Minutes - Council Work Session - 04/01/2008

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would bring to the City and what assurances they would have of this benefit. He stated that he is fairly sure that he was given assurance using the same State Statute being discussed tonight, that residents would get preference. Dan DeBruyn, 9000 168th Avenue NW, stated that he was the Administrator for the PACT Charter School and asked if Mr. Elvig remembers who had quoted the State Statute regarding Ramsey residents' preference. Councilmember Elvig stated that he has notes from the conversations, so he can get this information to Mr. DeBruyn. He stated that he does not understand why there is a squabble over this issue because the City was told that this would benefit the. residents which was why he went along with it, in the first place. He stated that the community is paying for the ground the school is on and yet they cannot get their children enrolled. He asked how many Ramsey residents were enrolled in the school. Mr. DeBruyn stated that there are 139 students from Ramsey currently enrolled. He stated that he is unsure what the initial discussions were before the school was brought to Ramsey, but noted that the City approached the school, not the other way around. He stated that there are currently 1,900 students on the Kindergarten waiting list and many are siblings of other students. He stated that there is also language included in this statute that they are to be given preference for enrollment. He stated that if Ramsey residents were to be given preference, the sibling numbers would be greatly reduced and would be a big change. He stated that their enrollment policy has been looked at very carefully and has never raised any red flags. He stated that they have been trying to get clarification on the issue in question before they try to change any policies. He stated that in reference to the elitist comment made by Councilmember Dehen, he feels that if enrollment is only for Ramsey residents, that this is more elitist. Councilmember Elvig stated that he needed to leave tonight's meeting early, but noted that he has the history of the situation with the school choosing to locate in Ramsey. He stated that, at the time, there was a question about the possibility of the school failing and noted that they were asked to not build such a specialized building that would be hard to be turned into something else. He stated that he feels the school accommodated that request well, but there were also comments made that this school would benefit the children of Ramsey. Mr. DeBruyn stated that he cannot speak to conversations that Councilmember Elvig had when he was not there, but does not recall those conversations on a board level. He stated that he also does not believe that the school got a break on the land or building costs and noted that they paid over $5 million for the land. Councilmember Elvig left the meeting at 8:34 p.m. Councilmember Look reviewed the minutes of the March 22, 2007 session. He stated that comments made in the paper imply that if Ramsey citizens were given first priority, that this would degrade the quality of the school, which he finds offensive. City Council Work Session /Aprill, 2008 Page 12 of 20