Today, Gov. Tim Walz announced adjustments to Minnesota’s Safe Learning Plan to bring elementary students back to school in person. Last month, Eden Prairie Schools set Jan. 4 as the date for returning from distance learning, while committing to monitoring the data and aligning to the guidance provided by the Safe Learning Plan. District administration immediately began working on a plan to implement the updated state guidelines to ensure we can start bringing elementary students back to school in a safe and sensible way following winter break. The updated guidance does not contain significant changes that impact learning models for secondary students, although the Governor did announce that practices for activities and athletics can begin following January 4th. Please watch for details in the coming days now that we have updated guidance.

After 10 months of study, the start/end times task force recommended that Eden Prairie Schools should adopt a later start time for Eden Prairie High School. Later high school start times are associated with better academic outcomes, improved mental health and less risk-taking behavior. Read the Superintendent’s announcement, and find full details on our start and end times webpage.

We would like to thank outgoing board members Elaine Larabee, Holly Link and Terri Swartout for dedicating their time and energy to serving our community. A special thank you to Chair Larabee for providing leadership in that role for the last five years.

Families can request meals during distance learning by filling out the request form on the Child Nutrition webpage. Families choose to pick up from either Mid-Day or Late Afternoon pick up (not both). For more information on the pick up dates and times, along with meal kit contents and preparation instructions, please visit the Child Nutrition webpage. We also want to remind families to continue to apply for Meal Benefits.

Expect to receive more text messages from Eden Prairie Schools. Schools are adding text messages as part of their communication. They will be infrequent and will support messages that are urgent, such as upcoming conferences, picture day reminders or registration deadlines. They will be for school-wide matters and sent by school administrators.

Be aware that if you block or stop text messages from Eden Prairie Schools, you will not receive any further text messages, even in an emergency.

If you need to update your mobile phone information, follow the instructions on this page.

Dec. 24 - Jan. 1: No School, Winter Break