Prior Lake High School - Prior Lake High School

Prior Lake High School (PLHS) is located in Savage, Minnesota, covering grades 9-12. The school is part of the South Suburban Conference. It has approximately 2,400 students currently enrolled, along with a teaching and administrative staff of around 400. A book, "Another Planet: A Year in the Life of a Suburban High School", was written by author Elinor Burkett and paints an inaccurate portrait of life in the school and around the city of Prior Lake. In 2003 when the new high school building opened its doors in its current location of Savage, MN, the decision was made to keep the name "Prior Lake" High School because of the rich history of the school. The principal's name is David Lund. The school's three assistant principals are John Bennett, Heather Fitzloff, and Joe Kuboushek. The school currently utilizes a 6-period system which replaced the previous 7-period system.

Description

Prior Lake High School made the list of Newsweek's best high schools in the country. Newsweek picks the best schools in the U.S. based on how hard school staff work to challenge students with advanced-placement, college-level courses and tests. Only 6 percent of all the public schools in the U.S. made the list. PLHS comes in 22nd in the state. PLHS has successfully been meeting AYP under no Child Left Behind. The school is overcrowded, 90% White, 5% Asian, 2% African American, 2% Hispanic, and 1% American Indian/Alaskan Native. The student to teacher ratio is 21:1 and only 7% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch program. Prior Lake High School offers several honors courses.

Overcrowding

Prior Lake High School is currently looking for a way to solve the overcrowding issue. It currently has about 200 extra students in a 2,000 student capacity. There are 2,275 students enrolled in the school year of 2012-2013. Prior Lake High School is going to be starting school early (as well the middle schools in the district), the school year of 2013-2014, and this will lead to ending early. This will allow for the construction of more classrooms which will be able to hold the extra students they will be expecting in the years to come, and reconstruction. The Growth Task Force (GTF) has helped to create this plan and to get the plan to pass.