Agenda - Council Work Session - 04/01/2008

Home

b/ C:. tL-' AOL Mail - Message View -38- > Dear Mr. Debruyn: : I am writing as a parent of two potentli::il applicants to the charterd ese Dehen- kindegarten, and Max Dehen-second gra e, as a > s~bhl~OI'toReReese Dehen. I live at 14806 Bowers Drive in Ra.msey. I was > Sl mg . t' "t n" and Clnl > co ied on the recent MDE opinion Interpre mg. ow. '1. P I have discussed this matter With CO-City councllmemb.er > synonymoLuSlkY' a number of occasions and have taken an interest given > Matthew 00 on "d t > an apparent statutory preference to Ramsey kmdegarten resl en s. : Mr. Lo~k copied me on your January 29: 200~ correspondence to him. > understand that you are going to be talkm.g with .Iegal counse.l. I Id I'ke to be kept in the loop if these diSCUSSions are public. > WOU I. E ementa has not had a kindegarten since 1999 : ~r~~~n:;it ~~~s:~p~ar that s%ce the PACT school moved to ~~hmsey, > erroneous enrollment standards have been applied In the cases ~ ey rtain to Ramsey kindegarten applicants.) Your letter to Mr. Loo : ~~ ests that although there are 36 available kindegart:n spots, that > ~ber is reduced by 22 spots (to 14 available spots) given ~2 . > ~i~de arten applicants are siblings of current stud.e~ts. You Indicated > that t~ere are approximately 60+ applications of Sibling and Ramsey > kindegarten applicants. Page 3 of 4 > that sibling preference trumps Ramsey kindegarten applicants, vice > versa or even a proximity preference. The preferences appear to be > equal. There is no legal authority to suggest otherwise. Thus, > following the law as it is currently written, all 60 + applications you > referred to would be possible candidates for the 36 positions and not > just the 14 (left over) as you suggest. (Obviously, there is the > problem that some of the 22 sibling applicants might not be a "sibling" > preference had the preference been interpreted properly fror Ramsey > kindegarten applicants in recent years.) > > f would agree with your analysis that if a sibling preference does not > trump Ramsey residents, certainly there is a possibility that some > kindegarten students with siblings currently enrolled will not be > admitted. So it goes. (My children currently attend different > schools.) However, if the preferences are applied equally as law > appears to be written, Ramsey kindegarten applicants would no longer > suffer a disadvantage as they. have in recent years. The law mayor may > not need to be changed but as it currently sits, no one preference is a > priority until the legislature weigns in on this. I do not believe. > there is a lack of clarity here. > > In closing, I appreciate your efforts and would ask that a direction on > this be made expeditiously, as I and other families have paid > alternative school fees for other kindegarten spots. > > Sincerely, > > > John.p. Dehen > > > I i > I > i > More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail !_ I I > htt,,,II\A/oh,.,..,~;1 ~~l ___