City, schools share good report cards

The Eden Prairie City Council and Eden Prairie School Board met informally Tuesday, Aug. 15, a gathering they try to hold annually to improve communication and collaboration.

Most of the hour-long meeting held in the Heritage Rooms of the Eden Prairie City Center was devoted to sharing results from each entity’s latest resident opinion survey.

Imagine it as the “Battle of the 90th Percentile” and, in the end, a tie.

Put another way, these report cards would make a parent proud.

For example, results of the city’s every-other-year Quality of Life survey, held in February and March by a company called Polco/National Research Center, included:

• 92% of resident respondents rated the quality of life in Eden Prairie as excellent or good, compared to 93% in 2020.
• 90% of residents ranked the quality of city services as either excellent or good.
• 9 in 10 residents said they would recommend living in Eden Prairie to someone who asks.

The Eden Prairie Schools similarly received impressively high marks in its own 2023 residential survey conducted by The Morris Leatherman Company, including:

• 99% of survey respondents who are parents of schoolchildren and 96% of the community overall rated the local schools as excellent or good.
• There was a 95% satisfaction rate among parents who contacted the school district on an important issue.
• 99% of parent respondents said they are proud of Eden Prairie Schools and would recommend the school system to friends and family.

Superintendent of Schools Josh Swanson also shared with the council and city staff the Eden Prairie Schools’ newest strategic plan, and both groups discussed the upcoming 100th anniversary of separate schoolhouses being consolidated into one Eden Prairie school district.

That formation of the Eden Prairie Schools in 1924 has had a profound impact, Mayor Ron Case – a former schoolteacher – said. In part, it’s because the near-perfect alignment of the school district and city boundaries has promoted a strong sense of community and a lot of parallels between city and school government, he added.

“It’s wonderful to have this opportunity to partner,” said Case.