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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2011
EDEN PRAIRIE
$1
news SCHOOL BOARD ELECTION
Eden Prairie’s first football coach When Curt and Mary Connaughty joined the staff at Eden Prairie, there were four men on a staff of 17, including the principal and superintendent, who both taught classes.
INSIDE: CANDIDATES OFFER RESPONSES TO THIS WEEK’S ASK THE CANDIDATES QUESTION ON K-6 CHANGE PAGE 4. CANDIDATES SHARE COMMENTARIES PAGES 6 AND 7.
Candidates square off on boundary issues during forum
BY KARLA WENNERSTROM editor@edenprairienews.com
W
hen C u r t a nd Mary Connaughty drove to Eden Prairie for the fi rst time i n 19 5 5, t hey stopped at the Flying Red Horse Mobil Station. They met Jesse Schwartz, who owned the station at the time. “We asked him where Eden Prairie was,” Curt said. He told them, “This is it.”
BY LEAH SHAFFER lshaffer@swpub.com
JUST A TOWNSHIP Connaughty was originally from St. Charles, Minn. Mary was from Bayport. The two met at school at Winona State Teacher College. She was in elementary education, he in secondary. Connaughty went into the Army after his junior year. Mary fi nished school and taught in Stillwater while Curt fi nished up college. After he graduated in 1955, they got married in June. They found an opening for both to teach in Eden Prairie. “We had no idea where Eden Prairie was,” Connaughty said. It was just a township at the time. They came from Winona in their ’46 Ford. “Everything we owned was in our car,” he said.
Connaughty to page 11 ®
PHOTO BY KARLA WENNERSTROM
Curt and Mary Connaughty
SUBMITTED PHOTOS
Curt Connaughty provided this photo from the 1960s.
The first football team at Eden Prairie High School.
MAKING A GOOD IMPRESSION
Officer Janina Wresh offers to dust some finger prints at the Eden Prairie Police and Fire Departments Open House, held Saturday.
PHOTOS BY LEAH SHAFFER
Aarushi Vyas looks on in delight as she checks out her prints. More photos from the Open House can be found on Living in EP, page 22.
During Thursday’s Leag ue of Women Voters forum held at Eden Prairie City Hall, questions from the audience pressed candidates on how they would bring change to their School Board and district. Following a year of unprecedented change at Eden Prairie Schools, further major transitions await. By January, the newly elected School Board members will have an opportunity to select the district’s new superintendent and oversee the continued transition of the district from a K-4 to K-6 system. Eight candidates are running for four School Board positions this fall, including the three incumbents: John Estall, Holly Parker and Kim Ross. Ot her ca ndidates i nclude Karla Bratrud, David Espe, Tim Fox, Derek Gunderson and Bill Lapadat. The election will be held Tuesday, Nov. 8. During the League forum, candidates were asked if they would accept the board’s decisions to change the boundaries and move Eden Prairie Schools from a K-4 to K-6 system. Some responded with full support of the boundary change decision while others offered more of a “wait and see” response. Candidate Kim Ross was not in attendance. “I won’t seek to change it,” said Derek Gunderson, who added, if the K-6 change is not getting the outcome they need, then that needs to be looked at, but they need to wait for the data. “I would support it,” said Bill Lapadat, about the K-6 transformation. “I also think we’re on the verge of doing something remarkable here,” he added, referring to the progress the district has made in addressing the achievement gap. Holly Parker said fi rst they need to evaluate what they’ve done. “We’ve got some issues we need to figure out,” she said. “We lost 300 students and that’s huge,” she said, addressing the enrollment drop and the continued capacity issues at the district’s emptier schools. “Those are the things we need to look at right away,” she said. John Estall said they need to see if the process is achieving the goals they set forth. If not, then they need to figure out how to meet those goals. “It’s just a matter of reviewing that process,” he said.
Forum to page 11 ®
VOL. 37, ISSUE 50/42
INSIDE OPINION/4 OBITUARIES/5 SPORTS/8-9 CALENDAR/14 CLASSIFIEDS/18-21 LIVING IN EP/22 TO REACH US SUBSCRIBE: (952) 345-6682 EDITOR: (952) 942-7885 OR EMAIL EDITOR@EDENPRAIRIENEWS.COM.
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