The Crookston School Board met on Monday night with all six board members in the Crookston High School choir/orchestra room for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.
ENROLLMENT INCREASE
Superintendent Jeremy Olson shared the district had an increase of 70 ADM (Average Daily membership – equivalent to a student). “We get paid as a school district based on the number of students enrolled in our district, so being up 70 students from last year is a big deal. I credit the increase with the excellent work our staff is doing and the programming we are seeing,” said Superintendent Olson. “We saw open enrollment out of the district go down, and open enrollment into the district go up, and that is a healthy sign for our school district.”
The increased Crookston School District enrollment was only the third time in the last 20 years. “If you take the other two times and combine them, it would be a little more than half of the increase this year,” said Olson. “It is a very good sign and a nice first step.”
PROJECTING ENROLLMENT FOR THE 2020-21 SCHOOL YEAR
The district is staying on the conservative end when projecting the enrollment for the 2020-21 school year starting in September. “What we do is take all of our grades and roll them down one year. We take the seniors off and go all the way down to Kindergarten and project what it will be,” said Superintendent Olson. “I anticipate we will be a little down from where our enrollment is right now. We don’t know what affect the pandemic will have on our enrollment. I have heard a couple of families have moved out of the state, so we will continue to be cautious, but I am cautiously optimistic.”
PRELIMINARY BUDGET FOR 2020-21 SCHOOL YEAR APPROVED
The district’s preliminary budget for the 2020-21 school year was unanimously approved by the school board. One of the biggest numbers in the budget is the $13 million expenditure to staff, including benefits. The budget also included $150,000 for technology, money for the sixth-grade field trip to Itasca State Park, building construction of $2.8 million for the bus garage, and one item that continues to decline is the retirement fund (retirement benefits fund) of $194,000. “Our enrollment is going up, which is a good thing. We have a good fund balance and the bus garage project going on,” said Crookston School District Business Manager Laura Lyczewski. “We are still waiting to find out more on the CARES funding. We don’t know what we will need for sanitizing the building, so we are waiting to find out more on that.”
Superintendent Olson said they would continue to stay conservative, “We are continuing to stay conservative with our revenue projections, so we aren’t overestimating our revenues. We are looking at our enrollments and staying conservative with our numbers to make sure we are safe. The budget will be similar to last year, and we will continue to be conservative in our revenues.”
To see the budget information, click here.
LOCAL LITERACY PLAN
The school board approved the local literacy plan for the 2020-21 school year. “We want all students reading well by third grade,” said Superintendent Olson. “The plan talks about our strategies and how to identify students that aren’t reading well and what we are going to do about it. We need to have an intervention program in place for them, and we want to make sure all kids are reading well by third grade.”
SCHOOL LUNCH TO GO UP FIVE CENTS
The board approved a five-cent increase for school lunch prices. Breakfast prices will stay the same. “We feel for the families and want to keep the price down as low as possible,” said Superintendent Olson. “We aren’t trying to make money. We are trying to break even, and we thought the five-cent increase would sufficiently cover the increased costs.”
Lunch prices are as follows –
Elementary – $2.75
High School – $2.90
Adults – $3.95
NEW KINDERGARTEN TEACHER HIRED
The school board added an item to the consent agenda at the start of the meeting and later approved the employment of Elizabeth Erickson as a Kindergarten teacher.
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS
Highland School Principal Chris Trostad thanked Jake Fee and the Eagles Club for the donation of $2,500 towards the Itasca State Park field trip for the sixth-grade students and another $2,500 to the Crookston Pirate Girls Hockey team.
Crookston High School Principal Eric Bubna said they should have a decision on the graduation ceremony and prom that will be held at the end of July in the next week or so. They are awaiting feedback from the Minnesota Department of Education before making any decisions.
MISC.
The board approved the current bills, an employment agreement with Rick Niemela (Transportation/Building and Grounds Director). They also approved a letter of assignment with Mike Delorme as bus mechanic and Nancy Nottestad as payroll accountant/fiscal services.
The board approved membership with the Minnesota Rural Education Association and a housing incentive abatement in cooperation with the City of Crookston.
NEXT MEETING
The next Crookston School Board meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 27, at 5:00 p.m. at the Crookston High School Choir/Orchestra room.
