On Friday, January 14^th, in the year 2000, the People of Victoria were handed a lemon by School Orchard #112.  The Orchard had been cultivating and developing that lemon for some time, manipulating its makeup through graft, implant, and transplant.  When the lemon was perfectly ripe, the Orchard plucked the tart little thing and presented it to the People of Victoria.
"Eeeew," went the People of Victoria with puckered lips.  They had been promised a sweet red apple by the Orchard and the acid pulp of the lemon was very distasteful.  In fact, it was downright rude.
The People of Victoria spit it out and asked Orchard #112 for something more palatable.  After all, they had labored and spent themselves in the Orchard for 30 years.  An apple was only due diligence, if not also a promise.  But the answer was, "No." 
A humble as well as hungry lot, the People of Victoria turned to beg on bended knee, not for themselves but for their children and their children's children.  Members of School Orchard #112 grinned at the People of Victoria and teased them with visions of a future apple.  When the Orchard Keepers were confronted with the truth and logic of natural law, however, they took on a sour countenance and strode off together into the bowels of the Orchard.
Now, unbeknownst to the Wily and Wicked Orchard Keepers, the People of Victoria had been cultivating a grove of their own.  A lovely little plantation, it was, with the finest of stock rooted in the richest of soils.  The time was ripe, it seemed, for the People of Victoria to develop their own apple for their own hungry children.
The Merry Mayor of Victoria and all the people at her Round Table, a powerful group in its own right (not to mention thoughtful, considerate, truthful, intelligent), rolled the lemon before them from one to the other.  They massaged it and polished it, but from all vantage points it remained a lemon.  So with courage and confidence, they finally shouted, "Let's make lemonade!" 
They cut open the lemon, sprinkled it with natural sweetness, and added a few quarts of municipal water.  It was delicious -- for a change.  And so were thoughts of the apple they were about to charter for the People of Victoria.

Without the advantage of newspaper, television, or pulpit publicity, and with only three or four days of passing words by mouth, about 150 Victoria residents gathered in the large dining hall at the St. Victoria Parish Center to address an issue that profoundly affects Victoria children, Victoria families, Victoria taxpayers. 
Results of the January 14^th school board vote against Victoria appeared in official county newspapers on January 21^st.  As momentum from the decision gained a foothold in Victoria, so also did the disappointment and frustration.
The large gathering commenced at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday evening, January 26^th, and continued until 10:15 p.m.  Theme of the evening:  How and why did it come to pass that once again School District #112 made a decision to not locate an elementary school in Victoria? 
The referendum that was passed this past November provided for a new elementary school and a middle school in the District.  It also included provision for land purchase, but was confounded by the offering of a "free" parcel from the City of Chaska.  This "free" parcel is, in reality, not so free and is not in the vicinity of any neighborhood.  The surrounding acreage is vacant, undeveloped, unplatted.
Victoria residents initiated the gathering and invited officials from both School District #112 and from the City of Victoria to sit on a panel to which they could direct their questions.  Bev Stofferahn, superintendent of the School District, refused to be a member of the panel, however, if Mayor Mary Meuwissen and Councilmember Jim Paulsen were also members of the panel.  Stated resident and moderator Sally Ries, "The School District requested that no Victoria council-member be on the panel."
In deferring to the stated condition of the superintendent, Mayor Mary and other Victoria city councilmembers sat with their constituency in the audience and listened to all that transpired for roughly two hours, at which point Mayor Mary was invited by resident and co-moderator Tara Keehr to give comment.
Questions, observations, and discernment from various members of the audience were astute and indicative of an educated and aware public.  The questions seemed, for the most part, to leave the school panel baffled by a logic not heretofore encountered. 
The panel included three people:  the school superintendent and two school board members -- Mary Welch, who happens to live in Victoria, and President Kelly Von De Bur, who happens to live in Chanhassen. 
(There are a total of seven school board members, all of them elected "at large" and therefore not beholden to anyone -- except the taxpayers, of course, many of whom live in Victoria.)
The audience remained patient and polite, despite the circumstances, the lack of pertinent and prior communication by the school board, and the incomplete information from the school board.
Click here to continue "Let's Make Lemonade"