I pointed to a story about the Red Plan in the Minneapolis Star Tribune yesterday. I couldn’t resist sending them a letter.
Your recent story about the Civil War raging in Duluth over the School Board’s implementation of the single biggest school building plan in state history needs elaboration.
For the last fifteen years our School Board plowed an extra $30 million into maintenance to keep our schools in good repair. Superintendent Dixon is not Hitler but he is about to repeat the mistakes he made in Faribault, his former District, as a result of a poorly managed building program. Upon becoming Duluth’s superintendent he discovered a new and unexpected interpretation of a law introduced by our Rep. Mike Jaros which was intended to help implement integration plans. Dr. Dixon’s building plan violates the spirit of Mike’s law because it divides our Community in two along the most racially divisive lines. Western Duluth will become heavily minority and eastern Duluth largely minority free. Dr. Dixon discovered that he can apply this law to avoid a referendum.
In every poll or survey taken since the School Board took on this tyrannical power at least 65% of Duluthians have expressed unhappiness over the theft of their voting rights. The certain consequence of this theft is the imminent defeat of the critical operational levy this fall which is just what happened in Faribault twice after Dixon’s Faribault building plan. We will sacrifice classroom spending for largely unnecessary new buildings in one of the poorest communities in Minnesota.
Two years ago Governor Pawlenty demanded that Duluth vote on a sales tax for a modest $33 million arena expansion. His silence on the referendum free, $407 million, aptly named, “Red Plan” is disappointing.
Harry Welty
Duluth School Board member 1995-2003
