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1 Ranallo reiterated that the Council hadn' t gotten that type of <br /> 2 resident input when they sat down to discuss the same issues with the <br /> 3 School Board in the Council Chambers in September. He urged all <br /> 4 present to call the Councilmembers whenever they had a question the <br /> 5 Council could answer, cautioning them at the same time, to remember <br /> 6 that the Councilmembers couldn' t answer for the School Board on some <br /> 7 of the questions they had raised that evening. <br /> i <br /> 8 Sundland indicated he had been trying to tell school officials for <br /> 9 many years that one of the biggest mistakes they had made over the <br /> 10 last 16 years was to forget that only between 16% and 180 of the <br /> 11 homeowners had children in the District School and that any one who <br /> 12 hoped to convince those who don' t that the school should be retained <br /> 13 should be careful not to alienate the majority. He indicated he <br /> 14 perceived from what the recent survey had told the Council that the <br /> 15 School District would have a hard time getting a referendum through <br /> 16 because people who don' t have kids in the St. Anthony school don' t <br /> 17 know enough about the school; don' t understand it; or haven' t been <br /> 18 given the opportunity of getting better acquainted. The Mayor said <br /> 19 he thought it would take a little extra massaging of those who don' t <br /> 20 have St. Anthony students to get them to see the viewpoint of those <br /> 21 who do. <br /> 22 He and several of the councilmembers pointed to the fact that the <br /> 23 Focus newsletter sent to the parents of St. Anthony students could <br /> 24 have been distributed to the whole community over the years to let <br /> 25 them know what was going on in the school and to keep the residents • <br /> 26 enthusiastic about their community school. <br /> 27 Ranallo indicated he had put three daughters through the St. Anthony <br /> 28 High School but now was facing having to get rid of a five bedroom <br /> 29 .house whose value couldn' t help but be diminished if St. Anthony had <br /> 30 no school. <br /> 31 Enrooth agreed that most of the Councilmembers had lived in the <br /> 32 community for more than 20 years so the issues raised that evening by <br /> 33 "a lot of you people who haven' t lived here that long aren' t really <br /> 34 new to us at all . " <br /> 35 Marks reported he had got a number of calls before the school hearing <br /> 36 and to him the whole issue had taken a "rather interesting and <br /> 37 frustrating turn" because he and Councilmember Enrooth had been the <br /> 38 Council representatives who met with the School Board a year and a <br /> 39 half ago where a School Board member had just made the suggestion <br /> 40 that the City should take over the Parkview building outright because <br /> 41 the school district just didn' t need it any more and now there ' s a <br /> 42 community perception that the City is "trying to put one over on the <br /> 43 school district" which causes him to take offense at some of the <br /> 44 comments he ' s heard lately to that effect. <br /> 45 *he had gotten a good number- of calls before the February 24th <br /> 46 hearing; • <br /> 16 <br />