Jed and Sara Meyer, Sartell
We are writing in support of the May 24 Sartell-St. Stephen Bond Election. Two years ago, we relocated to the Sartell community from the Twin Cities. We researched and visited many communities around the St. Cloud area to determine where we wanted to live and raise our family. What we found was there are many amazing communities surrounding the St. Cloud area, all of which had something different to offer our family. In the end, the quality of the school system and the education our three children would receive in the Sartell-St. Stephen District was the reason we chose Sartell.
In March of 2015, a Community Schools Planning Committee was formed. To gain a better understanding of the needs of the school district, we decided one of us would join the committee. There were more than 80 community members on this committee made up of parents, city officials, senior citizens, district employees and, most importantly, students.
Entering the first meeting, we were definitely not expecting to support a new high school. That said, after 32 hours during nine meetings with many discussions, group exercises and tours of the current school facilities, we learned a few things. First, we learned our schools are great and the residents of this community have a lot to be proud of. Second, we learned there are some serious facility needs, capacity issues and safety needs in our schools that threaten the future quality of our schools and they must be addressed. We are in full support of the current proposed plan, which includes a new high school and remodeling of existing buildings and believe these improvements to be necessary in order to continue to drive the excellence we have come to expect from District 748.
A quality school system impacts our kids and it impacts the overall growth and financial health of the Sartell-St. Stephen community. Please join us in our decision to invest in our kids and in our community by voting yes on May 24.