The Crookston School Board met at Highland School on Monday because the Crookston High School hosted the Fall Choral Festival.
MORE SUBS ARE NEEDED IN CROOKSTON, JUST LIKE DISTRICTS THROUGHOUT THE STATE
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Renee Tangquist and Janelle Kresl spoke on the need for more subs, especially with the flu season approaching. “We know they (the board) know there is a problem with a shortage of subs, but we wanted to share some experiences of how it’s affecting what is going on daily and want it to improve,” said Tangquist. “We want subs to fill in for teachers, aides, and paras so we can continue our education and things flow well throughout the day. Right now, it’s tough because we don’t have the subs like we used to have.”
Full-time teachers are filling in as subs during their prep hours. “Speaking from the special ed perspective, especially with para support. 30 percent of the student population is special ed, so there is a high need for support staff, and when they’re not available due to illness or whatever it is, it really hinders the growth of special ed students, and it all kind of falls on the backs of teachers. We have a job to do, and in addition, we have to do the para’s job, and we are trying to meet the needs of those students, so it is very difficult.”
Tangquist added that if you’re interested, they could use more subs, “Just reach out to Crookston Schools. We are looking for people that really love kids and it is a great place to work with a lot of great people to work with.”
The Crookston School Board recently approved an increase in pay for subs, and they hope that will also help attract more subs.
NEW SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER HIRED
Crookston Police Chief Darin Selzler introduced the board to the new Crookston School Resource Officer Cody Bannert. He is a 2012 graduate of Thief River Falls High School. After high school, he joined the Marines from 2013 to 2017. After the Marines, he went to Northland Technical and Community College to become a police officer. He started as a Police Officer in Roseau for nine months before taking the job in Crookston in July of 2020. Bannert is married and has a one-and-a-half-year-old son, and enjoys going to Pirate sporting events. “I really like it here at the Crookston schools. My family and I come to Crookston sporting events, and I am here nearly every morning on shift to ensure everything is operating smoothly. I really like the staff here in Crookston, and it is a great place to be,” said Bannert. “I want to be involved in putting people on the right path who need it. I think everybody can use a little assistance, and hopefully, I can be the key that gets them there.”
Bannert added that he hopes to continue building the bridge between law enforcement and the kids. “I want to be the bridge,” said Bannert. “Let the kids feel comfortable with law enforcement, telling us about their issues and trusting us to help resolve their issues.”
A GREENHOUSE COMING TO CROOKSTON HIGH SCHOOL
The feature presentation was given by Construction Trades teacher Travis Oliver, FFA Director, and Ag Education teacher Carolyn Pavlish. They presented their plans to build a greenhouse on the Crookston High School grounds that is funded by a grant that Pavlish received to help with FFA education. “I am hoping down the road, we will have a really nice greenhouse to provide really good opportunities for our students, good opportunities for the Ag Ed program to expand,” said Oliver. “It all came about with Ms. Pavlish and she applied for the grant and helping her do that, I got some numbers together for her and said I will be the one to put it up for you.”
The greenhouse will be on the east side of the building by the patio area off the commons. It will be around 24 feet wide and 48 feet long. The south side of the greenhouse will be 14 feet wide, and the north side will be 10 feet wide. The south wall will be greenhouse plastic. They are using the University of Minnesota Extension design, and the construction trades class will help build the greenhouse. “The grant will pay for the lumber, the panels, the excavation, the concrete, the rebar, the rock, and the sidewalks we have to pour,” said Oliver. “On the inside, we have to start over. When we get to that part, there is other grant money we can access. We didn’t want to look greedy when we applied for the grant, so we wanted to get our ducks in a row and find out what we needed, and down the road, if we needed more money, it would look better because we have the structure build and go to the same committee and say, look what we did.”
CONSENT AGENDA
The board approved the consent agenda, including the approval of the employment of Madilynn Thomsen, Leah Marie, and Kayla Brekken as paraprofessionals at Crookston High School, Matthew Rosu as a bus driver/custodian for the district, Katie Scott as a preschool teacher at Washington School and Malissa Burnette as a paraprofessional at Washington School. The board will be asked to accept the resignation of Joel Pyles, the IT Support Staff member, as he took the job of IT Director at the City of Crookston. The board also approved the resignation of Sam Melbye as assistant Boys Hockey Coach, and Jeff Perreault as Head Girls Golf Coach. The board approved the Winter Activities coaches list and accepted $21,721.11 in donations. The donations were $10,000 from American Crystal Sugar for the Inclusive Playground at Highland School, $4,596.23 from United Valley Bank for the Crookston Tennis programs, $3,600 from the Crookston Youth Soccer Association to the Pirate Boys and Girls Soccer programs. The board also accepted a donation of $1,250 from the Crookston FFA Alumni for the FFA National Convention, $500 from Scheels to the Pirate Girls Soccer program, $300 from Mike Tiedemann for Pirate Girls Tennis indoor practice. The board accepted $200 apiece from RiverView Health, Erin LaPlante State Farm, Widseth, KROX Radio, Crookston Eye Clinic, and American Federal Bank for tennis court signs. The last of the donations are $174.88 from the Class of 1964 to Crookston High School and $100 from Don and Patty Lubinski for the Pirate Football program.
MAIN AGENDA –
The board approved membership to the Minnesota State High School League for the 2024-25 school year and approved the post-issuance debt compliance policy.
The next school board meeting will be held on Monday, November 25, at the Crookston High School Choir and Orchestra room.
