Facilities Improvements

Thank you St. Louis Park voters for your support of the 2022 bond referendum to restore, repair and update facilities, which passed with 70.46% percent of the vote. 

The $135 million bond referendum focused on items that will enhance the daily lived experience of students, stabilize costs and conserve energy, maintain core operations, and improve safety and security. The bond referendum includes projects that received voter approval in 2017, and were unable to be completed due to pandemic related construction cost increases, supply chain shortages, and regulatory requirements that added millions of dollars to project costs. These projects were important in 2017 and they remain vital to our student experience.

You might have noticed an increase on your property taxes. In addition to the impact of the voter-approved (in August 2022) bond issue and technology levy increase, taxpayers also experienced the inflationary impact of the voter-approved operating referendum. The good news is that, similar to other metro area districts, the funding approved by voters in 2017 acknowledges the impact of inflation. This means that this particular formula will calculate a higher revenue amount for the district when inflation pressures are present in the marketplace.  It also means that because last year’s levy (2021) should have been higher due to inflation, it will be added to this year’s inflationary increase (2022). Thus, the inflationary increase accounts for two years, which made the levy impact higher than usual. 

We encourage families to use the resources below to explore property tax relief options:

• Homeowner’s Homestead Credit Refund (Minnesota Department of Revenue)

• Homestead and related programs (Hennepin County)

• Property Taxes (City of St. Louis Park)

In November 2017, St. Louis Park voters overwhelmingly approved a $100.9 million bond referendum to help St. Louis Park Public Schools address increasing enrollment, aging facilities and a need for flexible learning spaces to accommodate next century learning. The facility improvements touched all age groups from our youngest learners at the Central Early Learning Center to our oldest learners at St. Louis Park High School. Here is a summary by building of the improvements that have been made. 

Aquila, Peter Hobart and Susan Lindgren Elementary Schools

• New secure front entries and updates to front offices
• Renovated classrooms to accommodate next-century learning
• Renovated media centers
• Renovated kitchens

Park Spanish Immersion Elementary School

• Moved from location at Central Community Center to a renovated building on Cedar Lake Road formerly known as Cedar Manor
• New secure front entry
• Renovated classrooms to accommodate next-century learning
• Renovated media center
• Renovated kitchen and cafeteria
• New flexible gathering spaces

St. Louis Park Middle School

• New secure front entry
• New front office space
• New performing arts space
• Renovated media center
• Renovated kitchen and cafeteria
• New second floor academic classroom wing with connecting hallway
• New fitness center and weight room

St. Louis Park High School

• New secure entry and front office space
• Renovated student services office space
• Renovated athletic and physical education locker rooms
• New fitness center and weight room
• Renovated athletic office space
• Updates and renovations to main gymnasium and auditorium

Central Early Learning Center

• Renovated west side of Central Community Center to accommodate our youngest learners

St. Louis Park Public Schools is redesigning the dining experience at the High School. We want families to ask their students, “So, how was lunch at school today?” and for students to respond excitedly about healthy meal options, colorful plates, and meaningful conversation with their friends.

Our redesign process will include updates to the physical space in the cafeteria, a renovated kitchen with updated equipment, and changes that will improve the overall dining experience, like healthier meal options, expanded seating, community-building and time with peers, and more.

In the fall of 2023, we surveyed students and caregivers about the district’s School Nutrition program. The following are the highlights from the survey results:

• The school nutrition staff in the kitchens and cafeterias get very positive ratings from both students and parents.

• Most students very much see their lunch period as a time to connect with their friends. 

• The results from the question about “find meals I like to eat” is about 60 positive and 40 negative, which indicated opportunities to change how meal options are described and presented.

• Close to 50 percent of parents disagree or strongly disagree about the availability of healthy options for students in the cafeterias. This also presents an opportunity to share messages about healthy meal options and what is both required and offered as part of meal service.

Additionally, over the next several weeks, we hope to work with student interns to hold focus groups with their peers to understand what changes they’d like to see in the high school dining experience. Their findings will be shared with District Nutrition staff and the Construction Steering Committee with the goal of centering student experience in the redesign process.  

What can students expect in the new dining experience once it’s complete in 2024? 

• The renovated kitchen will enhance our capacity to have healthy and delicious cooking on-site. We’ll have the ability to prepare meats and vegetables in a variety of ways using braising pans to cook, grill, and fry foods, and the Rational oven to roast and steam foods. A fresh salad bar or veggie bar will be offered at every meal.

• Continued seasonally fresh produce like potatoes, zucchini, squash and carrots from our Farm to School partners. Did you know we get our Delica squash from the Yang family farm in New Prague, Minnesota?

• Taste testing new meal options and opportunities for students to share their feedback on their favorite meals. We definitely want to know what’s most popular with students. Some of our cooks come up with their own menu items, and we also share recipe ideas with other school districts.

• Dedicated cooks who receive training from professional chefs at Good Acre, one of SLP’s Farm to School partners, and other partner chefs. There will also be professional training with the kitchen equipment manufacturers on how to optimize our kitchen and make delicious foods.

• Expanded seating capacity, new furniture, and visually a better dining experience 

• Fewer lunch sections to make the whole day run more smoothly.

Our Nutrition Services team will be testing out new menu items this school year, so we encourage families to check out our recipes and meals items through our online meal menus.

We want to make high school families aware that the kitchen redesign is a major construction project that will disrupt the regular lunch schedule at the high school for about 18 months, beginning in September, 2023. During this time, students will eat meals in the activity center and we will only be able to offer cold bento box options for breakfast and lunch. 

Examples of cold bento box meals include sandwiches, wraps, and salads that come with fresh whole fruit and veggies. The bento box meals will be satisfying portions that will be prepared and assembled at the kitchen at the Central building, the satellite kitchen for the High School during the renovation.