The Crookston School Board met on Tuesday, May 28 at the Crookston High School. The meeting opened with comments from the public and several spoke on behalf of the girl’s hockey co-op the board would vote on later in the meeting.
Pirate Girl’s Hockey member and a student a Fisher School Dana Conley spoke to the board and thanked Superintendent Jeremy Olson and Activities Director Greg Garmen for reading her email and meeting with the Fisher Superintendent Mr. Hanson. “Hi, I’m Dana Conley,” said Conley. “I’m a student at Fisher Public School and play for the Crookston Girl’s Hockey team. I’d like to say thank you to Mr. Olson and Mr. Garmen to take the time to read the email I’d sent out and for meeting with my superintendent Mr. Hanson on the case of the Fisher Hockey Co-op. I’d also like to thank the school board for taking the time to discuss a cooperative agreement.”
Superintendent Jeremy Olson then thanked Conley. “I just want to thank you for your email,” said Olson. “It was a very, very good email. I really appreciate when students speak and you just did a great job on articulating your points. And I want to commend you on what you’re doing.”
Andrea McDonald a parent of three younger girls in the Fisher school who play in the Crookston youth hockey program also spoke to the board. “I’m here regarding the Fisher, Crookston co-op for hockey,” said McDonald. “I have three daughters that play for Crookston. No, they’re not at the high school level yet, but soon. We are a Fisher family, we have a Fisher address. Our kids have been going to school there all along. I think it would be terrible to ask them to move schools to play the sport they love. The reason we started them in Crookston hockey was because the co-op existed. I don’t want to disrupt their lives and force them to move schools because I don’t feel like the kids should have to choose between sport and school. I hope that you will reconsider dissolving. I know it would be devastating for our family.”
School board chairman Frank Fee said that there could be a change in the school board by the time her daughters came up or a change of heart in the next couple of years. Olson added, “I very much understand your point,” said Olson. “Sports are supplemented and funded by the school in which they are hosted. There is no doubt that this is a difficult decision, but it is my recommendation as the superintendent that this is not in our strategic best interest as a district.”
Amanda Lien, a former Fisher resident and a member of the inaugural Crookston Girl’s Hockey team also addressed the board. “I just want to take this opportunity to thank the school board and the school district for allowing me as a Fisher resident and Fisher student to be apart of the girl’s inaugural team in 2003,” said Lien. “It is an experience and an opportunity that I can’t put into words and for some reason makes me all emotion standing here.” Lien shared about her club hockey experiences at the University of Minnesota Duluth and for the Breckinridge team as well as playing roller hockey in New Zealand. She continued, “the reason I bring that up is that anytime someone would ask me where I’m from I’d say, Crookston,” said Lien. “I understand the school board has a very tough decision to make. I understand that it comes down to the finances. I’m just expressing my thanks. I know it’s a short-term versus long-term. I eventually became a resident here and a taxpayer and I’m just extending my thank you and my hope that other students might be able to be involved in that.”
Pirate Girl’s Hockey coach Tim Moe also addressed the board thanking Lien for being there and commending Conley. “Dana is just a fantastic individual as we’ve talked about before,” said Moe. “I’ve always been about opportunities for kids and I expressed that in my email to all of you. And I hope that we can revisit this after this trial period so that we can give all kids opportunities.”
Fee thanked everyone for their input and the board moved onto the regular agenda. The board voted unanimously to dissolve both the boy’s hockey co-op with Fisher and the girl’s hockey co-op with Fisher and Mayville-Portland (ND). They then voted to reform a girl’s hockey co-op with Mayville-Portland, Hatton (ND), and conditionally with Fisher to allow Conley to play out the remainder of her high school career.
