Eden Prairie

New visitor registration system

In an effort to enhance security, the Eden Prairie School District is implementing a new visitor management system in its schools and facilities.

The district is installing the Raptor Visitor Management system, now being used by more than 8,000 schools and facilities nationwide. It will enhance the current visitor registration process by tracking visitors and volunteers who enter the school or facility. Each school will continue to be staffed by a district employee trained to use the system.

When entering a district school or facility, all visitors will be required to scan a driver's license or other government-issued identification. The system will only scan the name, date of birth and photo from the visitor's ID. It then keeps track of who is in the building and prints a visitor badge that includes the photo and name of the visitor, along with the time and date. Along with keeping a log of building visitors, the system also compares the scanned information with a national database of registered sex offenders.

Once a visitor scans a driver's license or other identification, there is no need to do it again when visiting a building in the future.

Nutrition info more accessible

A number of new applications and improvements have been made to the Eden Prairie School District's child nutrition services, all designed to improve ease of access to accounts and information.

The district has begun using the online FeePay system for parents to add funds to student meal accounts. It's the same system now used to pay activities fees, sports fees, and transportation fees. Parents will log into the parent portal to access the system and their student's lunch account. For detailed instruction on how to use the new system, log in to the parent portal on the district website and look for the FeePay button. For more information, call 952-975-7094.

Eden Prairie also has partnered with Nutrislice to share school menus with families. This application provides a more complete view of each day's breakfast and lunch menus. Go to edenpr.nutrislice.com to view menus and explore the application.

Families can now apply online for the Minnesota Department of Education's free and reduced-price school meals program. The application will continue to be available to download, print and submit via mail or drop off. Links to both printable and online forms can be found on the Nutrislice website at edenpr.nutrislice.com.

Bloomington

District releases survey results

Bloomington parents and residents have high praise for their school district's educational programs, financial management, and job performance of leadership and classroom staff, according to results of the latest community survey.

Respondents also indicated strong support for the district's Capital Projects Levy referendum that will go before voters on Nov. 5, 2013. Likely voters cited the importance of education, the lack of a tax increase if the referendum is approved, and the proposed school safety and technology plan recommendations as reasons for favoring the referendum.

Among the key findings:

• The district's job performance by employee groups reflected continued positive ratings, including teachers/instructional staff (90 percent positive rating, up from 84 percent a year ago), the school board (78 percent compared to 70 percent in 2012) and administration (78 percent up from 68 percent).

• Respondents also gave high marks for the district's financial management: 67 percent rated it excellent or good, while 25 percent said only fair or poor.

• 87 percent of residents rate the district's technology as excellent (16 percent) or good (71 percent), while over 90 percent agree it is important to education.

• 79 percent of likely voters indicated they support the district's proposed capital projects levy referendum to fund school safety and security, and technology plan recommendations.

For more information and a review of the findings, go to www.bloomington.k12.mn.us/2013-referendum/presentations-flyers.