The Crookston School District will hold the annual welcome back-to-school day at the Crookston High School Commons on Thursday, August 19 from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Families can pick up School District and school information packets, meet school personnel including the transportation department to answer bus route questions, and food service personnel. “We have a lot of people there to answer questions,” said Crookston Schools Superintendent Jeremy Olson. “You can get your questions answered about transportation, about the schools, and any questions you have before the start of the school year.” Families new to the district, along with pre-school and kindergarten students can register for classes and find out more about the schools.
One of the best reasons to stop by the welcome back-to-school day is the money that could be saved if you fill out the free and reduced meal application. Any family that fills out the application will save some money. “We will be waiving fees. The tech fee is an annual $40 fee per student we use for technology and we will waive it if you fill out the free and reduced form,” said Superintendent Olson. “We will also waive the kindergarten supply fee of $15 if you fill out the free and reduced form.”
The reason for the incentive is because of the State compensatory money that the district missed out on from people not filling out the forms last year. “We actually lost about $250,000 last year because people didn’t fill out the form because the meals were free for all students,” said Superintendent Olson. “We tried to do a push last year to get people to fill them out and we appreciated it because we went from a net loss of $500,000 to about $250,000 because they filled them out and we don’t want a loss this year.”
The money the district receives go towards a lot of programs. “That aid goes into intervention programs, it goes into helping us with sports and activities, and a variety of different things,” said Superintendent Olson. “When we don’t get the compensatory revenue it affects our bottom line and things like after-school childcare and it makes it more difficult to offer programs like that without the aid.”
The district wants all families to fill out the free and reduced meals no matter how much each family makes.
To fill out free and reduced form electronically CLICK HERE.
For the paper hard copy of the free and reduced lunch form CLICK HERE.
The district will have a special meeting on Monday, August 16 at 7:00 a.m. to discuss facemasks and if the district should start classes with or without a mask mandate.
