggest reason why we’re looking at a 6-12 principal.”
The second item approved was the employment of Evan Pederson as the Crookston High School Activities Director and Dean of Students. Pederson will make $69,000 this year, $71,070 for the 2026-27 year and $73,202 for the 2027-28 school year. The school district will contribute up to $21,996 annually towards a family health insurance plan, along with other benefits.
The third item approved by the board was an employment agreement with Brandon Neibauer-Adams as the new Community Ed Director. In addition to his normal English teacher duties, Neibauer-Adams will receive an extra $10,000 for taking over the Community Ed Director job.
The board also approved the employment agreement with Lon Boike, who is a teacher on Special Assignment and Assistant Activities Director. Boike will be filling in for Highland School Principal Chris Trostad, who is on medical leave, and will also help the Activities Director. Boike will receive an extra $4,272 for his assistant activities director duties. Superintendent Bruer explained that Boike and Pederson would be working two positions simultaneously. “But we’re also going to have Lon Boike, who is going to be around, and he is going to fill in the extra part of that dean of students, so we have two people working both jobs.” Bruer then explained how the division of duties would go between the two. “Right now, we’re looking at Evan being the head AD and Lon being the assistant AD; assisting with help and also the history of the AD program…we’ll have two people working with the program itself, and when you look at it that way, we hae a good spot for both; they both have good qualifications to do that.”
The final item approved was the employment of Brittanie Watson as a high school match teacher to replace the retired Wayne Folkers. Watson taught for one year in Hankinson, North Dakota, and four years in Fargo. Watson has a BA in mathematics and education, a Master’s Degree in Ed Leadership, a PHD in Ed Leadership, and two years of administration.
Watson will start with a salary of $65,872 along with benefits.
