Month: September 2023

The Northwest Regional Correction Center reported the arrest of the following-

Andrew Delacruz, 44, of Grand Forks, for giving a peace officer the false name of another person.

Ali Abdi Yusuf, 25, of Minneapolis, for disorderly conduct.

The post ARREST/FIRE REPORT-SEPTEMBER 1 appeared first on KROX.

With another school year just around the corner, each building in the district will kick off its year in different ways. Each Principal from Washington Elementary, Highland Elementary, Crookston Middle School, and Crookston High School has released information regarding the start of the 2023-24 academic year.

CROOKSTON HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL MATT TORGERSON

Matt Torgerson is entering his second year as the principal of Crookston High School; before that, he served as the assistant principal at CHS. Torgerson stated high expectations are coming with the start of the year and excitement from himself and his colleagues. “There’s always high expectations, but one thing I’m very excited about is this Senior class,” said Torgerson, “My expectation for them is to be a part of the process of what we want the Crookston culture to be like.” Torgerson hopes that this senior class is willing to take ownership of the school and present decisions to the seniors to determine the direction of the high school for future years.

Incoming first-year students will have similar experiences from the previous year due to a similar system for students in grade eight last year. “One thing we have worked on over the summer was updated scheduling,” said Torgerson, “We did this to try and find more support for high school students, especially our ninth graders, which has not existed before.”

With students in grades nine through twelve, independence is more prominent. Therefore, the orientation and “meet the teacher” events tend to have a different overview than the other schools in Crookston. “Many of them are already driving or have already reported to the school for sport,” said Torgerson, “We see fewer parents in the 9-12 world for the meet the teacher. Because that age of students can advocate for themselves a bit more.” High school students had their “meet the teacher day” on Wednesday, August 30.

The first day of school at CHS will be Wednesday, September 6.

CROOKSTON MIDDLE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL CIERRA HANGSLEBEN

Cierra Hangsleben is entering her first year as principal of the Crookston Middle School, and she believes the beginning of a new school should feel like a fresh start for students and staff. “I expect that students try. They might not be great at Everything, and that’s okay,” said Hangsleben, “Effort is important, and that’s a big piece that you can control; I always used to tell my students ‘Just give it your all,’ that’s all I ask I will help students in any way I can.”

Along with much of the staff at CHS, Hangsleben is thrilled to have a middle school where students 6-8 can interact without outside distractions. “I’m excited for us to have this middle school layout and start this foundation,” said Hangsleben, “I think this is needed for them, and I think this will allow the students to give themselves their own identity as well.”

Middle school students entering grades six through eight will start school on Tuesday, September 5, one day before the CHS is in session. The middle school intends to start a day before grades nine through twelve in hopes that students will acclimate to the new school layout without distraction.

WASHINGTON ELEMENTARY PRINCIPAL DENICE OLIVER

Denice Oliver is beginning her 23^rd year as the principal of Washington Elementary School, and she is looking forward to what this school year will bring. “What’s so exciting at Washington School is it’s the children’s and sometimes the family’s first experience being in a school setting,” said Oliver, “Everything is new to them, which is fun and exciting. I guess we’ve always been described as a happy school.”

Meet the Teacher Day at Washington will take place on August 31 from 4:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and on Tuesday, September 5, from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Washington School also houses all ECFB, school readiness, and kindergarten students, which brings another event for children and families to attend. “We have an ECFB kick-off event on September 5, our “Big Wheels Night” Families and kids can all come in.” Children attending the “Big Wheels Night” event can get inside a school bus and honk the horn, gee the fire engine at hand, and get inside the tire tractor.

Oliver believes this event is essential to children who may be apprehensive about starting school and can make children who are entering kindergarten feel more comfortable about the transition.

The first day of preschool will be Monday, September 11, and the first day of kindergarten starts Wednesday, September 6. The Washington preschool program is reportedly complete and cannot accept new registrations. Check in the Washington school office if your child is not registered for kindergarten. Their office hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday.

