A friend heard Dr. Dixon on radio this morning. He is busy doing damage control in the wake of the AG’s opinion.
This is what she reported Dr. Dixon is saying:
He will take Plan B into consideration but they have been listening to the community and believe they have the best solution. (I hope he “listens” to the results of the fall operational levy.)
He asked rhetorically “What if it is equal to or greater than our [the Red] plan?” (according to who I wonder?)
He will move forward now anyway with the Red Plan. We need to build schools faster to save money. (In other words he will speed up the building of the Red Plan before he can be stopped.)
He believes the ballot could come late winter or spring. (By which time he can embark on more Red Plan construction before the referendum results derail it.)
These are challenging times with infrastructure needs. (Something has to be done – might as well be the Red Plan)
He said the State might not let our suggested building improvements go ahead because it is not cost efficient in these older buildings and there are acreage issues (Maybe, maybe not. As to acreage, its the District that has chosen to build a high school with insufficient acreage).
When asked who pays for the the Let Duluth Vote Plan’s development and presentation to the State Education Department he said that JCI spent a lot of money and they will see if the SD has the resources internally but he “doesn’t have a clue at this point.” (In other words, JCI doesn’t want to pay and neither does the District)
The SD will bear the cost of the special election. (a special referendum could have been avoided had the School Board simply put the levy question on the ballot this November)
He said there is a lot of overlap with Plan B and Red Plan. (Well duh! Let Duluth Vote was bending over backwards to offer the School Board an acceptable compromise)
He made it sound like LDV needed to write up a detailed plan, submit it to the District which would then send it to the State Dept. of Education. (“Not our problem.”)
When asked what he thought should be done if 75% of the people want something different than the Red Plan, he reluctantly acknowledged he would have to listen to the political winds. (I’ll believe that when I see it)
