Our History

Academia Cesar Chavez grew out of the Hispanic Pre-College Project, a successful 10-year-old outreach program of the University of St. Thomas. The request to develop a school with a focus on Latino culture came out of focus groups including parents, community members, and community organizations. In 1999, our founder, Ramona Arreguin de Rosales, along with co-founders Tracy Cerda and Martha Dominguez wrote and submitted a charter school proposal to the State of Minnesota.  In 2000, this group began an 18-month-long process of researching, planning, and developing the charter school.

The founders worked closely with the National Council of La Raza, the Center for School Change, the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools, and Community of Peace Academy, as well as several faculty members of the University of St. Thomas including Dr. Robert Brown, Dr. Karen Rogers, and others. They also worked closely with community members including Jose Santos Jr, Tom Sanchez, and other community supporters. The founding members of the Board of Directors included Ramona A. de Rosales, Tracy Cerda, Dr. Jeffery Cornwall, Larry Lucio, Don Mercado, Paula Sanchez, Allen Selinski, Dan Stewart, and Elsa Vega-Perez among its ranks.  These members were identified and recruited because of their diverse areas of expertise including education, community engagement, human resources, finance, law, and fund development.

In May of 2000, the State of Minnesota granted a charter for Academia Cesar Chavez School to open in September of 2001 with the University of St. Thomas as the authorizer The first meeting of the board of directors was on June 10, 2000. To find a facility for our school site, the team began looking on the Westside of St. Paul per the board’s request.  Feasibility studies were conducted for two vacant buildings, the Drake Marble Building and the Windmill Market, to no avail, and then met with the Boy’s and Girl’s Club to discuss the possibility of sharing facilities. They also researched the possibility of land where a facility could be built, but no available land was found.

In July of 2001, the board voted to hire Ramona A. de Rosales as the Executive Director of Academia Cesar Chavez. Mrs. Rosales offered the positions of Academic Director to Tracy Cerda, Community Education Director to Martha Dominguez, and secured a location for our school on the Eastside of Saint Paul: Saint Casimir’s School at 930 East Geranium Avenue.

In June of 2001, the Hispanic Pre-College Project staff left their offices at the University of St. Thomas after UST had decided to discontinue funding for the Hispanic Pre-College Project Department. In July 2001, the staff of Academia Cesar Chavez moved into their new school at the Saint Casimir facility.