Month: September 2021

The Crookston High School Tennis Courts received yet another upgrade this past weekend. While the teams were playing on the road, Art Teacher Gary Stegman spent the day painting the School’s Pirate logo at the entrance of the courts.

The tennis courts were re-surfaced and re-painted over the summer, and with the latest addition of the painted logo, they are looking better than they ever have before.

Stegman talked about how the project came to be. “So, our tennis teams have gone to lots of different facilities that do something similar,” said Stegman. “Alexandria and Bemidji paint stuff on their actual court as well, so our Activities Director Greg Garmen asked if that was something I could do. He asked the contact person who re-finished our courts, and he pointed us in the right direction with what material and paint to use. We went through the process, and now we got the Pirate logo out there.”

After seeing other facilities with school logos on their courts, Garmen wanted to add the Pirate logo to the newly done courts and knew that Stegman was the right guy for the job. “After we got the courts done, I asked the guy who did them what we would need to do to paint a Pirate head on it,” said Garmen. “He told me what we needed to do, and I went right to Gary Stegman, who has done a lot of work around Crookston and for the High School, and he said he’d do it. So we had the idea, and he ran with it, and I like it cause when you step onto the courts, you step right on the Pirate head, so people will know where they are when they come to play Crookston.”

Stegman has been in Crookston since 1992 and started as a Art Teacher at the High School in 1993. Before that, he taught in Mankato. He has done many different projects throughout the community and for the School District.

Stegman spoke more about the specific process of his most recent job. “It actually went pretty quick,” said Stegman. “I made the Pirate logo years ago, pulled it out of the cabinet, and did the math on the court. By the time I did all of that and finished painting it, the project in total was about seven hours long.”

Stegman also mentioned you have to paint on the court at a specific temperature, which is why he took advantage of the tennis teams playing on the road Saturday to get the job done.

For now, Stegman doesn’t have any projects he’s planning on tackling anytime soon, but he mentioned that could change quickly, and he’s always ready for his next piece of work.

The post CROOKSTON HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS COURTS RECEIVE ANOTHER ADDITION THANKS TO GARY STEGMAN appeared first on KROX.

The Crookston School District is now a month into the school year, and Crookston High School Principal Nicki Martinez is continuing towards the goal of improving literacy. Specifically, the High School is looking to improve their reading and writing scores in the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) testing administered by Minnesota.

Martinez says transitioning into this school year with COVID-19 has been the most challenging part in working towards those goals so far. “I think there have certainly been some transitions to deal with,” said Martinez. “We went from COVID-19 to kids working in isolation, to now putting them back together to have them thrive together, so it’s been a big transition to get back to where we are now.”

Martinez also talked about how literacy is being focused on with the new curriculum in place. “The literacy portion is maybe a bigger focus than it has been in the past,” said Martinez. “They were focusing somewhat on literacy before COVID-19 hit, and now this time around, we’re making sure students have time each week to read and write. We’ve implemented a minimum of Twenty minutes of reading and fifteen minutes of writing each week where students stop what they’re doing and devote that time to improving those skills. It’s been cool to see teacher’s lesson plans and how they’re incorporating that.”

Martinez is a former English teacher and understands the importance of reading and writing. The twenty minutes of reading and fifteen minutes of writing is new this year for Crookston High School. Martinez has been a part of a similar exercise at other schools she’s been at and has seen first-hand how it can help and improve students’ grades.

Over the summer the School Board also emphasized their want to see improvement in reading scores in the MCA Testing. The board came up with three targets to achieve for the next three years. The targets set by the school board include seeing scores back to where they were before COVID-19 began for the first year, a 4% increase for the second year, and another 5% increase in the third year. These goals are lofty, but if accomplished, Crookston would be one of the highest performing School Districts in the state.

Martinez talked about a few programs that can be used throughout the school year to help project where students are trending in reading and writing growth. “Crookston uses a testing program called FastBridge, and it does help monitor reading growth and where kids are starting from,” said Martinez. “These companies that provide these services partner with the state standards and write their questions around the standards that will see growth. We can then look at the benchmarks and tailor our curriculum for the students depending on where they need work.”

