Agenda - Council Work Session - 09/08/2008

Home

Mr. Gustafson stated that he is not saying that Ramsey students would not fit it~ but would like to give people from a larger region access to the school. Mayor Gamec stated that he knows many parents volunteer their services to the school and asked how many hours Mr. Gustafson and Ms. Olson have volunteered in the past year. . . Mr. Gustafson stated that he volunteered between 100 and 150 hours last year. He noted that he is also the Facilities Coordinator for the school~ and those hours were in addition to his regular duties. l Ms. Olson stated that she had also volunteered over 100 hours with the school. Jim ZaWistowski, 6911 Old Viking Boulevard~ Nowthen, MN, stated that he has 3 kids in the school and when the school was built 12 or 13 years ago~ the parents built it with their blood and sweat. He stated that he has also been very involved in giving his time to the school to be part of the "team" that is PACT. He stated that when they left Anoka, they came to Ramsey looking for fairness and equality. He stated that everyone has had to wait in line to get their kids enrolled because that is what is fair. He stated that he now sees a.politician and a lawyer trying to butt in line and he feels they should have to wait like everyone else. He stated that he feels PACT has done a good job for the City and he would like the City to just leave them alone and honor the Pledge of Allegiance. . Dan Schultz, 14345 Tungsten Street NW, stated that he has 3 kids in PACT and feels this is a . judicial issue. He stated that he feels it is in the best int~rest of the Council to step back until a legal interpretation has been made. He stated that he sees PACT as the best hope for Ramsey to get immediate help in addressing the education issues in the City, but pushing their way into the school is not the best way to create a good working relationship. He stated that he feels the City would be better served by working to create a. broad based education system and leave PACT alone and help it to grow. Jill Lundstrom, Coon Rapids, stated that she has 3 children and 1 of them is on the Kindergarten waiting list at PACT. She stated that PACT was originally started not as a communityschool~ . but as a school with a common educational philosophy. She stated that most people who originally started the school, had homeschooled their children first, which requires an' amazing commitment of time. She stated that PACT remains a school that requires a large commitment of time and energy from its parents. She stated that if the enrollment boundaries are limited, she does not feel the school will be able to find enough people to sustain this level of commitment to the school because too many parents will choose to send their children there because it is convenient, and not because of its educational philosophy. Chris Soderholm, stated that he is a business owner in Ramsey at 7151 143rd Avenue NW and has had 2 children in the school for 5 years. He stated that his wife does a lot of volunteering at the school. fie stated that he only became aware of the issue regarding enrollment today and asked what the intent was for enrollment when the school first came to Ramsey. He stated that when he had asked Mr. DeBruyn what the enrollment expectations were when the school came to Ramsey, he was told that there were no expectations. He stated that if that was the deal at the City Council! April 8, 2008 Page 7 of 20 . .