August blogging, campaigning, and family life

I’ve had an uptick in visitors since I resumed blogging after my return from China. There will be much more to add as the school board campaign kicks into gear but as I’ve told candidates for the School Board people still have summer on their minds and tearing their attention away to what comes after Labor Day will not be easy. I have already done more early campaigning than I’ve done in years preparing campaign materials coaching other candidates etc. And my summer, or rather my family’s summer, is not yet over.

Yesterday my brother-in-law showed up for a long weekend primed to take my grandsons fishing. I did manage to pick up my first 10,000 flyers yesterday but as I look at my calendar for August I’ll only have Monday to pass them out before flying to Colorado on Tuesday after the Business Committee meeting. I’m heading to a family reunion in the Rockies for a remembrance of my Uncle Frank who died a few days after I left him in Denver last January. Then on Saturday or Sunday following my return I’m going to take my oldest grandson on a trip to wherever it is cloud free to watch the eclipse. We are determined to enjoy it for all of its 2 minutes and forty seconds of totality. I am very psyched for this trip with him. It was looking like I’d have to go solo as other folks in my family have important things on their calendar that will keep them in town. The Tan Man loves science and I’ve charged him to do some research before we leave.

It will only be after our return, August 22nd or so, that I’ll be able be able to pass out the bulk of those ten thousand flyers. Hopefully I’ll be able to double that if my fundraising kicks in. I am almost resolved to stop spending any more of my money on this campaign. I care deeply about remaining on the School Board now that some semblance of sanity has taken hold of it but I don’t like the idea of buying the darned office.

I think there will be a surprise coming up. The Superintendent has forecast that is going to be an ugly campaign but dogged Art Johnston has made unending inquiries and I think he has finally uncovered a fuller explanation for why Dixon’s Duluth School Board unwittingly took $11.5 million local dollars out of the classroom leaving them a shambles.

All that is yet to come so I hope my eight loyal readers will forgive this teaser and my next break away from keeping them informed about the doings of the Duluth Schools.

I think this campaign will finally be rational. If I’m right, it will pit the School Board’s constitutional duty to act as management against a long recent tradition of school boards ineptly trying to sweep embarassments under the rug in a lame excuse for salesmanship.

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