For the entire conversation with Crookston High School Principal Nicki Martinez, you can tune in to KROX Saturday at 8:35 a.m. for the Focus on Education program. Martinez also talks about her favorite parts of the school year so far and how tight-knit the community of Crookston has been. You can listen on 105.7 FM, 1260 AM, or by clicking “Listen Live” at the top of this page.

The post CROOKSTON SCHOOL DISTRICT CONTINUING FOCUS ON IMPROVING LITERACY appeared first on KROX.

Crookston Public Schools released a communication this afternoon reminding parents to fill out a free/reduced lunch form before it’s too late. The deadline to fill out a form is tomorrow, October 1, 2021. Below is the communication.

If you have not already filled out a free/reduced lunch form: reminder that we will need to have forms completed by October 1, 2021 (Tomorrow)!

Fill out Free and Reduced Forms and we will waive fees!

We want to remind everyone that we need you to fill out the free and reduced lunch forms by October 1, 2021. We are waiving the tech fee ($40.00) as well as the Kindergarten supply fee ($15.00) for those of you that fill out this form regardless of income level or qualification. If you fill out the form, your fees will be waived. Last year we lost about $250,000 dollars of compensatory aid because our overall number of qualifying forms dropped. We are asking that you fill out these forms for this year, we will waive these fees for completed forms regardless of qualification status. We need your help!

Quick and Confidential: You can fill out the free and reduced form electronically at https://family.titank12.com/. Click on “apply for meals” tab to begin. 

The post CROOKSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS COMMUNICATION: FREE LUNCH FORM REMINDER appeared first on KROX.

The United Way of Crookston is holding its 21st annual Soup and Chili Cookoff on October 19, at the Crookston High School. The event will take place in the High School Commons from 5:30-7 p.m. and is $5 per person with ages 5 and under free. Freewill donations will be accepted, and Crookston Pirates Volleyball vs Roseau will follow in the gym. Money received will go towards supporting vital agencies in the Crookston area.

You can visit www.unitedwayofcrookston.org to learn more and find out how you can help give.

The post CROOKSTON UNITED WAY HAVING 21ST ANNUAL SOUP AND CHILI COOKOFF OCTOBER 19 appeared first on KROX.

The Minnesota Department of Health released the COVID-19 numbers for today and the state reported 2,874 cases with 13 deaths. 0 deaths were reported in northwest Minnesota. Polk County reported 43 new cases with seventeen probable, Roseau County had 13, Marshall County had 13 with four probable, Norman County had 7 with two probable, Mahnomen County had 5, Pennington County had 5 with seven probable, and Red Lake County had 1 with two probable.

All the information is below –

Data is for cases that were tested and returned positive. All data is preliminary and may change as cases are investigated. Many data points are collected during case interviews. Data presented below is for all cases, regardless of interview status. Data for cases pending interview may be listed as “unknown/missing.”

Positive PCR test results are considered confirmed cases. Positive antigen test results are considered probable cases.

All probable cases get the same public health follow up and recommendations as cases confirmed by PCR tests.

Testing

Total approximate completed tests (cumulative)	12,510,372
Total approximate number of completed PCR tests (cumulative)	11,205,578
Total approximate number of completed antigen tests (cumulative)	1,304,794

Total approximate number of people tested (cumulative)	5,643,178

Minnesota Case Overview

Total positive cases (cumulative)	711,094
Total confirmed cases (PCR positive) (cumulative)	651,456
Total probable cases (Antigen positive) (cumulative)	59,638

Total number of health care workers (cumulative)	47,031

Patients no longer needing isolation

Patients no longer needing isolation (cumulative)	683,858

Deaths

Total deaths (cumulative)	8,153
Deaths from confirmed cases (cumulative)	7,688
Deaths from probable cases (cumulative)	465
Deaths among cases that resided in long-term care or assisted living facilities (cumulative)	4,637

Total non-laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 deaths (death certificate) (cumulative)	103

Hospitalizations

Total cases hospitalized (cumulative)	38,031
Total cases hospitalized in ICU (cumulative)	7,709

Case Demographics

Age

Gender

Race & Ethnicity

Likely Exposure

Not all cases among health care workers have a likely exposure as health care staff.

