some construction taking place, however all parties have as their priority the safety of all involved and the efforts will be as minimally disruptive as possible. The construction will include a complete second story and movement of more classrooms upstairs, the classrooms grouped by grade level, as much natural light as possible, modifications to the cafeteria to allow food service to take place in the cafeteria and not in the hallway, smaller meeting and break out areas, and an improved entry area to be more welcoming and provide greater security. This building improvement project is NOT paid for by levy money and will instead be paid for by capitol bond money, money which is restricted and cannot be used for general education funds. You can keep up to date on building happens at the school website and there will possibly be a larger community meeting later in the school year when plans are more finalized. One issue brought up at the meeting was that of a playground and playground updates. It is clear that playgrounds are not paid for by district monies and playground plans are not part of this project. Playgrounds are often grant funded projects (like the STAR grant or Vikings grant) which would involve school community participation. There are added logistical challenges to playground work at SAP as the property line extends to the end of the black top and any work outside that requires multiple levels of city permission. Further, given the construction time table, a new playground prior to fall 2018 is highly unlikely, but obtaining grant funds for such work would best be started soon. Coordination with City Parks and Recreation people as well as City Council representatives would likely be required given the property. Here are a few links I found for possible grants related to school playgrounds and gardens. MCA test scores Briefly, MCA tests for math and reading are given in grades 3-5 and for science in grade 5. For testing done in 2016, 79% of SAP students were proficient in math (compared to 77.5% the previous year) and this represents the top score among SPPS schools which tested all students. 72% of SAP students were proficient in reading compared to 75.3% the previous year and again one of the high scoring schools in St. Paul. 81% of 5th graders were proficient in science. Communication How do we best communicate information to the greater school community? What form
some construction taking place, however all parties have as their priority the safety of all involved and the efforts will be as minimally disruptive as possible. The construction will include a complete second story and movement of more classrooms upstairs, the classrooms grouped by grade level, as much natural light as possible, modifications to the cafeteria to allow food service to take place in the cafeteria and not in the hallway, smaller meeting and break out areas, and an improved entry area to be more welcoming and provide greater security. This building improvement project is NOT paid for by levy money and will instead be paid for by capitol bond money, money which is restricted and cannot be used for general education funds. You can keep up to date on building happens at the school website and there will possibly be a larger community meeting later in the school year when plans are more finalized. One issue brought up at the meeting was that of a playground and playground updates. It is clear that playgrounds are not paid for by district monies and playground plans are not part of this project. Playgrounds are often grant funded projects (like the STAR grant or Vikings grant) which would involve school community participation. There are added logistical challenges to playground work at SAP as the property line extends to the end of the black top and any work outside that requires multiple levels of city permission. Further, given the construction time table, a new playground prior to fall 2018 is highly unlikely, but obtaining grant funds for such work would best be started soon. Coordination with City Parks and Recreation people as well as City Council representatives would likely be required given the property. Here are a few links I found for possible grants related to school playgrounds and gardens. MCA test scores Briefly, MCA tests for math and reading are given in grades 3-5 and for science in grade 5. For testing done in 2016, 79% of SAP students were proficient in math (compared to 77.5% the previous year) and this represents the top score among SPPS schools which tested all students. 72% of SAP students were proficient in reading compared to 75.3% the previous year and again one of the high scoring schools in St. Paul. 81% of 5th graders were proficient in science. Communication How do we best communicate information to the greater school community? What form
SAP%20Site%20Council%20Minutes%20September%202016.docx