Why PACT Didn’t Expand

Some may be wondering what happened to PACT expanding the school. Was it because we couldn’t find a place to expand, or did we not have enough money for it, and even if students and teachers at PACT wanted to expand? The biggest reason why we couldn’t was because Bethel and the state said that we couldn’t.

There was a poll taken of some of the students, school teachers, and a few para-professionals to see if they wanted the school to be expanded.

There was 16 students and 6 teachers/para’s who were given this question. 15 out of the 16 students think that the school should expand. 6 out of the 6 teachers/para’s interviewed said that they also would like it if the school would be able to expand.

Mr. Brady, PACT’s very own Band teacher, was very specific when he said, ”If it’s done right then yes!” So from this, many students, teachers and para’s would like the school to expand.

In the past PACT has tried to do this but once Mr. Simmons came it got serious. “Joe Field had a huge impact on this decision,” said Mr. Simons – PACT’s current Executive Director. PACT found a place to put the new building, and even an architectural team to go look at it.

Expansion plans seemed to be heading in the right direction until the state told the school that we couldn’t expand. Bethel, at that time, had not caught up on new requirements as our authorizer – according to the Minnesota Department of Education.

Many students assumed it was a money issue, but Mr. Simons was able to clear that up. “PACT would buy bonds and wait for companies to buy them, so then once they buy them we would get that money from them and use it.”

Some might be thinking, well what do those companies get out of it? Mr. Simons also said, “once they buy them they start to slowly get money from them.” To clarify, a bond is like someone investing in the stock market. A person will put money into a company and then once they grow, that company will get money from the growth.

The only difference with bonds is that it is safer and more secure; however, it is a very slow process. It takes the companies a lot longer time to get money from the company, school, or person that they invested in. However it is clear that in this case, money wasn’t the issue for us not expanding.

Mr. Simons tried to make it clear saying, “In a nutshell our authorizer Bethel University was set with different requirements.” So in other words we couldn’t expand, first of all, because of Bethel's requirements.

The reason that Bethel said that we couldn’t expand was because they had corrective action from the state. Mr. Simons said that it means, “To get caught up on the new requirements put forth by the Minnesota Department of Education.” So Bethel has to get up to date with the new Minnesota requirements, and then we can get back to expanding.

What were people looking for in this new building, maybe more classes, or more room, or both? Were more people wanting it for more area? Or were they wanting it for a larger variety of classes, or more college credits?

PACT Board members, and many students wanted to build two gyms. They also want to have our own soccer, baseball, and softball fields instead of having to use the city’s fields for our sports. PACT Board members wanted to also have the classes all separate so then they wouldn’t have grades sharing with other grades.

The school wanted this expansion so then they could offer more elective class options, instead of the few that we have at this point. This would help so then more people would have more college credits, as well as more class options to pick from (so they could better pursue their interests).

Granted some students and teachers didn’t want this school to expand, because the school would be too big.

The students and teachers like how you can know everyone, instead of only knowing some people. Some other students and teachers want to keep a small school, because then they feel like they can connect more with each other.

Reasons why to expand is because it would be way more room, and we would have our own gyms and fields. Reasons not to expand would be that we would become too big, and then we would not be able get to know each other as much as we do now. So now the question is do we expand, or are we still keeping our school here?