No, No, No, Loren Martell didn’t get more face time with the editors than I did

I will not be making it easy for the people I advise on who to vote for for the Duluth School Board. At least not with the At-large candidates. Only two of the five candidates will be elected and I’m rooting for three of us – Loren Martell, Dana Krivogorsky and me. In fact, I’ve put all three of our lawnsigns on the front yard that no one will be able to see for the next month while road construction blocks our intersection.

Shortly after Loren’s sign went up Loren told me I’d misreported how much time he got to spend with the News Tribune editorial board. I recalled him saying they gave him a little extra attention and since I’d spent 40 minutes with them I presumed he must have gotten a full hour. Naw, he just got the same 40 minutes I got. We both offer corrections to the other when they seem to be warranted and Loren didn’t want anyone to think he got special treatment.

I’ll mention one of the things that I told the Editorial Board when the subject of the Superintendent came up. I told them what I always say about Mr. Gronseth, “I think he has a good grasp of what is good for kids,” or words to that affect. I also said I had no objection to his looking for other superintendent positions. I told the Editorial Board that I had given a lot of thought about how candid I wanted to be with them as I presumed I would be “on record” through the interview. I told them that this was a pretty good time for me to be diplomatic but I also told them that I figured the Superintendent and I were probably rooting for different candidates.

Hint to voters: I’m partial to that old maxim attributed, probably incorrectly to Albert Einstein: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”

The folks I’m rooting for are all aware that the last ten year’s worth of Duluth School Boards are the ones who diverted $11 million annually from the classroom to build “21st Century” school buildings. I sorta think the folks I’m not rooting for would prefer to be cheerleaders when they are running for a management position.

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