In case there is any doubt who I support for School Board

Today the Trib published my letter in support of Alanna – 201 words. I sneaked an extra one in but didn’t count to see if they knocked one out to keep it regulation sized:

Alanna Oswald was in my classroom when teacher/astronaut Christa McAuliffe lost her life shooting for the stars. The next year Oswald’s mother committed suicide. Denfeld’s teachers wrapped Oswald in a cocoon of caring and launched her, one of the first in her family, to college at Gustavus Adolphus. There was no way Oswald wouldn’t become a teacher.

I begged Oswald to run for School Board more than a year ago before our board plunged into a year of darkness and dysfunction. Oswald had just accomplished something that outshines everything our entire board has managed to do. She did it as a mom. She got Minnesota’s Department of Education to clean up Duluth’s long-neglected curriculum when she discovered that her fifth-grade daughter wasn’t being taught science or history the same way as children in eastern-Duluth schools. The motive was commendable. Her daughter’s school was desperate to escape Minnesota’s lowest state test rankings but did so by jettisoning a complete education. Oswald knows there are better ways to fight poverty.

In 1987, I wrote in Oswald’s yearbook that she was a lot smarter than me. She still is. We need her, I need her, on our School Board.

Harry Welty

Duluth

The writer is an At Large member of the Duluth School Board.

About the author

Harry is a ferociously good natured eccentric in Duluth Minnesota who detests traitors dressed up as Uncle Sam. You can find somewhat better edited writings of his at the Duluth Reader "contributors." page. The URL is:

https://duluthreader.com/contributors/h/84/284-harry-welty