BURNSVILLE-EAGAN-SAVAGE

Savage student places at bee A student from Eagle Ridge Junior High School won second place at this year's metro area spelling bee in St. Paul this month. Laura Garbe, an eighth-grader at the Savage school, placed fourth in the bee last year.

High school will keep Helke Burnsville High School's interim principal will stick around. The Burnsville-Eagan-Savage school board appointed Dave Helke to the post for good last week.

Helke came to the school last summer after two external searches for a new principal did not produce a job candidate who met the district's selection criteria. Helke, then principal of Eagle River Junior High School in Savage, had not applied for the job but was asked to step in for a year.

LAKEVILLE

Mock trial team gets state title A team from Lakeville North High School won the state mock trial championship held in Duluth earlier this month. Lakeville North faced off against the Breck School of Minneapolis in a criminal case centering on two resort owners who died in a fire that the state argued was started by reckless use of fireworks.

PRIOR LAKE-SAVAGE

Decision on land likely far off The future of a controversial patch of forest near Prior Lake High School isn't likely to be decided soon.

A possible deal to convert the land to soccer fields and a road providing access to a development that is planned in a nearby gravel pit sparked protest from some residents who say the 7.5-acre parcel should be protected.

But representative from Prior Lake Aggregates -- which wants to redevelop the gravel pit -- has asked the Prior Lake-Savage School District -- which owns the parcel -- to hold off on talks about the deal, largely because of the economy, Superintendent Sue Ann Gruver said. The issue isn't likely to come back for discussion before November, she said.

New Grainwood principal named Patrick Glynn will be the next principal of Grainwood Elementary School, the Prior Lake-Savage school board decided last week.

Glynn, who is now an elementary principal in Waseca, Minn., taught at the elementary level for seven years. He'll take over for Barb Yetzer, who will become principal of Redtail Ridge Elementary in Savage when it opens this fall.

ROSEMOUNT-APPLE VALLEY-EAGAN

Eastview wins Science Olympiad A team from Eastview High School took first place at the state Science Olympiad this month in St. Paul.

The school earned a berth at the national competition, which will be held in Georgia in May.

Students from the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan district also won first place in 10 out of 23 events, according to a news release from the district.

SARAH LEMAGIE