Kittson Central to scale back amount of flooring to be replaced

By Anna Jauhola
After members of the Kittson Central School Board went on a walk-through of the facilities recently, the consensus was to replace only certain portions of carpeting on the north end of the building. During the school board meeting on Wednesday, May 22, the board authorized Superintendent Bob Jaszczak to visit with Jill Sobolik at CarpetOne in Drayton to get a quote.
Earlier this spring, Jaszczak got quotes from CarpetOne and Grindeland’s Flooring in Hallock for replacing carpet in a much larger portion of the school, including: the district offices, the library and media center, computer labs, teacher’s lounge and band and music rooms. CarpetOne’s quote was $44,000 and Grindeland’s quote was $59,000.
“I think we should scale back. We talked about it during the walk around,” Jaszczak said. “We talked about doing the offices and teacher’s lounge this year and picking away at it as we go forward.”
With a $15,000 difference between the two quotes, the board agreed with Jaszczak’s suggestion that he consult Sobolik for a scaled down quote for less flooring.
He said the teacher’s lounge carpeting is in terrible condition and will likely be replaced with hard surface flooring.
The carpeting is also in bad condition in Janet Swenson’s classroom and will be replaced with hard flooring.
The cost of this project will be covered through the facilities fund, which annually has $100,000 plus anything that rolls over from the previous year. Jaszczak said about $38,000 will roll over.
“The carpeting is one of the first things visitors see. It’s a first impression,” said Board Member Eric Ristad.
Other than the carpeting, the board also discussed items in need of repair or improvement within all school facilities, including: dings in the outside walls and broken screens due to snow removal; peeling paint on main door panels; rubber peeling on playground equipment; brick deteriorating on the south wall of the gymnasium; and a 1-inch lip at the end of Senior Hall that needs to be removed for handicapped accessibility.
The biggest issue they discussed otherwise was improving the bus garage building. While it does the job to shelter the buses, it is built level with the ground and the doors tend to freeze shut.
Ristad suggested it is an item to consider while handling long-term planning and Jaszczak said he would get numbers over the summer on the cost of replacing the building itself.
The bus garage foundation is perfect, Jaszczak said.
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In other business, the board:
• Discussed the new math curriculum approved earlier this year for elementary grades, which is Bridges Math Learning Center. Principal Jami Carr said all the program is more exploratory and more student-driven. “It matches up nicely with what we’re doing in sixth grade through Algebra 2.” Along with that grain, Jaszczak said the district will look at replacing some furniture in grades 3 through 5 classrooms that will create a group environment. He said they will slowly add to each classroom and will discuss the cost – which is between $15,000 and $20,000 – at the budget meeting in June.
• Approved continuing as a member of the Minnesota State High School League for activities and sports.
• Accepted Business Manager Denise Blomquist’s resignation. Jaszczak said Blomquist has been training Amanda Younggren to take over the position, and the training has been going well. “I think she’s going to do a terrific job for us,” Jaszczak said.
• Certified the graduating class of 2019.
• Approved the 400 Series policies, which deals with employees and personnel.