There are two more letters in today’s Trib that touch on ISD 709 in one case only glancingly. My friend and fellow Reader columnist, Mel Magree takes issue with a previous writer who said competition is a good way to insure better public schools. Mel counters this and I’m sympathetic to his thesis.
In the irony department its worth noting that Superintenent Myles was a big proponent of the competition makes us better theory. He was such an enthusiast he held the example of the Saturn Car company out to us with employees working hand in hand with management to make cars so good the were offered up a one price with no haggling at their showrooms. He carried their mission statement around in his pocket. The company fell on hard times with the new century and closed shop in 2009. Such are the ways of competition.
Another letter takes issue with Rep. Simonson’s threats to Duluth’s charter schools. Its written by a Republican who plans to run against him for the State Senate.
But the letter I want to address was the fourth letter in yesterday’s Trib on the sale. It opposed the sale of Central to Edison. It is from one of my staunch Let Duluth Vote Allies, Deb Anderson. We both ran for the board in 2007 on a plank which insisted that voters be allowed to vote on the plan in a referendum. We both lost that election.
This is what Deb writes:
Congratulations to the Duluth School Board on a wise decision to not sell the Central site so it could be used by Edison (“Central High property offer rejected,” April 1). Selling would have been penny wise but pound foolish.
Now, School Board, make another good choice and take the site off the market altogether. The fact Edison wanted to use the site puts lie to the argument the site would not make a good school anymore.
One only needs to look at the difficult site chosen to build the new western middle school to realize there are no other good sites available for future schools.
If Duluth rides its current economically positive wave, its clean water and moderating climate may mean serious growth in the 21st century. Many current school buildings are at or near capacity now. If another industry or a growth spurt across the board hits our community, we need to be prepared. The board should plan now for long-term growth. Our city leaders are.
Deb is almost certainly one of the teachers who disapproved of Edison’s arrival twenty years ago. Her letter skirts my support of the plan and chooses the path of optimism. She is confident that the property will sell and she harkens back to one of the things Let Duluth Vote supporters argued for. Keeping Central as a middle school. If we didn’t go a long way back together she might have taken a swipe at my side.
I first met Deb in 1984 when I was a teacher for the year at the old Washington Junior High which rests kitty corner up third street from Old Central. Deb was a social worker until she retired a few years back. Although she became outspoken I recall her as a quiet teacher in 84. We teachers would sit in the lounge in our free periods and speculate about what the school board was up to. Their work was opaque to us and all we had to go on was the Tribune’s sketchy stories and Frank
Wanner’s excoriations in the “Goldenrod” newsletter. It was partly the memory of that time which prompted me to begin telling what I saw as an insider on the Internet. The last post shows the limitations of my ability in that regard but I hope the larger whole is making our current decision making less opaque than it has been in the past.
