Since the end of the last school year, the Princeton School District has been working hard behind the scenes to prepare for the 2024-25 year.
The district has worked to expand existing programs, add new programs and better serve students over the course of the summer, and staff is excited to welcome those students back into the halls of Princeton’s schools.
“We’re just super proud to have the opportunity to serve our students, and we’re super proud to be part of education,” Superintendent Ben Barton said. “We celebrate all of our students’ differences, but they all have their struggles and they all come from different backgrounds and experiences. When they walk through our doors, we have the opportunity to level the playing field. We want everyone to feel like they belong.”
This year, the message Barton hopes to spread and encourage with teachers as they prepare for the start of school after Labor Day is to build strong communities within the schools through restorative practices and always strive for better.
According to the International Institute of Restorative Practices, restorative practices are a way to discipline students in a way that repairs harm to improve the climate and culture of the classroom.
“This year, one of our staff development focuses is going to be on restorative practices, which is a way for us to build more community within our schools,” Barton said. “I want to talk about trying to be sensitive to having a good place where people want to be.”
Barton also plans to encourage teachers to push their students to strive for excellence in reading and math.
“This is a year that we really need to see the needle move as it relates to student achievement in reading and math. That’s going to be a strong message that I will be sending to our team members,” Barton said.
Something new that the district plans to start this year is its new extended online schooling program in partnership with Venture Upwards.
Princeton Online Minnesota was previously only offered to grades nine through 12, but, starting this year, it will also be offered to grades kindergarten through eight.
“We wanted to have that partnership because they have a strong relationship with homeschooled families across the state,” Barton said. “The intent of us establishing that wasn’t to take existing residents to encourage them to move online, that’s not what we want.
“We truly believe that the best education for our students is in our regular school buildings, but we honor and respect families across the state that choose to homeschool for any number of reasons. We want to be a viable option for them”
As of Monday, Aug. 26, the extended online schooling has 55 students enrolled from across the state and the district has hired two part-time teachers to teach those students.
“We are up to 55 students, which is awesome when we have declining enrollment. So, we’re going to keep trying to build that program,” Barton said.
Another new program this year that will be rolled out across all schools in the district is called Tiger Care.
Tiger Care is an expanded option for students and families to receive health care while at school by introducing a partnership with an urgent care and health care organization in Zimmerman called Advocate.
“Our chief medical advisor advised us on this, and the idea is that we have nurses offices with RNs in our buildings, but if a child has the need to see a doctor, this would be an option for them to see a doctor via telehealth within 10 to 15 minutes,” Barton said. “It would be for employees and students. We’re hopeful that this will increase access to care, but it’s completely optional.”
But perhaps the most notable change this school year is a change in start and end times.
All schools will be starting 15 minutes earlier this fall compared to the previous school year, which also means they will end the day 15 minutes sooner.
The change to start times for each school in the district are as follows:
- The Princeton Primary and Intermediate Schools previously went from 7:45 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the new school day will be from 7:30 a.m. to 1:45 p.m.
- The Princeton Middle School previously went from 8:50 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and the new school day will be from 8:35 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.
- The Princeton High School previously went from 8:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., and the new school day will be from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Student Services previously went from 8 a.m. to 2:50 p.m., and the new school day will go from 7:45 a.m. to 2:35 p.m.
“As far as start times, that’s something we’ll never be able to please everybody with. We gave our trust to 25 to 30 people that represented all different parts of our community including parents and professionals. They spent months going through a process to provide a recommendation to the school board, and they did,” Barton said. “There’s a change of 15 minutes. We do hope to bring our task force together again this year to maybe even come up with a better, more long-term solution.”
To learn more about the decision to change start times, visit the Union-Times article at https://tinyurl.com/2hrv6fwb.
Also affecting drop-offs and pick-ups this fall is the active road construction on Seventh Avenue North, which many use to access the primary, intermediate and middle schools.
Princeton city staff have been working behind the scenes with the school, the Princeton Police Department and the Public Works department to find the best routes possible for drivers during those times to help ease the flow of traffic.
Barton plans to send a communication out to families and the community once those routes have been finalized, and the city will be sharing those details as well.
“We are going to be sending a communication out. The city has been really helpful trying to identify the best routes and places for people to go, but things may change as the project changes. I’m hopeful that people will be patient,” Barton said.
Luckily, the construction on the roundabout next to the primary and intermediate schools has been completed, which will also help with the flow of traffic.
In relation to the safety of Princeton Schools, another item the district has focused on is finalizing the return of school resource officers to the district.
During the Princeton School Board meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 20, the board approved the final contract with the Princeton Police Department to bring a resource officer back into the halls of the schools.
At the end of the 2022 legislative session, legislators passed an item that had law enforcement questioning their positions in schools, and many departments removed officers from local schools as a result.
Changes to that item was one of the first to be approved this past legislative session helping to clarify resource officers’ positions within schools.
A resource officer returned to Princeton Schools shortly after that item was approved, however, the approval of the contract finalizes the officer’s position and duties for their role in the schools.
“We have a strong relationship with law enforcement, but when there was that legislative dispute that caused polarization in law enforcement agencies in Minnesota … our local law enforcement decided to not continue on in our schools which was disappointing and frustrating for us but I understood that they were in a difficult situation,” Barton said. “I was thankful that the very day (the changes) got signed into law, the chief of police reached out to us and said they’d like to have their law enforcement back in our schools and we welcomed them back with open arms.”
With the many new, and returning, things coming to Princeton schools, there is a lot to look forward to.
As parents, students, families and teachers all prepare for back to school, Barton hopes that togetherness can be the overarching theme.
“We take pride in what we do. We know that we are in this together, we’re partners and we need to work together,” Barton said. “We know we have a job to do, and we need to do it. We’re all in it together.”
Princeton’s first day back to school for students is the Tuesday after Labor Day, Sept. 3.
Reach Chloe Smith at chloe.smith@apgecm.com
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