PACT Charter Schools

Kindergarten Eligibility

• Children must be five years old by September 1 to enter kindergarten.
• Priority is given to applicants with preference status who apply before the lottery deadline.

First Grade Eligibility: 

• Be six years old by September 1, or
• Have completed a qualified kindergarten program.
• Mid-year transfers must meet the age requirement or be currently enrolled in first grade elsewhere.

PACT is founded on a committed partnership between parents, students, and teachers to build students of character and excellence in education. We work together to select curriculum, design programs, and develop policy. Every student at PACT is known and valued. A small community atmosphere, caring teachers, and various extracurricular activities help students grow.

• PACT enrolls approximately 1,500 students in grades K-12.
• Classroom capacity is reviewed annually by PACT’s administration.
• Students are enrolled until the grade-level limit is reached.
• Capacity numbers are subject to change. View current enrollment limits. 

Academics at PACT are designed to prepare them for college, career, and beyond. Core classes include language arts, social studies, math, and science. Elementary students also have art, music, and PE.

At Secondary, various electives are available in fine arts, music, physical education, health, technology, finance, and more. PACT emphasizes reading and writing skills as well as analytical and critical thinking and communication. A variety of curriculum sources are included, including original documents and classical literature. Students in Secondary have consistently scored above average on the SAT.

In addition, PACT partners with STEP High School and offers opportunities to earn college credit while in high school, including College in the Schools (CIS) classes. Many students elect to take part in the Post Secondary Education Option (PSEO) at nearby colleges and have entered college with a sophomore standing.

PACT believes it is our responsibility as a school to provide educational opportunities for as many students as we can serve. We realize some students need extra support to be successful, and to meet those needs, the school has developed several programs to support all learning levels. This includes special education services, IEP, 504 plans, Response to Intervention (RTI), and English Learners (EL), to name a few. In addition to the above, at the Secondary level, free after-school tutoring is available.

Yes, PACT Charter School has a Special Education Department that offers services to eligible students. These services are defined by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) as “specially designed instruction, at no cost to parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability.”

Students qualify if they meet the criteria for any of the thirteen disability categories defined by the Minnesota Department of Education.

• Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)
• Blind-Visually Impaired (BVI)
• Deaf-Blind (DB)
• Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) 
• Developmental Cognitive Disabilities (DCD)
• Developmental Delay (DD) - birth to age 7 only 
• Emotional or Behavioral Disorders (EBD) 
• Other Health Disabilities (OHD)
• Physically Impaired (Pl)
• Severely Multiply Impaired (SMI)
• Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD)
• Speech or Language Impairments (SLI)
• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) 

PACT Charter School offers a mix of direct, indirect, and related services to support students’ learning and growth. 

• Direct services: Individual or small group instruction delivered directly to the student by a special education teacher.
• Indirect services: Support given to teachers, parents, or others working with the student, including consultation, progress reviews, classroom observations, and strategies to help the student succeed.
• Related services: Extra support needed to help a student reach their IEP goals, as decided by the IEP team. These may be direct or indirect services and can include:
  • Audiological services*
  • Deaf and Hard of Hearing support*
  • Developmental/Adaptive Physical Education (DAPE)*
  • Nursing services
  • Occupational Therapy (OT)*
  • Paraprofessional support
  • Physical Therapy (PT)*
  • Social Work services
  • Special transportation
  • Speech-Language Pathology services

*Services marked with an asterisk are provided through contracted providers.

• Elementary Campus (grades K-5) is from 8:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.
• Secondary Campus (grades 6-12) is from 8 a.m. to 3:05 p.m.
• Bus routes start at the Secondary Campus before the Elementary Campus, which accounts for the time difference.

• PACT provides free transportation throughout much of the Anoka-Hennepin School District, portions of the Elk River School District, and the St. Francis School District. 
• Twelve routes serve over 100 bus stops in Andover, Anoka, Blaine, Champlin, Coon Rapids, Elk River, Nowthen, Oak Grove, Ramsey, and St. Francis. Most are "satellite stops" and require parents to drive to. 
• Secondary students with a driver's license can park at PACT but must register their car.
• For the safety of our students, bus routes are not published online. Contact our Transportation Coordinator at transportation@pactcharter.org for information on a stop near you. 

PACT contracts with a local food service provider to offer daily meal options for breakfast and lunch. Mid-day choices include a standard meal, a vegetarian meal, a sandwich, or a salad. Meals are pre-ordered a month in advance, with an online ordering system.

We offer various options to your students during the day and as extracurricular activities. More than 30 activities are available, including performing arts, speech, and a wide range of sports. We also co-op with local schools for cross country, gymnastics, swimming, and more. For a full list of offerings, visit our community education webpage (Elementary) or our activities webpage (Secondary). 

• Class sizes for Elementary average 25 students.
• In Secondary, core classes average 26, and electives can range from 10 to as many as 30, such as band or choir. 
• Current limits are available here, but are subject to change.

• In-Person: We begin accepting applications on September 1 for the following school year.
• Online: We begin accepting applications on December 1 for the following school year.
• Applications are accepted year-round, and offers are made to seats as they open.

Text messages and emails will be sent following the Enrollment Lottery. After that, calls will be made when a classroom seat opens up. You have four calendar days to accept or reject enrollment if offered a seat. After that time, we will contact the next family on the list. PACT is not responsible for missed emails, texts, or calls resulting in missing an acceptance deadline.