Why did we build the new Lincoln Middle School?

Why are we faced with the prospect of selling Central and its property at such a low margin? I am borrowing heavily from an email conversation with Art Johnston about that question today.

Back in 2009 in our District’s Review and Comment presentation to the Minnesota Department of Education we hadn’t yet decided where a new Middle school for western Duluth would go. Central had only one obvious problem. It was not central for western Duluth.

Even so it was the most highly rated site of four then evaluated (Central HS, Arlington, Wheeler (final SB selection), and a Raleigh site. (Morgan Park equally off center was not even on the list in large measure because Member Grover was strongly opposed to sending Piedmont kids on such a long bus ride west.)

Tables showing the pros and cons of the four sites came up with a number to express their relative ranking. The Central HS site had the highest rating (49+77 = 126) of the four. And the final selected site (Wheeler) only had 104:

Central site: 126
Arlington: 124
Wheeler: 104
Raleigh: 99.

Clearly, even JCI and LHB rated the current Central Site as a much better location for a MS than the current (Wheeler) site.

If Central had been made the site of the MS, we wouldn’t be having any of this discussion and would still be using the Central Site and the STC.

This shows how one bad decision compounded another, until we are in the mess we are now.

As another person on this email thread noted it is possible that were counting on a sale of the reputedly valuable Central site to help finance the Red Plan. Of course, had we repurposed Central as a Middle School it would have been vastly less expensive than building the new Lincoln on its own inaccessible, rocky promontory. Another draw back – hardly any children live within walking distance to Lincoln, just dozens.

How sad to now learn that the entire 77 acres of Central’s land is only listed as being worth possibly $8 million dollars. Minus a two million cost of demolishing Central High that’s down to a $6 million value just a little over a one-third of what Tischer Creek was prepared to offer ISD 709.

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