Author: Jim Bayer

Elaine Larabee, sitting alone in the Administrative Services Center boardroom, said goodbye to the Eden Prairie School District School Board at its Dec. 14 meeting. Elected in 2013, Larabee served five years as the school board chair and chose not to run for re-election in November. The odd ending of her tenure in an empty room, due to COVID-19 restrictions, with her colleagues and the superintendent participating virtually was somehow indicative of an extraordinary final year of her tenure. Superintendent Josh Swanson thanked her for the work she has done over seven years on the board. He outlined a litany…

Eden Prairie Schools Eden Prairie Schools reports updated 14-day COVID-19 cases among students and staff every Friday. EPLN will report that information each week. 1/1 – 1/15/21 Staff – 5 cases Students – 13 cases (Note: Eden Prairie Schools has 1,825 staff members and 8,768 students. Total staff is all district employees, including coaches, advisors, and reserve staff.) City of Eden Prairie/Hennepin County and Surrounding Cities Hennepin County and the City of Eden Prairie report 14-day COVID positive rates per 10,000 residents. EPLN will report information for Eden Prairie, Hennepin County and a few cities contiguous to Eden Prairie each…

Eden Prairie Schools has announced that students in grades 7-12 will return to the in-person learning using its hybrid model the week of Feb. 8, according to a Jan. 20 post on the district’s website. Students return to hybrid learning is they were previously in that model, or if they received approval to transfer from EP Online to hybrid for the second semester. Secondary students have been in distance learning since Nov. 23. Students in Cohort A will return in person on Feb. 8 and 9 and students in Cohort B will return in person Feb. 10 and 11. Cohort…

Members of the Jewish community are asking the Eden Prairie School Board to revise the proposed 2021-22 school calendar because the first day of school falls on Rosh Hashanah, one of the most important holidays on the Jewish calendar. The first day of school as proposed is Sept. 7. Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown Sept. 6 and ends at sundown on Sept. 8, according to Hebcal.com, a Jewish calendar and holiday website. Sept. 7 is considered the first full day of the holiday. Social media posts indicate that some community members have communicated their concerns to board members. A request…

Eden Prairie Schools learned this week that 24 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been allocated for district staff under a plan announced Monday by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The district is prioritizing teachers and other staff who have direct and extended contact with students to receive the small allocation of vaccines, according to Brett Johnson, senior director of communications and community relations. Twenty-four Eden Prairie staff members will receive the first dose as directed by the State of Minnesota, Johnson said. Second doses will be scheduled by the vaccinating clinic, he said. “In this initial group of vaccinations, we’ve identified…

Eden Prairie Schools Eden Prairie Schools reports updated 14-day COVID-19 cases among students and staff every Friday. EPLN will report that information each week. 12/25 – 1/8/21 Staff – 4 cases Students – 10 cases (Note: Eden Prairie Schools has 1,825 staff members and 8,768 students. Total staff is all district employees, including coaches, advisors, and reserve staff.) City of Eden Prairie/Hennepin County and Surrounding Cities Hennepin County and the City of Eden Prairie report 14-day COVID positive rates per 10,000 residents. EPLN will report information for Eden Prairie, Hennepin County and a few cities contiguous to Eden Prairie each…

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.” – Plato When she was a student at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, Jill Boyd was focused on a music therapy major. But she wanted to accomplish more than just using music to heal. She wanted to use music to reach people. So she combined her interest in music and her desire to bring music to children she felt would benefit. She added special education classes and created her own educational path before landing as a student teacher at Eden…

The Eden Prairie School Board welcomed three new members and elected a new leadership at its Jan. 4 organizational meeting. New members elected in November are: Beth Fletcher, a formal middle school math teacher, past president of the Prairie View Elementary Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) and the District PTO, and a mother of three. Kim Ross, who served on the School Board from 2008-11, and mentor at Eden Prairie High School. C. J. Strehl, a father of four students in the Eden Prairie district with a background in finance and accounting. They join current board members Adam Seidel, Debjyoti “DD” Dwivedy,…

Eden Prairie Schools Eden Prairie Schools reports updated 14-day COVID-19 cases among students and staff every Friday. EPLN will report that information each week. 12/18 – 1/1/21 Staff – 3 cases Students – 3 cases (Note: Eden Prairie Schools has 1,825 staff members and 8,768 students. Total staff is all district employees, including coaches, advisors, and reserve staff.) City of Eden Prairie/Hennepin County and Surrounding Cities Hennepin County and the City of Eden Prairie report 14-day COVID positive rates per 10,000 residents. EPLN will report information for Eden Prairie, Hennepin County and a few cities contiguous to Eden Prairie each…

Annual financial reports, whether for a business, schools, or even your own household, are not the finest ingredients for the making of a great Netflix series or even a decent documentary – much less for leisure reading. Columns and rows of numbers and percentages, references to fiscal years, funding streams and anticipated expenditures can be mind numbing. But if you look a bit deeper, they can provide some fascinating information. EPLN took a closer look at the 2020 Eden Prairie School District’s Annual Financial Report and found several to consider: School lunches $2.65 – the cost of a school lunch…