(Editor’s Note: The city of Albertville released the following statement regarding the St. Michael-Albertville School District boundary.)
The St. Michael-Albertville School Board has recently started discussing capping open enrollment due to a large enrollment bubble in grades 4-9. This possible change would only affect new families and would only affect grades 4-9 for school year 2016-17. If a cap were to take place, anyone who is currently open enrolled, as well as siblings of those open enrolled, would not be affected and would still be allowed enrollment.
Currently, families who live north of I-94 in the neighborhoods of Towne Lakes and Hunters Pass have the option of sending their children to Elk River School District or open enrolling to St. Michael-Albertville.
The St. Michael-Albertville School Board and Supt. Behle have asked both the city of St. Michael and the city of Albertville to discuss the topic of open enrollment and share any positions with the board. The School Board is currently in the information gathering process and will continue discussion on the topic at their May 16 meeting.
The Albertville City Council had a discussion regarding the topic at their Monday, May 2, meeting. Many residents from both the Towne Lakes and Hunters Pass developments attended the meeting to share their concerns with not only the possible cap of open enrollment, but their desire to see the St. Michael-Albertville school district boundaries changed to include all of Albertville.
The City of Albertville has no legal authority over a school board decision and can not redraw school district boundaries. In order for the St. Michael-Albertville school district boundaries to be redrawn, both the STMA school board and the Elk River school board would need to come to an agreement that would involve some sort of land swap and get the support of local legislators who would then take the issue to the legislature for approval.
At this point, the city of Albertville resolved to pursue investigation of inclusion of all Albertville neighborhoods into the STMA School District.