Residence

Cases by County of Residence

County of residence is confirmed during the case interview. At the time of this posting not all interviews have been completed.

Residence Type

• MN DOC: COVID-19 Testing of People Incarcerated in MN Prisons

The post MINNESOTA REPORTS 2,874 NEW COVID CASES AND 13 DEATHS, POLK COUNTY HAS 43 NEW CASES appeared first on KROX.

Yesterday, Governor Tim Walz announced an allocation of $15 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds to help emergency shelters serving vulnerable Minnesotans improve COVID-19 mitigation measures. The funding will support the state’s Emergency Services Program grants, which are awarded to organizations that provide emergency shelter and essential services for people who are homeless. The $15 million in American Rescue Plan funds will be competitively awarded, prioritizing investments that acquire or modify shelter spaces to improve prevention of COVID-19 transmission or outbreaks.

“Every Minnesotan deserves a safe, warm place to sleep at night, especially as we continue to battle the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Governor Walz. “Minnesota’s shelters save lives and have been critical to our state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This funding will help ensure that as we approach our harsh winter months, Minnesota’s shelters are safe and available to Minnesotans who need them.”

“Having a safe place to sleep at night is a public health necessity, which is why we have made investing in housing and combatting homelessness a cornerstone of our COVID-19 response,” said Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan. “I am grateful for Minnesota’s shelters for their ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic and supporting our relatives experiencing homelessness. I am proud of this additional funding to support their work in keeping Minnesotans safe.”

Earlier this month, Governor Walz announced an allocation of $10 million in American Rescue Plan funds to be managed through an interagency, interdisciplinary state homeless shelter emergency response team focused on helping shelters prepare and respond to COVID-19 outbreaks. Those funds will focus on responding to outbreaks in existing shelters and other temporary congregate settings for people experiencing homelessness. Funds will cover expenses to keep operating with the needed personnel, room leasing costs, and other costs for supplies needed to sustain congregate setting operations, including air filtration, or food for those residing in isolation space.

Distinct from that $10 million allocation, the $15 million in funding announced today complements the previously allocated funds, and will be competitively awarded to programs, settings, and services, that help existing temporary congregate settings prevent transmission of infectious diseases, including:

• Physical modifications to reduce transmission risks or increase separation of shelter guests,
• Changes to ventilation or air filtration systems,
• Modifications for traffic flow especially in high-traffic areas, and
• Creation or acquisition of new shelter space designed to operate effectively in the context of an infectious disease.

In total, President Biden’s American Rescue Plan provides $8.5 billion to Minnesota to support COVID-19 recovery efforts. This includes $2.132 billion to local governments, $2.833 billion to the state government, and $3.505 billion for existing federally funded programs to help Minnesotans who were impacted the most during the pandemic. State leaders agreed to divide the state’s $2.833 billion into three categories: immediate COVID-19 response ($500 million, which includes Governor Walz’s allocation of $15 million announced today), long-term pandemic recovery ($1.150 billion, to be allocated during the 2022 state legislative session), and state revenue replacement ($1.183 billion).

Additional allocations of the $500 million reserved for immediate COVID-19 response will be announced in the coming months, as the state continues to navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 virus.

In addition to yesterdays allocation of $15 million for emergency shelter, Governor Walz today allocated $18 million of federal recovery funds to assist in the state’s ongoing response to COVID-19, including funding for the Minnesota Judicial Branch to relieve case backlog due to the pandemic. More information on the state’s federal recovery funds can be found here.

The post GOVERNOR WALZ ANNOUNCES $15 MILLION ALLOCATION OF FEDERAL AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN FUNDS appeared first on KROX.