The Crookston School Board met Monday evening in the Crookston High School Choir/Orchestra room.
GIFTED AND TALENTED STUDENT PROGRAM
Superintendent Jeremy Olson said he was happy to announce that Highland School has started a gifted and talented program. Amber Sannes will be working with the students once a week. “Amber works on Tuesdays and brings in different grade levels throughout the day,” said Highland School Principal Chris Trostad. “She spent the end of last school year and this summer going to training, and she is the right person, and she is an outstanding teacher.”
The students are selected for the program in various ways. “A lot of it comes down to percentile ranks on tests, MCA scores, a little teacher input, and the COGUT test,” said Trostad. “Gifted and Talented also includes EE students, or double exceptional, and those would be special needs students that might have them prevented them from expressing their thoughts or opinions, and they are highly intelligent individuals.”
Highland School recently notified the students and parents of who is going to be in the program.
NOVEMBER 5 REFERENDUM PREPARATION
Superintendent Olson has been working hard on getting referendum information out to the public so they can be informed when they vote on November 5. “I block off my calendar and look at how we can communicate these complex ideas that we need to communicate with the residents of the district,” said Olson, who added the language on the first option on the ballot is confusing and not true. “The state requires us to put in statutory language, and we tried to appeal it because it is fundamentally not true. What it will say on the ballot question is by voting yes, this will increase your taxes, and that isn’t true. Question 1 will be a tax decrease for everyone or hold you harmless if you have ag land.” If both questions are passed, taxes will go up minimally. A $200,000 valuation on a home would be an increase of $18 a year. The average property value in Crookston is $125,000.
School Board Chair, Frank Fee, commented that if question one on the referendum vote doesn’t pass, the Crookston School District will have to cut around $1 million next year.
WORLDS BEST WORKFORCE
Superintendent Jeremy Olson provided the board an update on the World’s Best Workforce program with five goals for the district. “I call them five pulse checks on a student’s life,” said Superintendent Olson. “First we have kindergarten readiness, are kids coming ready to learn in kindergarten; third grade literacy, we want to make sure all kids are reading well by third grade; the achievement gap – We are making sure that all of our students are succeeding; graduation – that is an important milestone for any kid; and college and career success – we want all the kids to be ready for college and also careers. We want to make sure all students have the skills they need to go into any vocation they choose.”
POLK COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH INFORMING TEACHERS ON VAPING
Polk County Public Health Director and Crookston High School Girls Soccer coach, Sarah Reese, informed teachers on the vaping epidemic. “Sarah informed the teachers on what to look for and some prevention tips,” said Olson. “We want to be progressive and solve the issue here.”
LAST MEETING FOR NICK NICHOLAS
Interim School Board member Nick Nicholas attended his last meeting, and Superintendent Olson and the entire school board thanked Nicholas for filling Kari Miller’s spot after she moved from the community. “He has been awesome to work for,” said Olson. “He helped drive us forward and to keep the focus on educating kids.”
Nicholas told the board it had been a pleasure to serve on the board, and the school district has a great leader in Olson. He added that they should start working on a contract extension to Olson as soon as they can.
AGENDA APPROVED
The board approved the consent agenda unanimously. The consent agenda included accepting the resignation letters of Tanner Reinhart as Junior Varsity Baseball Coach and Mary Wessman, a paraprofessional at Washington Elementary School (WES). Approval of a position change for Linda Fuller from an aide at WES to a paraprofessional at Crookston High School. The employment of Jennifer Erdmann as a part-time paraprofessional at Highland Elementary School; Megan Baird as a VPK aide at WES; Heidi VanEps as a VPK aide at WES; Nancy Halstonson as a paraprofessional at WES.
ADDITION OF ELECTION JUDGE
The school board approved the addition of Annette Hegg as an election judge for the November 5 election. Hegg will take Jerry Amiot’s spot since he won’t be available that day. Hegg will join the other election judges – Linda Cournia, Robert and Kathy Altringer, Randy Beattie, Beth Benoit, Ray Dusek, Jan Kelly, Marlys Mjoen, Gene, and Geri Ovsak, Joye Thompson, and Gloria Watro.
MSHSL GRANT APPLICATION
The board approved the Minnesota State High School League grant application. Fee said he wasn’t sure what kind of money would be available this year because the MSHSL has a $400,000 deficit, but they will send in the application. Fee said the MSHSL grant money is used to cover the costs for student-athletes that can’t afford participation fees.
The school board will have a special meeting on November 12 at 7:00 a.m. to go over the special election results. The next regular school board meeting will be Monday, November 25.
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