A back-to-school primer

As north metro school districts ramp up for the start of school Sept. 2 students should get ready for changes in staffing, new technology, improved facilities and new programs. A few districts are working to attract new families by building a niche, emphasizing science, multiculturalism or the arts. Only a few districts are asking voters for additional funding. During tight budget times, many of the projects have been undertaken using private grant money.

Here's a sample of what's new in north-metro districts this year:

• Referendum: No.

• Staffing: The district is seeing unprecedented administrative turnover: Superintendent Roger Giroux is leaving at the end of the calendar year, and the district also will be replacing three high school principals; two middle school principals, who have become associate superintendents; and nine elementary school principals, who either retired or left the district. The directors of buildings and grounds, employee services, student services and special education, and the superintendent's administrative assistant and the special education director, also have left.

• Academics: Elementary employees are being trained on Everyday Mathematics, which educators hope will be more rigorous and more parent-friendly than previous curricula. High schools will begin teaching a College in the Schools biology I course in cooperation with St. Cloud State.

• Other: Lunch prices will go up 20 cents across the board.

• For more information, visit www. anoka.k12.mn.us.

• Referendum: $250,000 over 10 years to hire back some laid-off teachers and avoid more layoffs this year.

• Technology: 30 high school classrooms, along with all five sixth-grade classes, will be equipped with Promethean interactive white boards.

• Academics: The arts magnet at the high school has a new television studio, a keyboard-based music classroom, a dance studio and black box theater, and dance and theater teachers, possible because of a federal grant facilitated by the Northwest Hennepin Integration School District. District officials are moving ahead with a career tech program that will help high school students get certification in nursing assistant and game design programs. The alternative high school has moved to its new location in the building that also houses Brown College.

• For more information, visit www.brookcntr.k12.mn.usears.

• Referendum: No.

• Staffing: New Rice Lake Elementary School Principal Warren Buerkley from Afton Elementary School.

• Technology: 130 new SmartBoard interactive white boards in K-5 classrooms.

• Academics: This fall marks the start of Ramp It Up programming designed to help incoming high school freshmen to prepare for and excel in college, with additional academic help, counseling and intervention for at-risk students. With an expanded number of Advanced Placement offerings and sections, the number of participating students has gotten a boost of about 10 percent and 47 percent over the past two years.

• For more information, visit www.isd12.org.

• Referendum: No.

• Facilities: Two new gymnasiums are being built at the high school, set to be completed in March. The $8 million collaboration with the city of Columbia Heights will mean increased community access outside of school hours.

• Staffing: Michelle Dewitt will take over as principal at Highland Elementary School.

• Technology: A pilot program at Valley View Elementary School will study best practices for 21st century learning, with an emphasis on online testing and curriculum.

• Academics: Using the University of Minnesota's Team Up grant, Central Middle School is assessing teaching of students learning English. The school also will offer new after-school classes, including an aviation program. The high school will offer Advanced Placement art and statistics, an international foods course and an all-girls physical education class, in collaboration with the U of M. Highland Elementary School teacher Ryan Palmer will lead a grades 8-12 drum line that will debut at homecoming Sept. 12. The middle school will team up with Stages Theatre to put on a musical production; elementary students will receive piano lessons through MacPhail Center for Music.

• For more information, visit www.colheights.k12.mn.us.

• Referendum: No.

• Facilities: The district is wrapping up the second year of a $27 million project to improve air quality and energy efficiency. Changes include new lighting and heating, a dehumidification system to reduce air conditioning costs, and new boilers to replace vintage 1958 equipment.

• Staffing: Matt Boucher, from Edison High School in Minneapolis, will become the new assistant principal at Fridley Middle School.

• Technology: About one-third of classrooms now are equipped with SmartBoard interactive white boards, and the middle school and high school are ready to make use of Internet2, a super-fast connection used for streaming video and interactive teleconferences. The elementary school is next.

• Academics: As part of a campaign to become a K-12 International Baccalaureate district, Fridley schools are moving toward a "global view" curriculum that pushes early elementary language and interdisciplinary multicultural learning. The high school media center has been overhauled; outdated books will be donated, and students will have access to more interactive computer docks, where they can access online periodicals and websites.

For more information, visit www.fridley.k12.mn.us.

• Referendum: No.

• Administration: All district phone numbers are changing; each classroom will have its own direct-dial telephone number. The new system will offer convenience for families, and for first responders in an emergency. Listings are at www.moundsviewschools.org/contact.asp.

• Staffing: Todd Durand will take over as principal at Island Lake Elementary School.

• Academics: A districtwide information system, School View, will give parents Web-based access to students' grades, assignments, attendance reports, teacher notes, progress reports and more. The system is set to launch in September.

• Other: All Mounds View schools are working with Schools for Energy Efficiency (SEE) in an effort to save about $300,000 in energy costs over the next two years.

