Letter writer Marcia Gurno nails it:
“For 20 years Duluth’s anti-charter school stance has been led by the teachers union and the local DFL. The sale of Central seemed no different, with teachers union representatives speaking against the sale from talking points distributed by the state and local unions.”
This is not terribly different than the five year struggle to curb the City’s $330 million pension liability. The unions wanted every cent of it and more no matter how ruinous this would have been for taxpayers. In this case the clear economic benefits of the Central sale for 40% more than the value of the property is completely out weighed for the public employee unions by the symbol of an “Edison” school smack dab in the middle of town. The symbolism trumps (and that’s a perfect word for it) the financial rescue of the ISD 709 schools and the promises made by Red Planners ten years ago.
Here, in its entirety, is an email we school board members received today from one of the handful of – Removed at the Author’s request.
