On Wednesday morning, Crookston Public Schools held a long-range planning committee meeting to discuss Building, Planning, and Financial Status.
Crookston Public Schools Superintendent Jeremy Olson led the meeting. The most important topic was discussing and reviewing an upcoming referendum for a potential new Track and Athletic Complex that would feature an all-turf field instead of grass. The referendum will be held on August 9, 2022, and Olson spent most of the conversation discussing and hearing from the committee on how and when information should be shared with the public leading up to the vote. An overload of information will be shared in the months leading up to the vote, including the project’s benefits, how it will affect the taxpayers, and answers to any questions the public may have. There will also be public meetings held and other ways the School District will be sharing the information.
Olson said kicking off the campaign with this meeting will help layout a clear understanding of timelines and goals the district wants to accomplish to make sure the public is as informed as they can be before the vote takes place. “With any strategy, you have to have some planning behind it. Our biggest goal is getting the information out to the public,” said Olson. “Thinking through how we are going to communicate it, what order we’re going to communicate it in, and why we’re going to communicate it is essential for any public campaign. That’s why it was crucial to meet this morning to start getting the ball rolling on this.”
The project’s estimated cost is $3.8 million, which could change as building costs increase/decrease. A portion of the project will be covered locally, while some state funding will be included. It is still uncertain at this time what the amounts will be. The decision to pursue a new Track & Athletic Complex came for a couple of reasons, one being that the School District could not come to an agreement with UMC on purchasing their field, as there was not a desire to make a deal.
The different ways the School District will be sharing information on the campaign is broken up into several parts.
- Public information: This will begin being shared by the School District in February and will become more in-depth in the months leading up to the vote.
- Public Meetings: This Will be held once a month in the last four months leading up to the vote (May, June, July, August). This will allow Superintendent Olson to learn more about questions raised at each meeting and bring back answers.
- KROX/Crookston Times: The last four months before the vote, Superintendent Olson will be intentional about sharing information about the referendum to KROX and the Crookston Times. (May June July August) He will also post other informational items in the form of articles beginning in February.
- Social Media: The School District’s social media platforms will be used in the final four months leading up to the vote to answer questions raised at the public meetings. (May June July August)
- Groundwork: Groundwork will include dropping off pamphlets of information at citizens’ doorsteps and knocking on doors to make sure everyone is aware of the vote. There is not a set timeline for the groundwork.
Olson also discussed when/where the information for the project can be seen and big reason for wanting to put the new complex in. “We are still fine-tuning a few things and asking the opinion of various people,” said Olson. “We are looking at February as the first time that we are going to get this information out to people. We will also have this information at all our home athletic events where people can see pictures and view handouts of the project. As far as the purpose of this, we are looking at a multi-use facility where Football, Track, Soccer, Softball, and Baseball can all practice. We also are going to have PE classes out there, so there are just a lot of uses that we can open up for our students if we go this route.”
The vote on August 9, 2022, will both be available for those who want to vote in person, as well as those who would prefer to do an absentee ballot. Other ideas discussed by the committee at the meeting for sharing the information included using the electronic sign in front of the Crookston High School to share information on the project over the course of the summer before the vote takes place. Olson believes if they are not repeatedly sharing the information over the next several months, they are not doing their job correctly.
There will be more information in the coming weeks and months before the vote in August, so make sure to stay tuned to KROX as we will provide you with new updates as we receive them.
Outside of the referendum discussion, the committee also briefly heard the Quarter Two numbers for the School District this year, and Olson believes they are in good financial standing. “We are looking good right now, and things are tracking well,” said Olson. “We are looking at a balanced budget which is always a good thing, and will just keep monitoring it four the next quarters.”
Pictures and the entire presentation of what is being proposed can be found down below –
[embeddoc url=”https://kroxam.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Crookston-Athletics-Facility-Pre-Referendum-Presentation.pptx” viewer=”microsoft”]
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