Rosemount High School denies charter school student's request to participate on football team
Rosemount High School (RHS) in the St. Paul/Minneapolis metropolitan area has denied a charter school student's request to participate on its football team. Randall Brekke attended RHS but transferred to Vessey Leadership Academy. Under School District 196's rules, participation in extracurricular activities is limited to students who attend school in the district. The decision to allow charter school students to participate in extracurriculars is left to individual districts. Approximately 20,000 Minnesota students are in Randall's position. Under state law all home-schooled students are entitled to be a part of their district's extracurricular activities. The law also allows local school districts to enter into a cooperative agreement with a charter school to admit a student. The Minnesota legislature has debated whether to give charter school students the same status as home schoolers but has yet to act. Randall is contemplating whether to remain at the charter school, where he has been academically successful, or return to RHS to play football. District 196 Superintendent John Currie believes students should view extracurricular activities as part of the whole school experience and not drop in only for one or two. Although Randall's school has offered to his fees for football, Mr. Currie says cost is not always the primary consideration. "Everybody applauds competition among schools," he says. "So be it. With that comes some aspects of competition. Do you let other schools take advantage of our resources? This is one area where it doesn't necessarily look so good." The decision whether to allow charter school students to participate has caused headaches for administrators across the state, especially in rural areas where districts are heavily dependent on state money for each student. For example, rural Hutchinson School District (HSD) had a cooperative agreement allowing all of New Century Charter School's (NCCS) students to participate in HSD programs. However, HSD's school board decided to sever the relationship in June. Dave Conrad, director of NCCS, believes school districts have an obligation to serve all students in the district. "I'm a taxpayer in this district. Some of my money is going to the district whether my kids go there or not," he says.
St. Paul Pioneer PressBy Bao Ong
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