The Eden Prairie School District and the City of Eden Prairie are the two dominant local government organizations in Eden Prairie. Yes, Minnetonka and Hopkins School Districts both claim portions of Eden Prairie in their districts. And yes, Hennepin County and three Watershed Boards also have claims on Eden Prairie. But it is the School District and the City where people turn when they want government service or government change.
Not long after I started here in 2002, the Superintendent (who was also new) and I decided that we wanted to make collaboration the foundation of the relationship between our respective organizations. We decided to do this because for a couple of good reasons. One, it seemed like the right thing to do for taxpayers. And two, it seemed like the right thing to do for our respective governing boards.
In order to collaborate, the organizations needed to communicate. We decided that we would hold two joint meetings each year, one in the fall and one in the spring. We hold one at their place and one at ours. In addition, the senior level management staffs hold joint meetings on quarterly basis throughout the year. We use these meetings to handle issues that come up between us and to plan for the big meetings between our governing boards.
We held our fall joint session between the City Council and the School Board last night. Here’s a photo of Superintendent Dr. Melissa Krull and I comparing notes prior to the meeting.
The meeting agenda included a presentation by the Superintendent on the upcoming school referendum; the timeline for budget cuts at the School District; a status report on the Eden Prairie Reads program; a description of City staff interactions with District students; and a presentation by the City’s Community Development Director, Ms. Janet Jeremiah, on the future developments and redevelopments in the City. This is Janet (she’s standing in the background) doing her presentation:
These meetings are important. They are important for the reasons I stated earlier, but they are also important because the leadership of the City and the leadership of the Schools ought to be working together for the good of the entire community. Citizens deserve that. We can accomplish more working together than can be accomplished in other cities where the City and the School either don’t work together at all, or, which is much worse and not that uncommon, fight each other. I feel bad for those communities. What a terrific waste of money and civic energy.
In Eden Prairie the City and the School District have a positive and progressive working relationship. We support one another when necessary. When we have differences of opinion, we meet, talk, and resolve them.
A good community must have good schools. Good schools help create good communities. We are both working towards the same end result.
For More information on what’s happening at Eden Prairie Schools, click here:
