St. Louis Park preps for first day of school with changes to security, school meals
ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. — Tuesday marks the first day of school for hundreds of thousands of Minnesota students.
The new year brings excitement to St. Louis Park Public Schools' teachers and staff as well as the roughly 5,000 students.
The district's teaching staff is fully hired and ready for classes to begin.
The culture and language program is back for a second year. The program provides students the opportunity to grow their worldviews by learning Spanish, Arabic and Ojibwe.
The 2023-2024 school year also brings changes to many districts when it comes to security and school meals.
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The city of St. Louis Park will be shifting the district's school resource officers (SROs) to a new role called juvenile response officers.
The officers will no longer be stationed at St. Louis Park middle and high schools.
District leaders say the junior response officers will still connect with school administrators daily and patrol areas near schools during school hours.
The police department will also have a presence at sporting events and respond to emergency situations and continue to partner with the district to hold safety drills in schools.
Free school meals are also a reality for all Minnesota public schools this year.
St. Louis Park, like many districts around the state, is still encouraging students and families to fill out the application for education benefits as its tied to much more than just free school meals and can affect district funding in the future.
Special guests, including the district's superintendent, Astein Osei, and Aquila Elementary School principal Maria Graver, joined WCCO's Pauleen Le with a look ahead to the start of the school year.