• For more information, visit www.moundsviewschools.org.

• Referendum: Voters will decide on two levy proposals: an operating levy of $80 million over 10 years, and a $25 million, five-year technology levy.

• Facilities: Students from Osseo Elementary School, Weaver Lake Elementary School and Edgewood STEM Magnet School are attending school in different buildings. Edgewood students now are at the Weaver Lake building, and students from the other two schools have been transferred to different nearby schools. Fair Oaks and Cedar Island now are preschool-grade 3 only; they create a three-school campus with grades 4-6 at Oak View Elementary.

• Staffing: Because of attendance and boundary changes, several schools have new principals: Jeff Zastrow at Birch Grove School for the Arts, Phil Sadler at Fair Oaks Elementary, Scott Taylor at Park Brook, Gretchen Peel at Weaver Lake Elementary and Michael Thomas at Osseo Junior High School.

• Academics: Thanks to a state grant, 131 teachers in grades 5-12 have been trained to teach Advanced Placement classes. Six new AP classes were added at Osseo and Maple Grove High Schools, opening seats for 718 additional students. Students turning 5 between Sept. 1 and Nov. 1 can apply for an early admission process for kindergarten.

• For more information, visit www.district279.org.

• Referendum: The preliminary proposal is to extend the term of the current $12.6 million levy to 2015 and to add $7.6 million. A second question seeks $3.1 million to bring the district to the state's levy limit. Passage of the second question is dependent upon passage of the first. All the money would be used to reduce class sizes and restore some previous cuts.

• Facilities: Using a $314,500 U.S. Department of Education grant, the district bought portable Frisbee golf equipment, available for use by students and residents at all secondary and middle schools and all but one elementary school. Schools also purchased snowshoes and pedometers for student checkout.

• Staffing: The school board is working to select a new member to fulfill Paul Magnuson's term, through December 2009. The new member likely will be confirmed on Sept. 8.

• Other: After two months of community meetings that drew more than 1,000 people, the district has drawn up a five-year strategic plan. Some of its components, such as a financial advisory council, already are being implemented.

• For more information, visit www.rdale.k12.mn.us.

• Referendum: No.

• Facilities: The district is planning a multi-million-dollar update of its high school and middle school science rooms and labs. Volunteers transformed a weedy courtyard at Wilshire Park Elementary School into an outdoor classroom, with a pizza herb garden and a Weather Bug weather station.

• Staffing: Wendy Webster has been hired as community services and communications director.

• Technology: By next summer, about 95 percent of high school classrooms, 100 percent of the middle school and two-thirds of elementary classrooms will be equipped with Interwrite Board interactive white boards.

• Academics: The high school is introducing second-year Advanced Placement calculus. The elementary is starting a science, math, engineering and technology (STEM) curriculum in kindergarten, with help from a new STEM specialist, Pamela Samec, who will help teachers to incorporate STEM into all disciplines. The elementary school also will introduce two sections of Kindergarten Options all-day kindergarten for interested parents, who will pay $20 a day.

• Referendum: Residents will vote on a $4.5 million, seven-year operating levy to maintain current funding. The levy will not restore previous cuts.

• Staffing: District curriculum and assessment supervisor Angie Scardigli will become principal at East Bethel Community School. After three years of implementation, nearly all teachers are now included in the state's merit-pay program.

• Technology: With help from a federal grant, teacher Colin Menschel will be put on special assignment to work with a cohort of 50 staff members to better integrate technology into the classroom. The $141,000 grant will cover a wide range of needs such as interactive classroom tools and professional development.

• For more information, visit www.stfrancis.k12.mn.us.

• Referendum: No.

• Facilities: Northpoint Elementary School, a 700-student, K-3 school, opens to replace Kenneth Hall Elementary School, which was removed to make way for high school construction. Kenneth Hall Principal Mike Callahan will take the helm. An open house is 4:30-7 p.m. Thursday at the school, 2350 124th Court, Blaine. Renovations are complete at Park Terrace and Woodcrest elementary schools in Spring Lake Park and Fridley.

Renovation and expansion of Westwood Intermediate and Westwood Middle schools in Blaine is ongoing; the projects should be completed by February. Expansion and remodeling at Spring Lake Park High School continues. Students will find two temporary covered walkways to connect three building sections. The high school is projected to be complete next fall.

• Staffing: Amy Schultz, from South Washington County Schools, is director of business services, John Franke is dean of students at the high school and Tyson Crockett is dean of students at Westwood Middle School.

• Academics: Early childhood programs will expand to the Northpoint Elementary school building. A math task force is evaluating the current program and will write a new curriculum based on new standards. K-12 teachers are learning how to implement personalized learning programs.

• For more information, visit www.springlakeparkschools.org.

Maria Elena Baca • 612-673-4409