Crookston Public Schools Interim Superintendent Dave Kuehn released a letter of some of the district’s highlights after six weeks of school. The full letter can be seen below-
Dear Crookston School District Families,
As we wrap up our first 6+ weeks of school, I thought it would be appropriate to share with our district families some highlights that reflect our great start to a new school year, along with a few informational updates.
Our staff continues their focus on relationship building, which includes providing a safe, respectful and engaging learning environment for all of our students. We appreciate the support and trust that our district families have given to us, as we do our best to deliver a quality educational experience for all of our students. We encourage all of our parents/district families to be actively involved with their child’s education by attending school functions, by attending parent-teacher conferences and by simply asking questions when you have them. Our teachers and our principals are always available to answer questions or to simply have a conversation about your child(ren) and how we can best support/serve them.
I am proud of the work that our staff is doing in the areas of relationship building, mental health, equity, and curriculum/instruction, all in support of ensuring that our students are successful academically, socially, and emotionally. Each and every day I am fortunate to be able to witness our staff working hard in all of these areas.
Listed below are some district highlights/updates, along with some building highlights that demonstrate the great start that we have had.
District Highlights/Updates:
- Respectful School Culture: As we started the new school year, a strong focus/commitment was in place, encouraging our staff and administration to build those necessary, positive relationships with the students they serve.
- Safe & Healthy Learning Environment: We continue to work on ensuring a safe and healthy learning environment through strong partnerships with our school resource officer, our mental health specialists, local law enforcement and Polk County Public Health.
- “Thank You”: We would like to extend a sincere thank you to all of our families that filled out the Free/Reduced Meals application in August/September. I am pleased to announce that we have 60+% of our students that qualify for these benefits, which is awesome, providing a needed support to these students and their families. This 60+% will also benefit the district next school year via additional state revenue of around $288,000 that will be used to provide academic support to students.
- District Professional Development for Our Staff: One area of focus this year is on diversity, equity & inclusion, which will help us better serve our students and our families.
- A Strong Start for Our Preschool Program: Excited to report that we have 108 students attending our program.
- Planning and Preparation for the new preschool addition at Highland and the remodeling at CHS to implement a true middle school format has begun.
Washington Highlights/Updates (Mrs. Oliver, Principal):
- Attendance: Principal Oliver reminds the students during morning announcements that “The more you are in school, the more you will learn.” In the month of September, we had a 94% attendance rate….which means 94% of our students were here every day or missed only 1 day of school. Perfect Attendance awards are distributed for those students who were in school every day in September and their pictures are hung in the hallway to celebrate this accomplishment!
- Meet the Teacher: When parents/guardians and their children come to school before the year starts to “Meet the Teacher,” it helps to build that important relationship and creates true partners in a child’s education. At these meetings, parents have the opportunity to visit with the teacher about the goals and wishes they have for their child’s school experience. The teachers talk about a typical day and what parents need to know about the year. We appreciate the support of our parents and celebrate that 95% of our parents and children came to “Meet the Teacher.”
- Kind Students: Every day we take time during our morning announcements to celebrate students we catch doing the “safe thing,” “kind thing” or doing their “best work.” It is so encouraging to see the kindness of our students every day. It is not uncommon to see students opening a carton of milk for someone who does not know how, helping a friend with a zipper, sharing a toy with someone who doesn’t have that toy or walking hand-in-hand down the sidewalk/hallway because someone needs a friend. Washington School is a kind place for students to learn and grow!
Highland Highlights/Updates (Mr. Trostand, Principal):
- After-School Reading Program: Highland School will be starting a six-week after-school reading program with targeted interventions to meet the needs of students. Highland School is planning on having three separate six week programs throughout the course of the year. Transportation and snacks will be provided for students during each session.
- Student Success Center: The Student Success Center is new this year to Highland School. The Student Success Center includes a full-time counselor, student success coordinator and three school social workers. The Student Success Center works with students to build skills in areas such as: self regulation, anger management, socialization, etc. This is a great option for parents to have their child work with highly trained professionals located at Highland School.
- English Language Learner (ELL): Our Title Program is taking over the ELL Program this year. I believe this is going to provide some necessary, extra support for our ELL students. The Title staff has been working extremely hard this year to be prepared to best serve our ELL students.
- School Safety: The safety of our students at Highland School is our highest priority! The staff and students have performed all required safety training exercises to near perfection. Highland School has all outdoor cameras displayed in the office at all times for additional safety. Highland School now has a separate service road for delivery vehicles. This will improve safety for our children by separating our playground used for recess and deliveries to Highland School.
Crookston High School (7-12) Highlights/Updates (Mr. Torgerson, Principal):
- Students had a great time during Homecoming week. We made some adjustments to the schedule to allow for all students to participate in the events. All 7th-12th graders were able to participate in different activities ranging from Powder Puff Football, a dodgeball tournament, watching a movie in the auditorium, decorating their hall during color wars and of course, the pep fest.
- We have started a peer mentoring program which connects some of our upperclassmen with our junior high students during lunch to talk, play games, or run around outside or in the gym. This has also been making its way into the hallway as we notice upperclassmen greeting junior high students throughout the day. One example – Mr. Torgerson witnessed two 11th grade football players talking to a 7th grade football player who was having a rough day.
- Our eligibility system for participating in extracurriculars is working well. Due to our weekly checks, we are seeing fewer and fewer students showing up on our ineligibility list this year which will hopefully lead to more passed classes and fewer retained students.
I am extremely proud and humble to be serving as the Interim Superintendent of the Crookston Public School District. I continue to be amazed at all of the great things that our students and our staff are accomplishing. An ongoing goal and high priority is making every effort to best serve the needs of our families and students. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions, via email at davekuehn@isd593.org or via phone at 612-246-0336.
Pirate Pride!!
Dave Kuehn, Interim Superintendent