HIGHLAND ELEMENTARY PRINCIPAL CHRIS TROSTAD

Chris Trostad is entering his tenth year as principal of Highland Elementary and is ready to kick off another school year. Trostad was pleased with the success of Highland elementary students of last year, who scored highly on standard tests. “We had some perfect test scores last year, and Highland school scored above the state average,” said Trostad, “Some grades showed some remarkable growth from the previous.”

Highland Elementary is currently undergoing construction. The work continues for the preschool edition, and Highland will send out instant alerts to parents soon on how to go about child drop-off and pick-up. “I know this will be a concern to parents when they drive by and see construction materials and loaders,” said Trostad, “We may go to a pick-up and drop-off zone in the front of Highland school, where we would have plenty of people to direct traffic.” If the zone is moved to the front of the building, parents can park in the parking lot and enter the building to pick up their children. They can also wait for the buses to leave the premises to enter the parking lot for pick-up. Highland will send instant alerts via email, text message, and voice mail to parents with updates.

Meet The Teacher Day for Highland School will be Tuesday, September 5. “It’s a great opportunity for parents to share with teachers about where their child may struggle in a certain area, or if there’s an issue with an area of learning, or maybe a solution to help them learn better,” said Trostad, “It’s a great opportunity for the teachers to get to know as much about the child as possible and start building those relationships with the parents.”

Highland School will have its first stay of school on Wednesday, September 6.

 

 

 

The post BACK-TO-SCHOOL INFORMATION UPDATES FROM CHS, CMS, WASHINGTON ELEMENTARY, AND HIGHLAND ELEMENTARY appeared first on KROX.

The Crookston Development Policy and Review Committee met on Thursday morning in the City Hall conference room to establish new interest rates and loan amounts.

During the meeting, the committee established a policy within their IRP funds, which stands for Intermediary Relending Program. The policy premise was determining what rate of interest they would possibly charge if they made loans. “We discussed what would be a cap to an individual application to a loan, and what would be the cap or percentage of our total fund balance,” said City Administrator Corky Reynolds, “There were no specifics given about the business; this was more of a hypothetical.”

Currently, the policy states that interest rates will vary according to the project’s risk, typically one to two percent over the prime lending rate. The committee had representatives from three local financial institutions presently serving on the Intermediary Relending Program Committee, who discussed the risk assessment details. “They were very instructive in helping the committee members from the city,” said Reynolds, “Just for giving us some ideas and criteria for risk assessment.”

The committee also discussed the Prime Lending Rate, which means rates of interest that financial institutions charge that are considered prime lending; these rates vary frequently. “Given the present status of interest rates, which can be as high as 8.35%,” said Reynolds, “Is that an appropriate rate for us as a city to encourage businesses to come to town if we charge them 9.5% or 10% for money that the city would loan them.”

The committee concluded that they would put in place a base rate of the amount of the funds in which they hold in the IRP fund. Therefore, the interest rate that is being earned would be the base they would not charge any less than, which would vary on a case-by-case basis. Factors that come into play by case include risk assessment, collateral, ability to repay, type of business, and the need from the community for that business. “If we were to make a loan today to an entity, it would be no lower than 4.35% because that’s what we are earning on our funds today,” said Reynolds, “And that rate fluctuates daily.”

When the committee receives loan applications, they will then be analyzed by the three financial institutions. The analyzing process includes the risk assessment, collateral, and repayment ability. The financial representatives then make a recommendation to the committee. The offer consists of whether the loan should be made, the amount of the loan they are recommending, and the finalization of the appropriate interest rate. If the committee agrees to the terms of the recommendation, they are authorized to bring the proposal to the city council for the final decision.

 

 

 

 

 

The post THE CROOKSTON DEVELOPMENT AND POLICY REVIEW COMMITTEE MET IN EFFORTS TO ESTABLISH FUTURE INTERESTS RATES AND LOAN PROCESSING appeared first on KROX.