Author: Jim Bayer

Departing Eden Prairie School Board director Veronica Stoltz’s seat will be filled by someone in 2021, but no one is sure if it will be done quickly by appointment or via a special election in November. The school board will discuss its next move on May 24 at its regular meeting. Stoltz, elected to a four-year term on the board in 2019, will participate in her final meeting that night after submitting her resignation last month. Stoltz announced that her family will leave Eden Prairie and Minnesota for new jobs in Arizona later this summer. Appointment vs. special election School…

Lyla Stoll, 12, Eden Prairie Lopez 12U catcher, prepared to throw out a Prior Lake runner May 9 in the semi-final game at the Lakeville tournament won by Eden Prairie. The Eden Prairie team went undefeated, winning the championship game over Farmington 7-1.

Dr. Stacie Stanley, Eden Prairie Schools’ current associate superintendent of academics and innovation, has been selected superintendent of schools for Edina schools. Stanley was elected by a unanimous vote May 5 at the Edina school board meeting. “(Dr. Stanley) has been a champion for realizing Eden Prairie Schools’ mission over the past three years,” an Eden Prairie Schools Parent Post said May 6. “Please join us in wishing Dr. Stanley all the best as Edina Public Schools superintendent.” The post said that a search process for a new associated superintendent will begin immediately. Stanley will begin her duties in Edina…

April 2007 – Cocoa Beach, FL Mandy Matula rolled the optic yellow sphere in her right hand, instinctively feeling for the raised stitches that allowed her to manipulate its speed and trajectory. Forty feet away stood a swarthy young Ohio baseball player, his aluminum bat waving menacingly in her direction. Moments before, they had been poolside with their high school teammates debating the respective difficulty of baseball versus fastpitch softball. Girls throwing softballs underhand didn’t compare to their sport, the boys declared. “Mandy could strike any of you out!” one of her teammates countered. And the challenge was on. The…

Eden Prairie Eagles junior Alexa Mann was named an Athlete of the Week by the Star Tribune in recognition of her recent hitting fireworks on the varsity softball squad. Alexa has hit six home runs in the past seven games, including a walk-off homer against Buffalo April 26. Alexa added to her recent power display on Monday, May 3 hitting a two-run shot in a 7-5 loss to Hopkins.The Eagles are 6-4 overall and 5-2 in the Lake Conference. Alexa joined three other metro softball players, two lacrosse players and a baseball player in the honor which was published in…

A nerf war being planned by Eden Prairie High School (EPHS) students is raising concerns among some parents and community members, as well as city and school officials despite organizers’ efforts to keep participants safe. Nerf wars involve the use of NERF® Blasters or other foam-firing toy weapons. The EPHS version, which is not school sponsored, includes teams of up to 12 players, and has no identified boundaries in its rules posted on Twitter (@ephsnerf21), but does identify “safe zones” in which players are not allowed to shoot their opponents. EPHS Nerf Wars 2021, which is scheduled to run from…

COVID-19 case rates in Eden Prairie and other western suburbs appear to be mirroring overall Minnesota indicators that a third wave of pandemic activity may have peaked. The Minnesota Department of Health April 27 reported that the state’s seven-day average positivity rate of COVID-19 diagnostic testing has dropped from a peak of 7.5% on April 8 to 6.6%. By comparison, Eden Prairie’s 14-day positive rates appear to have peaked in the period of March 30 to April 12 and have since dropped slightly. The same is true for most surrounding communities. Eden Prairie Schools reported a drop in student positive…

Veronica Stoltz, the Eden Prairie School Board member at the center of a controversial board meeting last summer, has submitted her letter of resignation effective May 24. In her resignation letter dated April 7, Stoltz says that she and her husband have accepted employment outside of Minnesota and will be relocating their family this summer. The board will consider the resignation at its April 26 live Zoom meeting, which begins at 6 pm. “It has been a great privilege to serve as a School Board Director for one of the finest school districts in the state of Minnesota,” she wrote…

Eden Prairie schools plans to help its students process the verdict in the murder trial of Derek Chauvin, who was found guilty Tuesday, April 20 of all charges against him in the killing of George Floyd in May 2020. Recognizing that the event will prompt different reactions in students, Superintendent Josh Swanson in a statement posted on the district’s website Tuesday afternoon, said that schools will provide students with age-appropriate ways to process what has happened. “We do not presume to know how each person is feeling or what they may need at this time,” he said. The verdict came…

Eden Prairie High School officials are preparing for some students to walk out of class at 1 p.m. Monday, April 19 to participate in a state-wide, student-organized event in solidarity against racial injustice. The planned 47-minute walk-out comes as the trial of Derek Chauvin is expected to go to a jury this week and following the recent police-involved death of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center. “While we wholeheartedly respect every individual’s right to peaceful assembly and free expression,” Superintendent Josh Swanson wrote in a message posted Thursday on the district’s website, “our top priority is to provide a safe teaching…