The PLSAS school board recently had the opportunity to analyze the state of the district today through a survey of students, parents and staff.

During its April 28th study session, the school board went over the results of the district’s experience survey, conducted from Feb. 24 to March 14. This is the third year that the district has used this survey to gauge the satisfaction of its students, parents/caregivers, and employees.

“We actually read every single one of these,” Superintendent Michael Thomas said. “It really helps us to read it to get the context for it and we set our goals around a lot of this work throughout the district.”

Casey Blochowiak, representative for survey company Studer Education, presented the results of the survey. She pointed out that the overall mean score for positive responses from the three groups surveyed increased for 46 of the 50 questions when compared to last year.

The students’ survey statement with the highest mean score was, “I believe my learning is important at my school.” The statements with the lowest mean scores — although they were higher than last year — were, “I feel students are nice or show respect to each other at my school,” and “I like going to school each day.”

Blochowiak also shared that the students’ overall mean score is at or above the 70th percentile in national benchmarking.

“Your students view their experience much more positively than other students do nationally, ” she said.

Parents and caregivers gave the highest mean score to, “I believe my child has the necessary classroom supplies and equipment for effective learning.” The statement, “I receive positive phone calls, emails, or notes about my child from the school,” received the lowest score.

Executive Director of Academic Services, Dan Edwards, shared that weekly or monthly communications to parents is a goal for a number of schools in the district.

“When parents are taking the survey and they’re saying, ‘You’re saying that positive notes are something you’re working on and I’m not feeling that,’ that’s something that we’ll continue to engage in,” he said.

Employees of the district gave the statement, “I believe my work positively impacts those we serve,” the highest mean score. They gave the lowest score to, “I feel that organization-level resources are allocated to maximize effectiveness across the organization.”

The largest rise in employee mean scores was for the statements, “I believe organization-level information is communicated in a timely manner across the organization,” and “I see progress being made to create a culture of success for employees across the organization and for those who serve.”

When asked what the district is doing with the information they receive from the surveys, Thomas said that they will often look for consistent themes either within a building, elementary or secondary level, or district-wide.

“That’s when we begin to say ‘What is a district-level strategy that we might be able take on?’” he said.

He added that summaries of the findings will be found in the Continuous Improvement plans that will be available for the community to view.

Enrollment update

Executive Director of Business Services Tammy Fredrickson shared the current kindergarten enrollment for the 2025-2026 school year.

There are currently 496 kindergarteners enrolled for the 2025-26 school year. This is 19 fewer than where the district expects to be on October 1st, but in line with the same time last year. Fredrickson said that this is a very positive trend and she hopes to get a few more kindergarteners enrolled over the summer.

Lunch price going up at PLHS

Amid rising prices, the cost of school lunches at the high school will be going up next academic year.

Director of Child Nutrition Services, Emily Malone, presented her recommendation to increase the cost of lunches at Prior Lake High School for the 2025-2026 school year.

Malone pointed out that the cost of lunches at Prior Lake High School has not changed since the 2017-2018 school year. According to U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, prices for food were 32% higher in 2024 than in 2017. Her recommendation is to increase the cost of high school lunch from $3.25 to $3.75, a 15% increase. Breakfasts will remain free.

Malone said changes are taking place in federal funding of school nutrition programs. In February, the U.S. House passed a bill to cut $230 billion from its budget. The first big cut came when the USDA cut $1 billion from school nutrition programs.

Malone foresees the need to have to come back in the future to ask for another price increase.

“I do anticipate having to raise meal prices,” she said. “More in line with what we used to do; which was every year we’d ask to increase the price 5 or 10 cents.”

In comparison, the cost of lunches at Byron Public Schools — a similar school district that also does not qualify for low-income subsidies — range from $4.10 to $5.85.

The request for increasing the cost of high school lunches to $3.75 passed by unanimous vote.