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<br />'"proximity" preference-in other words if your child lived within 2 miles of the charter <br />school and the next public school was more than 5 miles away, your child would be in a <br />preferenced category that allowed admission before those in the lottery. Third, if you <br />lived in a 'town" and there was no other school in that "town" that served that grade level <br />that you were applying for, you would receive a "residency" preference, that is, your <br />child would be in a preferenced category that allowed admission before those in the <br />lottery. (Currently, Ramsey Elementary School is the only school in Rainsey city limits <br />and serves only grades 1-5 therefore the "resident" preference would apply to <br />. kindergarten and grades 6-12). <br /> <br />The crux of our declaratory judgment action primarily involves the third preference or the <br />'"resident" preference. It is our contention that PACT charter school has either <br />mistakenly or intentionally disregarded this law dealing with "resident" preferences and <br />that the law has been erroneously skewed by the PACT school administrator since 2004 <br />when the PACT school moved to Ramsey from Anoka. Further, we believe that, to the <br />detriment of Ramsey residents, there are a number of students in the PACT charter school <br />that should have not been admitted in the first instance if the PACT school had given <br />Ramsey residents a preference as contemplated by law. The problem perpetuates and is <br />even more detrimental to Ramsey resident's chances of gaining admittance to the school <br />in that these erroneously admitted non resident students have advanced in grade level and <br />now have "siblings" that are applying for preferential status. (Although we have not <br />received information on the grades 6-12 "sibling" status, we do have information and <br />know that 26 out of the 36 kindergarten spots are being used up for those non resident <br />"siblings" of older PACT students that we believe should not have been preferentially <br />admitted in the first instance. By PACT's own admissions in the dec. action, if PACT's <br />narrow interpretation where Ramsey residents receive no preference is correct, Ramsey <br />kindergarten residents stand a 7% of enrollment at PACT. However, if our interpretation <br />is correct that there is a Ramsey preference for kindergarten, Ramsey residents have at <br />least a 50% chance for to be admitted to PACT.) Who loses here under the current <br />PACT school admission scheme?-----Ramsey residents that have children that have <br />applied for kindergarten and grades 6-12. Who gains---non resident applicants. <br /> <br />The mayor and councilmembers Stommen and Olson expressed some question about why <br />the matter was brought to the council on April 2, 2008 and not earlier. Some background <br />information is helpful. First and foremost, the lawsuit is being brought to the attention of <br />this council because of the narrow interpretation of the "residency" preference that in my <br />view substantially prejudices the school options for Ramsey residents. We are not here to <br />have you act as a court of law and enter into negotiations. <br /> <br />While I do not believe the current charter school enrollment process is fair to our <br />residents, I do not wish to have the council weigh in on the merits of the dec. action that <br />will ultimately be decided by a judge if there is no effort by the charter school to comply <br />with state law. I understood Councilmember Stommen voiced at least some concern at <br />me as the lawyer for Mr. Look and/or the declaratory process which seeks to bring fmal <br />answers to the process. I believe councilmember's Stommen's concern that we left the <br />city council with no other options is not correct. <br /> <br />2 <br />