Months after Paideia Academy cut ties with its former child-care provider, the Apple Valley charter school faces a defamation lawsuit from the business and its manager. In a complaint dated Aug. 27, CDA Child Care and its manager, Rachel Stohlmann, claim that the school's director made false statements that damaged her reputation and CDA's.
Paideia contracted with CDA for on-site child care until April, when the school's board ended the relationship, the complaint said.
According to the complaint, director Jill Godtland said at a school board meeting that "unresolved complaints made by parents and other concerns" were why the school terminated the contract; that comment and others allegedly left the impression that "something had happened with the child care services that couldn't be discussed in a public forum."
Paideia's school board met in closed session on Oct. 8 to discuss the litigation. The complaint, which the Star Tribune obtained from the school, has not yet been filed in court, said Stohlmann's attorney, Steven Carlson. Carlson declined to comment further on the dispute, saying the parties hope to resolve it out of court. Paideia board chairman Erik Dove also would not comment, except to call the claims "frivolous."
Minutes from the board's April 21 meeting say that, "Currently CDA is eight months behind on contracted payments and has not provided proof of insurance to Administration.... There has been a lot of concern expressed about issues regarding [the] present care program."
CDA owed the school $3,200 to help offset overhead expenses such as utilities, Dove said. The business has since paid the school, he said.
St. Thomas orders anniversary plaque St. Thomas Academy has commissioned a bronze sculpture of Archbishops John Ireland and John Roach to mark the school's 125th anniversary. The plaque, by Minneapolis artist Foster Willey Jr., will be unveiled in April.
Ireland founded the school in 1885. Roach was headmaster in 1965, when the school moved to its current site in Mendota Heights.
