Mayor for a Day: Dr. Ron Case visits Prairie View Elementary

Thomas McGrail’s fourth grade Mosaic class had been preparing all morning in their classroom at Prairie View Elementary. Notebooks grasped, questions in mind, students finally made their way to the cafeteria, where their special visitor was waiting for them. It was time to meet the Mayor of Eden Prairie, Dr. Ron Case.

“There is power to do good things in our community,” Dr. Case said to the room. Other Prairie View fourth graders joined the Mosaic students to listen to Dr. Case speak and to ask their own questions. How could young citizens get involved? Is it hard to persist as a mayor? Why isn’t there a Raising Cane’s in Eden Prairie? Dr. Case took his time answering each question. Sign a petition. You can persist through challenges when you enjoy your job. And with a laugh: I don’t really control where Raising Cane’s builds their restaurants. It was the mayor’s first speaking visit to Eden Prairie Schools this year, but it certainly wasn’t his first time in the district — he’d taught at Oak Point for 33 years before retiring. “Every job I’ve ever had had a teaching component,” he explained. It’s what he loved to do, and it’s part of why McGrail invited him to speak to students.

“I wanted Ron to come in to answer a lot of the questions we’re talking about,” said McGrail, who’d taught alongside Dr. Case at Oak Point years ago and now invited him to come to Prairie View. McGrail’s Mosaic class was in their People & Perspectives unit, in which students learned about different levels of government. Having Dr. Case as a visitor made their learning “more real,” said McGrail. Initially, Dr. Case was just visiting Mr. McGrail’s class. But when the rest of Prairie View learned about the mayor’s visit, all of fourth grade wanted to attend, and the mayor was happy to oblige.

In the lunchroom, dozens of hands went up as students continued to ask questions. One wanted to know how to become mayor. Another wanted to hear Dr. Case’s campaign strategies. The former teacher smiled at each one. When it was time to wrap up, students gathered around him to get autographs, many in pencil, in their notebooks. “One of these kids probably will be mayor,” Dr. Case laughed.

But the learning was far from over. McGrail invited Dr. Case back to his classroom to continue the discussion. In Mosaic, Eden Prairie Schools’ full-day classroom program for highly-gifted students in grades three through five, students learn challenging curriculum at an accelerated pace. For nearly another hour, students continued to chat with the mayor, wondering why he ran for office, the qualities that make a good mayor, and so much more. Once again, when the Q&A was over, students gathered around Dr. Case for more autographs. 

Fourth grader Audrey Lee, who’d finally been able to ask her question in this classroom session with the mayor, drew a line under his signature and above it wrote, “Audrey Lee is the new mayor of Eden Prairie.” She chuckled as she reminded him that the signed proclamation went into effect the following day. But craftiness wasn’t the only thing she learned that morning. “When you’re a mayor, it takes big responsibility to do powerful things.”

That was just what Dr. Case hoped students would get out of his visit: “A connection to what government is and that they too can be whatever they want to be.”