The Crookston School Board met on Monday night inside the Crookston High School Choir/Orchestra room for their monthly meeting.
CAREER TECH EDUCATION PROGRAMS PRESENTATION
The meeting began with Crookston High School Industrial Education Teacher Travis Oliver giving a presentation on potential Career Tech Education Programs that could be offered at the High School. “The presentation was showing the board this new CNC Plasma Cutter that I got last year through a grant.” Said Oliver. “It’s about a $17,000 machine so it’s not the most row-bust machine, it’s more ground level but I’m grateful to have this piece of equipment for my students. By in large this is programming on a level of cutting out parts of metal. This is something that is nationwide and is not localized to Crookston. If kids can learn the program and learn how to run the machine, this is something that is needed in just about every work field. It’s very unique and this is something that gives students a big window of opportunity if their interested.”
The starting salary for someone who specializes in a CNC Plasma Cutter ranges from $25-35 an hour, and Oliver doesn’t believe it requires a college degree. This will give students the opportunity to learn a skill at the High School level, that they can immediately take with them into the workforce.
Each School Board member also received their own charcuterie board from Oliver for School Board Appreciation week which was last week. The charcuterie board was made of wood with a Pirate logo in the center of the board. There was no action needed from the board during Oliver’s presentation, as it was informational only.
MAIN AGENDA
The Main Agenda began with the approval of a Recommissioning Study for Otter Tail Power Company. Crookston Public Schools Superintendent Jeremy Olson explained. “This is a study that Ottertail Power Company approached us on,” said Olson. “This is a program that they have, and what they’re trying to do is to make sure large users of electricity are being as efficient as possible. They are trying to incentivize that behavior, and so they will cover the cost of this study by paying us back up to half of the money they give us once we spend it during the study. The other half will be reimbursed once we complete any repairs or replacements of any equipment. They estimate by doing this study we will save about $12,000 a year so we felt it was a good investment.”
The board approved the Recommissioning Study unanimously.
The next item on the agenda was approval for the district to purchase a new Suburban with the maximum cost not to exceed $46,000. A transportation vehicle can be used up to twelve years for transporting kids, and Olson said the first three years of this vehicle’s life will be used for only Special Education purposes. The board approved Superintendent Olson to purchase the vehicle from Brost Chevrolet.
Following that, the board then had the choice to approve new policy updates for district policy numbers 707, 709, 713, 721, 730, 802, 903, and 905 as recommended by the Minnesota School Boards Association. The Districts Policy Committee members met on February 10 to discuss potential changes to its existing policies, and Olson noted these policies will experience slight changes as recommended by the Minnesota School Boards Association.
The board approved the Policy updates and also removed policies 734 and 735 due to a few verbiage issues that makes them restricted to the district.
The last item on the Main Agenda was to approve a resolution relating to determining the necessity of issuing general obligation bonds and calling a special election thereon. The election that was being referred to is the referendum for a new Track & Athletic Complex for the School District. “What was before the board was the official decision to move forward with an election and putting into place the official ballot language,” said Olson. “The ballot language and what they approved tonight is exactly what you will see on the ballot. The board needs to adopt this because it cannot be done by one person like the Superintendent.”
The board approved the resolution and the vote will take place in August.
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS
The board also heard Administrative Reports from Highland Elementary Principal Chris Trostad, Crookston High School Principal Nicki Martinez, and Crookston Public Schools Superintendent Jeremy Olson. Washington School Principal Denice Oliver was not in attendance and left her report for the board in a packet. Both Trostad and Martinez’s reports were also handed to the board via a packet, but Martinez added to her report by noting that there is plenty of Pirate Pride going around, and they will be sending off the six individual Pirate wrestlers (Evin Trudeau, Gavyn Hlucny, Carter Coauette, Ethan Boll, Ethan Bowman and Hunter Knutson), who made the State Tournament. The sendoff will take place at the Crookston High School on Thursday, at 9:15 a.m.
Superintendent Jeremy Olson’s report highlighted the district’s transportation program with after-school programs and being able to get students to and from events. Olson also briefed the board about the potential of adding another part-time nurse to help with the needs of the district, and he expects to have an action item for the board to approve during their next School Board meeting.
CONSENT AGENDA
The Consent Agenda includes approving the 2022 Spring Coaches list, approval of employment with Randy Hviding as a part-time custodian, accepting a letter of resignation from assistant football coach Dan Halland, and approving a Memorandum of Understanding with Crookston Educational Association. The Consent Agenda also included the acceptance of Grants from the June Shaver Endowment in the following amounts.
- $5,000 for a Health Care Scholarship
- $11,303 for Healthcare Scholarships
- $4,879 for the Dram Department
The board approved all Consent Agenda items unanimously.
The next School Board meeting will take place on Monday, March 28, at 5:00 p.m. inside the Crookston High School.
