The Crookston School Board met on Monday evening and approved several agenda items, including an agreement with a local realtor to handle the sale of the Washington School property, a food services update, and annual memberships with state organizations.
WASHINGTON SCHOOL REALTY AGREEMENT
The board approved an agreement with LeBlanc Realty to handle the sale of the Washington School property. The school was closed after the 2025-26 school year, following the board’s April vote to shut it down. During the June 16 special board meeting, representatives from LeBlanc were invited to a closed session to discuss the process of listing and selling the property. The decision was made to take pressure off the district regarding the school while allowing them to get the most they can from the property. “None of us are really familiar with landowners or land sales or even building sales,” said Interim Superintendent Randy Bruer. “So it’s good to put the professionals into that role, and maybe the district will come out with the best offer. So I think it’s a good move. It can provide some transparency into the district process, so I think it’s a good idea.“
FOOD SERVICES UPDATE
Crookston School District Food Services Director Emily Scheresky updated the board on the number of meals served during the 2025-26 school year. A total of 98,910 breakfasts were served, averaging 599 per day over the 165 service days. The district served 147,446 lunches over 165 service days, averaging 893 lunches per day.
Crookston High School saw growth in breakfasts served, up 18 per day from 2024-25 and 23 per day from 2023-24. The average lunch increased by eight per day.
Highland School saw an increase of 15 breakfasts per day from the previous school year and an increase of 22 lunches per day.
| SITE | MEAL | Meals Served | Days Served | Avg./Day |
| High School | Breakfast | 19,441 | 165 | 117.82 |
| High School | Lunch | 56,171 | 166 | 338.38 |
| Highland | Breakfast | 59,370 | 166 | 357.65 |
| Highland | Lunch | 70,168 | 166 | 422.70 |
| Washington | Breakfast | 11,725 | 148 | 79.22 |
| Washington | Lunch | 7,366 | 148 | 49.77 |
| Cathedral | Breakfast | 6,992 | 159 | 43.97 |
| Cathedral | Lunch | 7,327 | 160 | 45.79 |
| Our Savior’s | Breakfast | 1532 | 160 | 9.58 |
| Our Savior’s | Lunch | 6621 | 160 | 41.38 |
These numbers were well received by Scheresky and her staff, who put in considerable effort to ensure that students have access to high-quality meals during the day. “It’s been great,” says Scheresky. “I’m very fortunate that my staff has been super energetic with more kiddos coming through the lunch line. We’ve definitely been able to kind of go in stride this past school year and learn what the favorites are from the kids and what works for our kitchens.”
Scheresky told the board she would like to renew the district’s milk contract with Cass Clay and the bread contract with Pan-O-Gold. The bread contract was renewed, but a new milk contract was authorized due to drastic changes in milk prices over the past few months. “This was actually our first school year with Cass Clay since I started in this position,” said Scheresky. “And just with milk prices in May, due to oil prices, things like that, and other things obviously, the prices were just a little too high for us to comfortably do a renewal. That said, in June, prices came back down, so we were able to sign an actual contract with Cass Clay again for the upcoming school year instead of a renewal.”
STATE ASSOCIATION RENEWALS
The board approved renewing its membership with the Minnesota School Boards Association for $5,890, effective July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. They also approved the renewal of the Minnesota Rural Education Association for the upcoming school year in the amount of $2,199.
RIVERSIDE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL COOPERATIVE SPONSORSHIP
The board discussed the cooperative sponsorship applications with Riverside Christian School in East Grand Forks, but agreed to table the discussion for a future meeting. That decision came after board member Mike Theis expressed concern that Crookston residents could send their kids to Riverside and benefit from the co-op agreement, thereby lowering enrollment and raising funding concerns. “There are some funding ramifications that we have to look at as a district when we lose one of our students to a neighboring school,” said Theis. “So I want our administration to look closely at that to see how many students from the Crookston School District would be going to Riverside Christian School. Once we find that information out, we can make a little more educated decision on what it would cost our district financially and what opportunities that those students would have by going there versus staying here.”
SUPERINTENDENT CHANGE
The board approved Todd Selk as the Indentified Official With Authority (IOWA) for the district, as he will take over as interim superintendent on July 1. Bruer, who has served as interim superintendent for the last year, expressed his gratitude to the board, the district, and all the students, staff, and parents for an incredible year together. Bruer has been working with Selk over the past weeks to begin the transition between administrations and has full confidence in the district’s future direction. “It’s been a good year,” said Bruer. “All schools come with their ups and downs, and we certainly have probably a few more downs that we got to work with, but yet I think Crookston schools are a good school district. Once we have continuity in the leadership position, I think we can be a real strength for the region. Crookston has a lot to look forward to.”
The next Crookston School Board meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 27, at 5:00 p.m. in the Crookston High School choir/orchestra room.
