Wayzata Public Schools

Wayzata Public Schools

Location
United States
District information
Superintendent	Chace B. Anderson
Asst. Superintendent(s)	Ashley Hale
Schools	16
Budget	$165,000,000
District ID	2742160
Students and staff
Students	10,654
Teachers	636.48
Staff	1,320.27
Student-teacher ratio	16.74
Other information
English-language learners	204
Website	www.wayzata.k12.mn.us

Wayzata Public Schools (ISD #284) is an public school district in the northwestern area of Hennepin County, Minnesota, U.S. serving all or part of the cities of Corcoran, Maple Grove, Medicine Lake, Medina, Minnetonka, Orono, Plymouth, and Wayzata.

Wayzata Public Schools include seven elementary schools (K-5), three middle schools (6-8) and one high school (9-12). The district also has a community education department.

The superintendent of Wayzata Public Schools is Dr. Chace Anderson. The district employs more than 1,280 employees, including 695 teaching positions and has a total enrollment of 10,168 students. The district operates with a total revenue budget for the 2009-10 school year of more than $138.3 million, which includes about $106.2 million for the general operations of the schools.

Despite the district's name, only one school, West Middle School, is currently located in the City of Wayzata; every other school is located in the City of Plymouth. The majority of the district lies to the north of Wayzata in the Plymouth and as the population in the area increased, schools were built closer to where the new students lived. The West Middle School building at one time housed all grades 7-12 students for the district.

List of Schools

Wayzata High School
Central Middle School
East Middle School
West Middle School
Birchview Elementary
Gleason Lake Elementary
Greenwood Elementary
Kimberly Lane Elementary
Oakwood Elementary
Plymouth Creek Elementary
Sunset Hill Elementary

Wayzata High School

Main article: Wayzata High School

Wayzata High School is located at 4955 Peony Lane in Plymouth MN 55446. Mike Trewick is the principal and the student day is from 7:30 a.m. to 2:20 p.m. The current enrollment is approximately 3,400 students in grades nine through 12.

The Wayzata High School building was opened in 1997^[1] to replace the former high school which is now Central Middle School. It is located north of Highway 55 in Plymouth at the intersection of Peony Lane and Schmidt Lake Road.

WHS's graduation rate is approximately 99 percent. Typically, 90 percent of graduates plan to attend either two-or four-year colleges and universities.

WHS offers an academic program that includes 26 advanced placement courses, one of the most offered in the state. More than 85 percent of students score three or higher on AP exams, making them eligible for college credit. There are more than 60 co- and extra-curricular activities available at WHS. On statewide tests, more than 90 percent of 10th grade students were proficient on the MCA II reading test and more than 70 percent of 11th grade students were proficient on the MCA II math test. WHS students also score consistently higher than state and national averages on the ACT and SAT exams. The WHS average score on the 2009 ACT was 26, compared to 22.7 at the state level and 21.1 at the national level. On the SAT, WHS students in 2009 scored an average math score of 642 and an average critical reading score of 610 - compared to 609 and 595 at the state level and 515 and 501 at the national level. Three students also earned perfect scores on the 2009 ACT and one student earned a perfect score on the 2009 SAT.

Central Middle School

Aerial photo of Wayzata Central Middle School Campus.

Central Middle School is located at 305 Vicksburg Lane in Plymouth MN 55447. The principal is Clark Doten and the student day is from 8:20 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. The current enrollment is approximately 883 students in grades six through eight.

The Central Middle School building was opened in 1961 as the senior high school and converted to Central Middle School in 1997. It is located on the southeast corner of Gleason Lake at the intersection of Gleason Lake Road and Vicksburg Lane.

Each year, students are assigned to one of three "teams": Blue, Gold, Silver, or White. A student's team determines which teachers he or she will have, as well as their lunch period.

Unlike other Wayzata schools, Central does not have a swimming pool, but has an hockey arena. The arena once hosted Wayzata High School home games when the high school was located at the Central building.

In addition to the standard curriculum, all Wayzata middle schools offer special services and Vision 21 (gifted) curriculum.

East Middle School

East Middle School is located at 12000 Ridgemont Avenue West in Plymouth MN 55411. The principal is Paul Paetzel and the student day is from 8:20 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. The current enrollment is approximately 775 students in grades six through eight.

East Middle School was opened in 1967 and is located approximately one mile east of Xenium Lane on Ridgemont Avenue in Plymouth.

Middle school students are placed on a core team where they take math, science, health, communications or language arts, social studies, history or geography. During "core" time they also receive a reading curriculum, which offers enrichment opportunities.

Students in Wayzata middle schools are required to take three years of physical education and a performance-based music course from the Encore department. Students must also take one quarter of industrial technology, family and consumer science, art and world language in sixth and seventh grades. In eighth grade, students have the opportunity to explore two of these four offerings in a more in-depth semester-long course.

In addition to the standard curriculum, all Wayzata middle schools offer special services and gifted curriculum known as Vision 21.

West Middle School

West Middle School is located at 149 Barry Avenue North in Wayzata MN 55391. The principal is Susan Sommerfeld and the student day is from 8:20 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. The current enrollment is approximately 737 students in grades six through eight.

The West Middle School building was opened in 1951 as a junior/senior high school and was converted to West Middle School in 1961. It is located at the intersection of Barry Avenue and Wayzata Boulevard in Wayzata.

Middle school students are placed on a core team where they take math, science, health (only in 8th grade), communications (only in 8th), language arts, social studies(6th grade), history (7th Grade) or geography (8th Grade). During "core" time they also receive reading and flex or enrichment curriculum (only 6th and 7th grade as of 2014-2015), which offer enrichment opportunities. Also started 2010-2011 school year 8th grade was introduced to block scheduling where they have 3 cores a day instead of 5, but was switched back to the original scheduling in the 2014-2015 school year.

Students in Wayzata middle schools are required to take three years of physical education and a performance-based music course from the Encore department (Band, Choir, Orchestra and Music Ex in 8th grade only). There are also extra curricular music programs such as Jazz Band, Touring Choir and Chamber Strings. Students must also take one quarter of industrial technology, family and consumer science, art and Spanish in sixth and seventh grades. In eighth grade, students have the opportunity to explore two of these four offerings in a more in-depth semester-long course.