The Crookston School Board had a special meeting on Monday evening in the Crookston High School Choir/Orchestra room. The special meeting was called by board member Mike Theis.
The meeting started with the board hearing from three teachers, Kindergarten teacher Monica Parenteau, first-grade teacher Megan Parenteau, and first-grade teacher Sarah (Kanten) Pester. All three were in favor of keeping the mask mandate.
The board also heard from Kelly and Kyra Kliner, parents of two students affected by the mask mandate.
There has been a slight drop in cases throughout Polk County, but Superintendent Jeremy Olson said there has been more COVID activity this year compared to last year and the main goal of level 3 is to limit learning loss. “I think there is some very compelling data as far as Polk County numbers coming down, which would indicate we would need to revisit this,” said Superintendent Jeremy Olson. “On the internal data we see our close contacts is down, which is a good thing. The decision was hard and the board discussed it and they hope the numbers keep dropping. It isn’t a no, it is a down-the-road decision.”
Theis called the meeting because he wanted to make a change and he was hoping to see a drop in COVID cases in the schools, but he hasn’t seen that. Theis made a motion to drop to level 2 and Frank Fee seconded the motion. After discussion from all board members, they voted 3-2 against dropping to level 2 and to keep the Health and Safety level at 3 and to keep the K-6 facemask mandate in place. Voting against the change were Adrianne Winger, Patti Dillabough, and Tim Dufualt. Voting to drop to level 2 were Theis and Frank Fee. Dave Davidson was not at the meeting. “We have seen very few learning disruptions since the masking has been put in place, so it has been successful in that regard,” said Superintendent Olson. “There is the topic of quarantines and as we monitor the data, now is not the time to be pulling away from that massive of a safety protocol and we are doing what is right for students and families.”
The district will continue to monitor the numbers every two weeks and a board member can call a special meeting if they feel the numbers are down.
