The Crookston School Board held a public forum on the possible closure of Washington School on Wednesday evening at the Highland School auditorium. The auditorium was about half full, with over 125 people in attendance, comprising approximately half school district teachers and staff, and the rest parents, concerned citizens, and residents from the Washington School neighborhood.
The meeting started with the Interim Superintenden Randy Bruer, giving a presentation on Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding, which was federal funds allocated for COVID-19 expenses, helped fund the addition to Highland School. The project exceeded $5 million, with ESSER funding covering only $3 million. Bruer also discussed the efficiencies of consolidating from three buildings to two with the closure of Washington. He also mentioned the benefits of consolidation and the associated costs, although some of the costs were not available.The last item he talked about was the projected continued decrease in enrollment as projected by the Minnesota Department of Education.
After Bruer was done, Highland School Principal Chris Trostad gave a presentation and showed were all the classrooms would be and the changes that would be made on a map that was shown an a large screen. (Map is pictured at the bottom of the page). After Trostad was done, the floor was open for the public to make comments, express concerns, and ask questions. 23 people came before the board, with a variety of parents, district staff, and concerned citizens. KROX talked with several of those who spoke and got a variety of speakers to share their concerns and questions.
COMMUNITY MEMBERS VOICE THEIR CONCERNS
Brenda Crane, Washington School Administrative Assistant, said she was concerned about several things. “I was concerned, first of all, about what the costs will be of the remodeling that’s proposed for Highland School and whether it’s feasible for that work to be done in one summer and still allow our staff proper time to move and be settled into their classrooms before school starts,” said Crane. “And then just concerns for our programming as well, with early childhood and being able to provide an adequate registration day, be ready for meet the teacher, and also our early childhood screening that needs to happen before the start of school as well. So it’s a tight timeline. It seems like it might be a little tight moving everybody over here..”
Brigette Burzette-Deleon, School Readiness teacher, said she had questions about the cost of the Highland School addition compared to the money the district received. “I just had some clarifying questions for some of the financial numbers that they were giving us that didn’t really show what the actual costs of some things were. Like the addition. We got $3 million, but we overspent by more than $2 million. And my concerns with the move are that it’s not about preschool. There’s a space that was designed for us to come over here. It’s the impact that it’s going to have on K-5,” said Burzett-Deleon. “It’s not about us. Like, yes, we love Washington School. The things that we do at Washington School, we can do at this building as well. But Washington School is just a great starter point for our young families and our young children.”
Morgan Hibma, a mother and Crookston City Council member, had several concerns and was disappointed her questions weren’t answered. “I’d say my biggest concern is what is the plan? And they’re discussing the possibility of relocating the schools. It sounds like they’re going to have to move a lot of children and other grades around. I’m concerned with where the space will go, where everyone’s going to have to fit,” said Hibma. “What is the impact of when we do grow as Crookston? The city’s goal is to grow and attract more families. We have plans for that. And what are they planning? They also have concerns about money, but they will clearly have to spend a significant amount to remodel Highland, and they have no specific numbers on that. I’d also say I was concerned that they have not been able to answer hardly any of the questions that were asked. I had sent an email two weeks ago with questions, which were not answered then, and really were not answered now.”
Hibma said her other concern is what will happen to Washington School if the district isn’t using it. “I’d say my other concern is what is going to happen to Washington. They don’t seem to have a plan there. They say they may or may not sell it, but they can’t say that they have really any serious buyers,” said Hibma. “And what is the plan as we do have a history of schools just becoming abandoned and another derelict building that now is put back onto the city to maintain and take care of?”
Former School Board member and board Chair Robin Brekken said there are a lot of questions that haven’t been answered. “I was sitting in the chair of the school board for six and a half years, and referendums are just part of life. And there’s 70 school districts this year in Minnesota that went for referendums. I believe about 60% of them passed. And my fear is that they’re going to paint themselves in a corner because they want to move everybody into Highland. And I asked the question tonight, how many more students can you add before we burst at the seams? They didn’t have an answer. So that concerns me,” said Brekken. “And Washington is a great building. There’s a lot of acreage there. The school district, as history would prove, real estate or land is an asset. They’re treating their assets like liabilities. And look around town, they don’t sell property, they abandon it. And that’s not good business acumen in my mind.”
Brekken added that the board needs more transparency. “I just think the lack of transparency is brutal. I don’t understand why they always want to schedule meetings at 5:00 p.m. Many people can’t attend, so consider videotaping them and posting it on your favorite social media platform, such as YouTube or another platform. So people who get done with work at eight o’clock, midnight can pull it up and watch it and see what happens,” said Brekken. “Because a lot of this remodeling of Highland in the first place, by the time anybody knew it was even happening, it was all over. It was done with. So, and then there’s a big question on, you know, kindergarten versus pre and what’s eligible and we got to pay the money back. And I hope someone at the school district can clarify that so citizens have a clear understanding of exactly what the parameters were for that.”
