The Orono School District (ISD #278) is a Minnesota public school district located in the west-metro area of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The school district, organized in 1950, serves part or all of the following areas: Independence, Long Lake, Maple Plain, Medina, Minnetonka Beach, and Orono.[1] The district superintendent is Dr. Karen Orcutt.
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Located in Long Lake, MN, the district serves grades pre-kindergarten to grade 12 in four different school buildings. The school district had a student population of 2,616 and 140.1 teachers during the 2005–2006 school year.[2] The schools are located on a 120-acre (0.49 km2) campus along Old Crystal Bay Road.[1] The district mascot is a Spartan and the school colors are navy and scarlet. The average number of instructional days the district is 167 days.[3] The district calendar is composed of "no school" days for the Minnesota Education Association (MEA), thanksgiving break, winter break, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, President’s Day, spring break, Good Friday, Memorial Day and other professional days.[4]
The district consists of four main school buildings: Orono High School, Orono Middle School, Orono Intermediate School and Schumann Elementary School. In addition to these schools, other district facilities consist of a childcare facility, a swimming pool, the Orono Ice Arena, a stadium, tennis courts, and many outdoor fields. The Orono Discovery Center is located in Maple Plain but is still considered a community center provided by the district.[1]
The district has proposed many referendums in the past years. In 2008, a $39.4 million referendum was passed 1,845 to 1,713 which will contribute to the improvement of Schumann Elementary School, Orono Intermediate School and Orono High School. The referendum will raise taxes on a home with an estimated value of $300,000, $125 annually. The referendum money will be used for electrical and mechanical improvements, and interior and exterior improvements to these schools. Air conditioning will be implemented in the high school.[5] Along with the passage of this referendum in 2008, seven Orono residents sued Orono Schools, stating the referendum should have been conducted by mail instead of by polling at the district’s main office.[6] The suit was dismissed by a Hennepin County District Court judge.[7]
Orono High School (OHS), constructed in 1968[8], is the only high school in the Orono School District and serves grade 9 through 12. The principal is David Benson. OHS starts at 7:50 am and ends at 2:30 pm.[9] The school had 842 students in the school year 2006–2007. 95 percent of the student body in the high school was of Caucasian descent with the remaining 5 percent of the students being of American Indian/Alaskan, Asian, Black, and Hispanic descent. 2.7 percent of the student body is eligible for free lunch.[10] 91 percent of the students graduating OHS are enrolled in post-secondary education.[9]
The school has 49 teachers and an average class size of 32[9] with a student teacher ratio of 18.8:1.[10] The school year starts in September and ends in June and is based on a semester schedule. Required curriculum consists of English, social studies, science, mathematics, physical education/health, and fine arts. There are around 60 elective courses offered at OHS including fine arts, business/marketing education, technology education and world languages (including German, Chinese, Spanish). The school has AP classes in the following subjects: Art History, Language and Composition, Literature and Composition, Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Statistics, Biology, Psychology, Human Geography, Music Theory, German, and Spanish. Advanced and enriched courses are also offered.[11] The school has dual high school and college enrollment programs.[9] GPA at the high school is calculated on an unweighted 4.0 scale.[11] Until the end of the 2010-11 school year, there is a unique FLEX schedule where three times a week, one out of the seven periods during the school day is "flexed" and replaced with a study hall where students can go to the classroom of their choice to work on homework and make up tests. Starting in the 2011-12 school year FLEX was replaced with Spartan Hour. Each week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday each class period is shortened by about 10 mins. There is an additional 40 min period that takes place on these days called Spartan Hour. During Spartan Hour, students report to an assigned room where they do home work or study. The Spartan Hour classes are composed of 4 to 6 kids from each grade 9-12. They have the same teacher all 4 years. There is a 15 minute "snack break" from 9:30 am to 9:45 am.[12]
The school’s academic teams consist of the following: Debate team, DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America), History club, Literary Magazine, Math team, Mock Trial, National Honor Society, Newspaper, Quiz Bowl team, Science team, Speech team, Student Senate, and Yearbook.[13] The school has three bands: concert band, symphonic band, and wind ensemble. The school also has four choirs: women’s choir, men's choir, select women’s choir and chamber choir. The drama department puts on three theatrical works a year: a fall musical, a winter play, and a spring children's play.
The school offers the following 22 sports for both women and men:
Many of these teams compete at the State Conferences. In Fall 2008, the Orono Football team won the section conference game and played at the State Conference level for the first time in 21 years. Head football coach Jeff Weiland received the award of Metro Coach of the Year by Kare-11 television. In February 2006, the Orono Dance team was awarded fifth place in the Minnesota State High School League competition at the Xcel Energy Center while captained by seniors Laura Sievert and Jackie Lee, as well as being ranked among the top ten teams in the state of Minnesota in 2003, 2005 and 2009.[14] Also, this past spring, the Orono Mens Basketball team won the Class 3A State Championship, defeating Colombia Heights.
Orono Middle School (OMS) is the newest of all the schools in the Orono School district. It was built in the year 2000 and houses grades 6 through 8. The principal of OMS is Dr. Patricia Wroten and the associate principal is Ms. Kimberly Harder. The hours of the school day are 8:00 am to 2:40 pm.[15] There were 630 students that attended OMS in the 2006–2007 school year with a student to teacher ratio of 17.9.[16] The average class size is 26 students and the total number of staff is 64.[1] There are five exploratory programs at OMS. They consist of Art, Computer Applications, General Music, Performing Arts, and Technology Applications.[15] The Music Department consists of band and choir. The middle school has a special layout of "up" and "down" houses for each grade level.
The Orono Intermediate School has 581 students in the grades three through five. The student teacher ratio is 19.0[17] and the average class size is 25. The principal is Scott Alger.[18] The Intermediate School building, built in 1950, was the district high school until 1968 when it was used as the middle school for the district until 2000, when the new Orono Middle School was built and opened.[8] School hours are 9:10 am to 3:40 pm.[18]
Connected to the Intermediate School is Schumann Elementary School, which houses grades kindergarten through grade 2 and the Multi-age classrooms. It is the only elementary school in the Orono School District and is the second oldest school building in the district, constructed in 1956.[8] Dr. Connie Fladeland is the principal and the staff consists of 55 faculty members. The average class size is 21 and the hours of the day are 9:10 am to 3:40 pm. There is full day kindergarten and half day kindergarten. The Multi-age classroom includes grades one and two and allows children of both grades to participate in classes together as opposed to a single teacher option.[19]