My wife called me to the television as I was putting folded clothing away during the ten PM news. WDIO’s Katie Nordeen was reporting the story I’ve been egging the Trib’s educational reporter to write for months – Duluth’s students are leaving in droves. I think this story on their website is actually abridged from the evening news story.
Open enrollment caused a net loss of 417 to district’s outside Duluth this year more than double the number the year Dixon first served. And the numbers open enrolling into Duluth are also half of what they once were. I’ve called around and know that this figure will jump by around a hundred again next year. Ms. Nordeen explained that this wasn’t the only loss of students for the District because students leaving for private schools, charters and home school aren’t counted. I’d estimate that this loss would come close to doubling the figure so that perhaps in the last five years close to 800 students have left ISD 709.
Edison Charter pulled in about 80 students last year and will pull in another 80 next year. Chuck Frederick, the Trib’s Editorial Page reporter wrote a story defending the principal at one of the four Duluth Catholic schools in the face of her ouster. From the enrollment figures at her single school it sounds like the Duluth Public Schools lost almost 70 children to just this one parochial school in recent years. How many the other three picked up has not been reported. I know Marshall School has expanded its elementary school grades. Hemorrhaging is not too strong a word for what’s happening.
Just a couple days ago KBJR’s Tiffany Tarrolly reported on the imminent demolition of Ordean another story missed by the Trib.
It used to be that the television stations pretty reliably followed the Trib for news leads. Not so much these days. All the old pros in local print media are getting canned.
