The Crookston School Board met Monday evening in the Crookston High School Choir/Orchestra room.
The board approved the consent agenda, including the acceptance of the resignation letters of Highland Gifted and Talented Teacher Amber Sannes, paraprofessionals Penny Halstad, Miriam VanEps, and Karen Reierson.
The board approved an updated MOU for Highland School part-time Phy Ed Instructor Scott Oliver, and Special Ed Instructor Susan Akerlind.
They approved an updated employment agreement with District Activities Director Nathan Lubarski.
The board approved the employment of Highland paraprofessionals Tori Demarais, Cassandra Brown, Jasmine Brennan, Rhonda Richards, and Holly Mancktelow, High School Success Coach Lacia Hanson and Paraprofessional Marisa Arriaga, Bus Driver Aaron Lewis, and Washington Elementary School Head Custodian Steven Nelson.
They also approved salary lane advance requests and increased the daily pay rate for licensed substitute teachers from $135 to $145.
SUPERINTENDENT GOALS
The main agenda started with the discussion of goals for Interim Superintendent Dave Kuehn. The board gave Kuehn three goals which are listed below –
1. Mentoring and evaluating
3. Staff Development
3. Culture of Cooperation
PRELIMINARY LEVY APPROVAL –
The board approved a preliminary levy increase of 1.3 percent for a tax levy total of $3,452,627.95 in 2023. “We are being very fiscally responsible,” said Crookston School District Business Manager Laura Lyczewski. “The district is in good shape right now, we will find out more in a couple of weeks when the audit is complete, but we are in a financially good spot.”
COSTS UP ON PROPOSED PROJECTS –
Superintendent Kuehn had bad news for the board but expected news, as costs will be much higher than quoted for the construction/remodeling projects at Highland School and the multi-use activities complex at the school. The multi-use complex was initially quoted at $3.9 million about a year ago, and the latest quote is now anywhere from $4.5 to $4.8 million. The board will have a special meeting on Tuesday, October 11, to discuss how much they should increase the ask in the referendum and discuss other options for funding the multi-use complex. The most significant increases have been in concrete (due to a shortage of concrete dust, diesel fuel, and moving dirt. The bleachers were the least impacted at an increase of $20,000. “If we would have passed the referendum in August, we would have still seen those escalated numbers,” said Kuehn. “We are seeing some significant increases, and we will have to grapple with some additional funding and have that special meeting in October, and we will probably have to ask for more new money in the February referendum.
The preschool addition at Highland School and the remodeling at the High School to separate the high school students and the junior high students have also come back higher. “There are federal dollars we will be using for the project, but the cost will be about $1 million higher,” said Kuehn. “We need to find a way to make up that gap in terms of internal funds and borrowing some money.” The district will be looking at paying $58,000 for 15 years to help with the shortage.
ONE POLLING PLACE FOR REFERENDUM VOTE
The school board approved one polling place for the multi-use activities complex in February at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. District residents will also be able to vote by mail.
GIRLS HOCKEY COOP
The board approved the dissolution of the girls hockey with fisher and approved the addition of East Grand Forks Sacred Heart along with the current coop of Mayville/Hatton/Northwood. Sacred Heart believes they have three girls that are interested in playing hockey.
SURVEY RESULTS –
Superintendent Dave Kuehn gave the results of a survey they asked district families to fill out that asked for direction spending the $537,000 of Federal funds they have to use within two years. “The money is designated for after-school and summer school programs, and we have used some of that for those programs,” said Kuehn. “That is a large amount of money, and I don’t think we could ever spend all the money on those programs, so we had the survey to get permission to use some of those funds during the school day for needs like intervention time, lost learning, and also some mental health needs.” The school received permission to use the money from the Minnesota Education Association to use funds during the day.
FUNDRAISING REQUESTS –
The school board approved all the fundraising requests from school groups, organizations, and other school-related functions. Some of the requests came for prom, camps, clinics, the Europe Trip, Girls Hockey, Leo Club/Student Council, and FFA, to name a few.
FFA TO INDIANAPOLIS
The school board approved an FFA field trip for six Crookston FFA students to attend the National Convention in Indianapolis, with the costs covered by a grant. Superintendent Dave Kuehn said they would be traveling in a bus with other area FFA chapters.
TEST SCORES –
Crookston High School Principal Matt Torgerson and Highland School Principal Chris Trostad gave an update on the district test scores. Highland School was above the state average in two of three categories and just missed in another. Torgerson said the high school’s scores weren’t as good.
We will have a separate story on test scores on KROX and KROXAM.com, so stay tuned.
NEXT REGULAR MEETING –
The next regular school board meeting will be on Monday, October 24, at 5:00 p.m. in the Crookston High School Choir and Orchestra room.
There will be a special meeting on Tuesday, October 11, in the same room to discuss increased construction costs.