LUNCH SCHEDULE IS AN ISSUE ALREADY AND WILL BE WORSE WITH ADDITIONAL STUDENTS
Crookston School District Food Service Director said nobody has contacted her about closing Washington and said there will be kids eating lunch at 10:30 a.m. and lunch would wrap up with fifth graders eating after 1:00 p.m. and that would not be good for the kids. The lunch situation already isn’t good for the students, and it would be worse if more students moved to Highland. A lunch schedule, if Washington was closed, is below.
ADMINISTRATION RESPONDS
Superintendent Randy Bruer said it was good to see so many people at the meeting voicing their concerns. “Well, I think the school board needs to talk about it now. They need to look at those ideas. We took some notes about it, and we need to kind of resolve that to see what challenges do we have before us, and then probably what should we do to really put some more teeth to it,” said Bruer. “I mean, maybe a study of the building is a good quality. Perhaps we should consider that, you know? Certainly, we know what’s in there that needs to be done, but let’s look at that and see what we want to do. And we’ll talk about all these ideas. It’s not going to be an immediate decision that the board should make overnight.”
Bruer added that they will take feedback from those who expressed concerns. “I’m glad to have parents put some input, and teachers need input too,” said Bruer. “I think they had quite a few transition meetings prior to this, dating back to 2019 and 2020, but sometimes we have to listen to some of these ideas and consider how we can make it better.”
Highland School Principal Chris Trostad said there is a give and take when talking about consolidating. “I think the biggest thing is you’re consolidating from three buildings to two. So obviously there’s going to be, you know, things that aren’t going to be the greatest. But I think the biggest factor is, where people used to be. And then, when enrollment dropped and people had to return to full-size classrooms, only to revert back to where they were before, is a tough thing. Because, you know, getting a full classroom when you had a smaller space before is definitely tough to go back to. So it’s the consolidation piece,” said Trostad. “So now the board needs to determine what they want to do. And I think it was great. A lot of people came out and gave a lot of good input, which you want to have as much input as possible to make a good, informed decision. So it was nice they came out, and hopefully the board can take that input and make the best decision for the district and families and children that they need to make.”
OTHER SPEAKERS COMMENTS, CONCERNS, QUESTIONS RECAP
Seann Murphy, a parent, said lunch times are already bad. He added that condensing into smaller classrooms isn’t good for the kids and pickup and dropoff is already a mess at Highland and will only get worse.
Kasey Thompson has two kids in the district and one in a wheelchair. Thompson is concerned about space for her daughter to be able to move around in the smaller classrooms.
Katie Goodhyke asked what would be done with the four-year-olds at lunchtime. At Washington School, there are doors that can be closed and it is a smaller confined space. At Highland, it is wide open, and four-year-olds like to run, which brings more concern with two exits outside right next to the lunchroom.
James Matthews, the President of the Crookston Youth Basketball Association, said the district approached the CYBA about donating money to redo the gym floor at Washington School. He said if they are going to close it, they obviously wouldn’t be donating money. He said the gym is important for the younger teams practices and they use it alot during the season.
Jessica Osborn, a mother, said she is 100 percent against the closing and the new Kindergarten area at Highland School is beautiful.
Jenna Benoit, a parent, said if numbers are so good in the younger grades, why would they look at consolidating the larger grades. She also asked why they don’t move Kindergarten back to Washington School. Benoit added that some kids only get five to 10 minutes to eat, and it isn’t fiscally responsible to close Washington to save an estimated $105,000 a year when they don’t know how much it will cost to remodel and renovate areas at Highland.
END OF THE MEETING GETS HEATED
The meeting was productive, with numerous questions, concerns, and comments. Unfortunately, the meeting didn’t end well in the last minutes. It concluded with School Board Chair Tim Dufault discussing the district’s financial issues, which have been exacerbated by approximately $500,000 in cuts this year, and the outlook for next year is not promising. A staff member hollared, cutting off Dufault, and things got heated. Dufault used a word he shouldn’t have and they quickly closed the meeting. Dufault ran up to the employee and apologized for his actions, saying he would issue a public apology.
Morgan Hibma said she was disappointed with the end of the meeting. “My other concern would be the professionalism that was handled here tonight, with a board member saying a sexist or misogynistic comment to one of the people here that was just asking questions and was not given that time or space..”
NEXT SCHOOL BOARD MEETING-
The next Crookston School Board meeting will be Monday, November 24 at the Crookston High School choir/orchestra room.
