I called up Bob Nygaard last night. A finer fellow you could not meet. Bob served on the school board for a year after the death of Dorothy Neumann and became my ally in my attempt to close a high school and save our elementary schools. The idea then was that we could save a million a year if we put maintenance money into the classroom.
Bob has fond memories of his short time on the Board and his only regret is that the two of us were unable to close a high school. I called him because I wanted to encourage him to run for the Board in this election in the First District.
Several possible candidates have emerged but some are reluctant and so I made the call out of the blue to test the waters. Bob had already considered it and said he might do it again. But Bob isn’t exactly on my side it turns out and he thinks I’ve become, inexplicably to him, a supporter of three high schools. It wasn’t a short conversation we had and there was more catching up to attempt than was possible in a mere forty five minutes.
I had to explain to Bob that I am only interested in the Plan B proposal as a “no” vote on the Red Plan. The referendum if it ever got out of the box would be non binding. It is so compromised because the Red Plan has raced ahead of it that its good points should only serve as a model for a new School Board to build upon now that some small data has been squeezed out of the District showing the duplicitous ways JCI bumped up its potential earnings at the expense of Duluth.
I championed two high schools for ten years and Plan B is a cross for me to bear. Bob had a hard time fathoming this. Of course as readers of this blog understand for me the abrogation of our vote is the most critical issue to me. The multiple duplicities compound the crime and the resultant exodus of children as classrooms increase in size and operations are cut are something Bob simply doesn’t see. Not yet anyway.
I told Bob all this but he’s gone on with his life and his awareness of the District is as thin as the Trib’s coverage. If ever I was persuaded for the need of my book that conversation was it. Bob said he’d read it. Until then I have to hope I didn’t talk him into filing tomorrow although, if he does, his wonderful glass-half-full attitude will get a rude awakening.
Blogger fallibility notice: After posting his Bob sent me an email to remind me that he replaced Board member Pati Rolf not Dorothy Neumann.
