Eden Prairie: Design for learning

Students at Eden Prairie's Forest Hills Elementary School navigated an early-morning cafeteria line, found seats and ate during one of the final days of the school year.

It's a common scene. Except that here, unlike other Eden Prairie schools, more of the kids navigating, sitting and eating were students of color.

Minorities make up 43 percent of Forest Hills' student population. Meanwhile the range is 16 to 27 percent at other elementary schools in the largely affluent suburb.

For months, Eden Prairie school leaders considered redrawing elementary school boundaries to better balance diversity, despite opposition from residents. In the end, the Eden Prairie school board decided against boundary changes last fall, in part because of a Supreme Court decision last year about school programs in Louisville and Seattle.

Even so, school officials vowed to adopt plans to improve achievement among low-income and minority students at Forest Hills.

"There was a time in Eden Prairie when all of our schools were similar. But now we need to invest differently in our schools," said Forest Hills Principal Connie Hytjan.

Earlier this month, a team of Forest Hills parents and district staff members released a plan that includes instructional and cultural initiatives aimed at minority and low-income students. They'd been meeting since January.

Their plan includes an extended school day program, increased math and literacy instruction, new classroom technology such as interactive whiteboards, a family resource center, more math and literacy specialists, and smaller student-to-instructor ratios.

Forest Hills' new initiatives will be implemented this fall and cost about $200,000 from the district's general fund, said Superintendent Melissa Krull. The initiative will be reevaluated each year. Eden Prairie also plans to use $75,000 from its capital improvement funds for changes in the cafeteria and media center.

Eden Prairie launched a breakfast program in April to make sure Forest Hills students have a chance to begin their day with a healthy meal.

More than 100 Forest Hills students ate breakfast each day. Students who received free or reduced-price meals ate free of charge while other students paid $1.70 per meal. It was open to all students.

"We want to make sure we're attending to all those things outside the school that can affect learning," said Camie Melton Hanily, an Eden Prairie spokeswoman.

More than 38 percent of Forest Hills' more than 665 students are from low-income families, and about 14 percent speak English as a second language, the district said.

"I think those changes are helpful, but segregation is harmful," both for students and communities, said Myron Orfield, executive director of the Institute on Race and Poverty at the University of Minnesota.

Orfield said the Supreme Court decision in the Louisville and Seattle schools cases restricts using race as a basis for magnet schools or other special programs, but not boundary plans. He said other suburban schools in the metro area are also racially imbalanced.

"It feels like history is repeating itself in the suburbs," Orfield said.

Eden Prairie resident Brent Carlson participated in the design team and said the changes make sense because high expectations help all students. "These opportunities aren't just for the underachieving [students]," said Carlson, a parent of two Forest Hills students.

Forest Hills parent Ali Kofiro also praised the plans during a recent school board work session. He said it was great to become more familiar with people who work directly with his three children. Kofiro said the resource center would make it easier for other parents, especially immigrants, to have those opportunities.

Hytjan said the design team was beneficial because the district needed more time and input from the community to develop effective strategies for the school. The new plan helps the staff accomplish their main goal -- boosting student achievement -- and doesn't treat Forest Hills' diversity as if it's a problem, she said.

"Our school looks different than other schools, and we're proud of that," Hytjan said.

Eden Prairie will use existing funds to offer staff training related to the new initiatives beginning this summer. Many of the changes at Forest Hills could be introduced at other Eden Prairie schools in the future, district officials said.

Eden Prairie has not received any indication from the state Department of Education that Forest Hills would make its list of "racially identifiable" schools, Krull said. The state doesn't force districts to redraw boundaries, but it does monitor schools that it deems racially identifiable.

School officials said the new plan addresses issues the state would raise about student achievement. Eden Prairie will submit updated student data to the state this fall.

"What I like about [the design team plan] is that it's grounded in research, and the ideas fit the kids who go to that school," Krull said. "We decided to meet the needs of kids where they go to school."

Patrice Relerford • 612-673-4395