At their meeting Monday night, the Becker School Board discussed Clear Lake City Council member Dale Power’s request to allow Clear Lake students to join the Becker school district.
On Tuesday, Powers clarified the request originated from himself, personally, and wasn’t an official council action.
“It has primarily to do with the proposed location of the new Tech High School being 18 miles away from Clear Lake,” he explained. “After the referendum [for the new school] was turned down, the district held a bunch of listening sessions to find out why it failed. They didn’t listen, and continued to push for the south St. Cloud location.”
“The fact is, of all the cities that do not have a high school, Clear Lake students would have the furthest drive to their home high school.”
“The whole issue isn’t the level of education per se, but it’s a voice in the decision making,” Powers said. “Our voice would be stronger [at Becker] and if and when they close open enrollment we’ll be safe and secure in the knowledge our home school is close by.”
“The issue is we’re totally ignored and this is a way we’re not going to be ignored.”
Bruce Hentges grew up in Clear Lake and has been involved in St. Cloud District 742 for 44 years teaching, working in administration, and currently serving on the school board.
“I have a strong belief in the value of education in District 742 and in the teachers we’ve got,” he said. “There are challenges we face, including the fact that we’re a more diverse district, but they also give kids opportunities they won’t get elsewhere.”
He voiced disappointment in hearing Clear Lake was exploring leaving the district, and said he was grateful his parents’ generation was insightful enough to realize for them to get a quality education Clear Lake had to connect with District 742.
“I think that when you take a look at the distance that is an insignificant difference, especially when you consider the quality of education,” Hentges said. “My personal feeling is kids from Clearwater and Clear Lake have access to a top notch educational program in a setting that prepares them for the world of work or post secondary education. They have opportunities with an advanced placement program that’s second to none.”
Clearwater Mayor Pete Edmonson said he was supportive of a public meeting to see what interest there may be from the communities in starting down the road to leaving the St. Cloud school district.
“I’ve seen a lot of frustrations from people in listening sessions with District 742,” he said. “We gave them some great talking points, but it sounds like they’re still going full speed ahead. This would give our parents a bigger voice in a smaller district rather than being invisible in St. Cloud.”
He has heard 70% to 80% of families out of Clearwater already open enroll elsewhere, and realtors are being told to make sure to tell new families interested in moving to the area that they can open enroll into Annandale.
“When you’re looking at the best interests of Clear Lake and Clearwater, our businesses and residents would be much happier not being lost in the St. Cloud School District,” Edmonson said. “And instead becoming partners with Annandale and Becker.”
For some, like parents Jake and Jessica Olson of Clearwater, the main issue is class size. Jake graduated from St. Cloud and Jessica graduated from Annandale.
“We want our kids to get to know everyone,” said Jessica Olson. “That was our main decision in deciding to open enroll them into Annandale.”
Olson said they had heard great things about both Annandale and Clearview, but wanted to make their decision based on the long term. They didn’t want their children to attend Tech High School because of its large number of students in each grade.
They’ve seen families move on to Annandale, Becker or Monticello after Clearview, and they didn’t want to switch school districts after sixth grade.
“Our youngest is four and we were worried about getting her into preschool in Annandale because they had closed their open enrollment,” said Olson. “She’s enrolled now, but we would have moved into the district if she hadn’t gotten in.”
Parents Richard Petty and Shannon Essler-Petty are big advocates of District 742, and enroll there because they feel it offers the best education.
“What’s important to us is we like the St. Cloud School District for the academic side, the extra curriculars offered, and the diversity side. You can’t get that from a smaller school,” said Essler-Petty. “It’s so important for our kids to learn about being a part of a bigger community.”
They said they were amazed with the Spanish Immersion program and weren’t surprised there were so many parents open enrolling their kids to Clearview to be a part of it.
Essler-Petty is an education professor at St. Ben’s and St. John’s, so she’s in all the St. Cloud schools observing her students teach.
“I have a different perspective from all the time watching and seeing what goes on,” she said. “I see so many great things the general public doesn’t have access to. While parents may fear the diversity I see kids embracing it and learning to work together.”
Petty added, “What she sees is teachers working over and above, yet people are looking at should I go to that school because of its low test scores, not should I go to that school because of its great teachers.”
Essler-Petty said the St. Cloud School District does have a reputation for low test scores, however they will never reflect the growth the school has in a year.
“People are comparing districts based on test scores and it’s so much more than that,” she said. “There are so many different factors that play into it.”
“One thing I would say as a Clearwater resident looking for community involvement is that’s it’s difficult when families are all going to different schools,” said Petty. “What I think we need to look at is there any way we can get community connection and activities.”
With regards to Clearview itself, Principal Sheri Rutar said, “It is a warm and welcoming school community that has proud and committed students, parents and staff. We are a valuable part of District 742 and have a lot to offer to students and families.”
At their meeting Monday night, the Becker School Board voted to accept Clear Lake students into their district if the move happened.
