The staff at Highland Elementary School is making final preparations around the building ahead of the start of the new school year on Tuesday, September 1.
Highland principal Chris Trostad has been helping to complete some final construction projects ahead of his retirement at the end of the month. Most of the work has been organizing and moving teachers around to different classrooms, as Highland is bringing in some teachers and equipment from Washington School. Trostad applauded everyone’s effort to get the school organized and ready for the new school year. “It’s a lot of work for our buildings and grounds staff to move everything from Washington over,” said Trostad. “And anytime you have to move a classroom, you know we have a lot of teachers that are moving classrooms. It takes a long time to box up your room, unbox it, and set it all up again, and the Washington staff are having to go into completely different rooms than before. So it’s coming along, but it’s always kind of a push at the end.”
Trostad complimented custodian Corey Winger and his staff for their hard work over the summer. Keeping the facilities at Highland clean year-round is not easy, but Trostad knows that the Winger family has a long history of keeping Crookston schools clean and orderly for everyone. “Corey Winger does a phenomenal job. He’s the son of Kenny Winger, who was a custodian here for a million years, and everybody knows that he made this building look like it’s brand new every year, and took a lot of pride in his work. And Corey does the same thing, and he has a great staff,” said Trostad. “When it’s all said and done, you walk into Highland School, you’ll see the glossy floors. It looks like a glazed donut around here. And looks like a brand new building, and that’s a testament to Corey and his staff for the outstanding job that they do: cleaning, scrubbing floors, waxing floors.”
Additional work at Highland, included in the Highland planning session held on July 1, such as painting lines for the new pickup and drop-off zones at the east and south entrances, is ongoing and expected to be completed before the new school year. School registration is scheduled for August 11, and a Meet the Teacher Day at Highland will be held on August 31 from 11:40 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
