Image found here.
As my regular readers know I have a thing for Abe Lincoln. No President had a harder row to hoe and he did the impossible. He saved the Union which was his aim. He spoke about our better angels and I too have always looked for them myself.
I believe the minority in the recent vote on our School Board to at least explore negotiations with our local charter school have been on the side of the angels and I believe the larger Duluth public agrees. The latest evidence of this, though modest comes from the New Tribune’s Facebook Page.
Both Nora and Alanna spoke eloquently in defense of their opposing views about a sale of Central to “Edison.” As of this moment Alanna has 78 likes pure and simple and Nora has 45 responses of which three are “sad faces” and the likes are split with a slight edge of 23 likes to 19 dislikes. I couldn’t help but notice that three of the likes were members of my church congregation so I am fully aware that they must disagree with me as well. Its a sign of the education civil war that keeps roiling under the surface of Duluth.
In everything but our public schools Duluth has been firing on all cylinders recently. One of my favorite public thinkers former NPR commentator James Fallows comments on some small cities in the US that are overcoming decades of tough times. Duluth makes his list. A similar thumbs up comes from a writer at the Atlantic. How sad it is then, that our public schools over shot for the moon with its vast building plan and are tumbling in space.
There may be hope. Our close mouthed Administration has put a “placeholder” on our Business Committee Agenda for today’s 4pm meeting at Old Central. It is about something concerning our Central Property and a possible offer. It remains to be seen what it might be. Nora Sandstad my have already been let in on a secret. At our Thursday meeting killing further negotiations with the DPSA she said she had recently spoken to a developer about how choice the property is and she expressed confidence that a sale would be coming up soon. Maybe but I’m always the last to learn what our Administration is doing. I have a leaky blog you see.
Its been a long time since Duluth was getting such positive notice in the national media. I still think we are missing an opportunity to heal some wounds by welcoming our charter as our partner in the education of Duluth’s children. Its the sort of thing better angels concern themselves with.
