Complaints spur school to reconsider 'looping'

Eden Prairie school officials left many parents "out of the loop" about a decision to keep hundreds of students with the same teachers for two years, Superintendent Melissa Krull said.

So Krull has decided to put the brakes on that program -- called "looping" -- at Oak Point Intermediate School and form a districtwide task force of parents, teachers and students after a heated parent meeting at the school last week.

Principal Arnette Bell faced more than 150 parents who criticized school officials for moving ahead with the plan before many parents had even heard about it. Many also showed up for a school board meeting Monday night to protest.

"It sounds like you feel left out and you haven't been included in the decision and you haven't had a choice," Krull said at Monday's meeting. "I'm here to say tonight that you do have a voice, and we care what you think about all of the decisions made in this district."

Jill Scholtz, a member of the school board, said that she was pleased about the administration's decision but that "some trust was lost" during the weeks it took to include the public.

"These are areas that we can improve on, and look, we're doing it," Scholtz told the audience.

Previous moves play role

Last spring, school officials introduced a controversial plan to move fifth- and sixth-graders into the district's K-4 elementary schools to make room at Oak Point to house the district's fast-growing Spanish immersion school. After weeks of divisive debates, board members voted to keep the intermediate school intact.

At Monday night's meeting, many residents said the chain of events that led to Krull's announcement on looping had further tarnished the administration's image.

"One reason so many people spoke out was that this wasn't the first incomplete plan that's been put on the table," Eden Prairie parent Sherry Hocking said.

Another parent who spoke at the meeting was chided by Carol Bomben, the school board chair, for what Bomben felt was an attack on school officials' integrity.

The pros and cons

"We'll always be in a state of change," said Jan Eian, a school board member. "We're not going to be a static school district. That is just not going to happen."

But Eden Prairie parents who spoke Monday said they found research that indicates looping isn't effective for the age group in question and shouldn't be mandatory. They also asked why Oak Point teachers had been left out of the decision.

Those frustrations and others prompted Hocking and four other Eden Prairie parents -- Brenda Ritzen, Cindy Becker, Ranee Jacobus and Jessie Score -- to launch a website, www.oakpointlooping.com . More than 500 residents have signed a petition they started that asked the district to withdraw the looping plan.

School officials didn't comment about the petition directly on Monday, but Krull assured residents that the task force represents a genuine effort to craft a plan that involves the public and helps boost student achievement. It will be led by Bell and Larry Leebens, Eden Prairie's director of education services. Parent, teacher and student members will be named next month.

Krull said that looping had seemed like the "most obvious choice" to boost achievement at Oak Point, but that school officials will consider other options.