The 4th Post’s author challenges my arguments

The 4th Post’s author challenges my reply and I challenge his challenges:

XXX, my comments are interspersed between yours.

Harry,

This sounds more like a PR stunt from Edison. Why else release the bid to the media without signing a non-disclosure agreement? I think they have run into problems with their Snowflake site and they want to sway public opinion. Why else would Edison also be emailing Snowflake members telling them of their bid and urging them to email you all? ISD 709 can’t campaign, can they? But apparently a “quasi-private” entity like Edison can do just that.

If its a PR stunt I’ll be happy to call their bluff because they have put half a million more on the table than we are asking for and four million above any other offer we’ve gotten in six years. I think they have some modest problems over wetlands that I doubt will stop them. Its just enough to tempt them into trying again to buy Central. Maybe its worse but I know the old owner of Snowflake who is distraught that they want to build on the site. I have never heard him say their plans will be denied by any planning agency. As for the non disclosure…..that answer is obvious – Our Admin wouldn’t even tell the Board about their last two offers. This puts it out in the open where it should have been all along and puts the onus on us to accept it or turn it down. As for encouraging emails….I urge folks to email the ISD 709 school board all the time. I’ve done it in my blog today. I haven’t told anyone what to write but just encouraged them to write us.

You helped bring Edison to Duluth and I thought I heard that your daughter works for them…if this is correct, isn’t that a conflict of interest? That was true back when Mark Myles was trying to bring Edison to Duluth as his daughter was also working for them too.

If Myles’s daughter worked for Edison I was unaware of it. My daughter, a Duluth East graduate, does work there and loves it and wants the high school built for her two sons, my grandsons, to attend. I had hoped to talk Edison out of proceeding with a high school but I didn’t get my way. Conflict of interest? No, that is a financial conflict. I’ve got nothing to gain from my daughter’s continued employment at a school that plans to grow into a K-12. I did help bring Edison into ISD 709. That is a very long discussion and you can find my rationale in my blog…..although I’ve mentioned Edison so many times you may have trouble locating these explanations.

Edison does not have to abide by the same rules and regulations that ISD 709 does and we all know that. Troubled kids being counseled out of Edison and back to ISD 709 has been happening for years. Does Edison pay for Special Education? No, ISD 709 does.

XXX, Edison is excused from very few rules that ISD 709 has to abide by. They have to follow all federal rules and I don’t think there is much give in Minnesota’s laws either at least as far as classroom and curriculum management and testing go. Its a public school and subject to the same expectations. The old allegation that Edison refers troubled kids back to 709 is an old one. Back in the day I heard that it worked both ways. What is true is that Edison has made a specialty out of working with troubled kids so much so that they have exploited one advantage over ISD 709. We are only required to pay 90% of their special education costs to educate special ed kids. However, they put a lot of resources into this and charge us for help to the kids that we ourselves don’t offer. Thus we pay through the nose. Trust me, parents of special ed kids know this and get their kids over to Edison pronto. We are left holding a bag we refused to pay for in full but pay for anyway to Edison. I would love to even out this unlevel field but that requires state legislation.

The ISD 709 school board needs to hold onto Central High School as the building economy has not been very good the last few years and we are seeing a tremendous up surge in Duluth. Are you honestly telling me that we should sell the land just because Edison says we should. No, we should reject it for what it is…a PR stunt from Edison.

At no point have I ever, or would I ever, say that we should sell this land to Edison because they said we should. As for the economy I think you have got it all wrong. I suspect there is too much apartment building going on in Duluth and that a bust is on the horizon. I’ve read that nation-wide there is a growing glut of building. If Central didn’t look attractive to buyers over the past five years I see no reason for someone in the private sector to come in now and save us. We just got a compelling letter from a Duluth born and bred realtor in the Twin Cities explaining this and warning us that all his clients want to hang onto homes for unrealistic sales expectations. Deluding ourselves will prevent us from taking advantage of the best offer I can imagine we will see for the next five to ten years.

Coca-Cola wouldn’t sell a factory to Pepsi, would it? No, and that is pretty much the same comparison here. Duluth is going through a revival and the Central land is too valuable to sell right now. Yes, it costs money to heat, etc. That is a drop in the bucket compared to what ISD 709 will make when the right developer comes along.

You are wrong. Companies that are on the ropes sell their factories to competitors all the time. We are on the ropes.

I said it before and I will say it again, hold the land and lease it to a developer. This is an investment in the future and not a give away to the competition.

Edison doesn’t need this building. It never has and it never will. We need to get rid of it. We’ve needed to for six years and will need to for another six if we don’t get it off our back now.

Thank you for your time,

And thank you for your time and thoughts XXX. I hope we can agree to disagree.

XXX XXXXXXX

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