My heart fluttered a bit when three days ago my readership tripled for couple days. (8 “loyal readers” x 3 = 24) Well, a bit more than that. The visitors seemed to be drawn to my comments about the wider world. I presume my “eight loyals” come to see what I’ll pontificate about the Duluth Schools being the consummate, if recently ousted, insider that I am.
I am eager to encourage new readers but I don’t want to disappoint the regulars. Although I look at my current, and perhaps permanent, absence as a vacation, for the time being, I still feel an obligation to keep people up on the Duluth School District’s ongoing traumas. To that end I will point to the paragraph that caught my attention in Jana Hollingsworth’s recent story about the tussle between charter and regular Minnesota School Districts over the division of the special education spoils:
“Gronseth in December, however, overstated the district’s expenses for Edison, citing a number much larger than the actual $400,000 increase from 2015. The $1 million shortfall he cited included the overall increase in what the district paid for all of its students receiving special education services elsewhere. In 2016, Duluth paid for services provided to its students enrolled in 43 other educational entities, although Edison by far gets the largest chunk.”
Second thought – Yes, it seems to me that Duluth’s Edison’s share of special ed is disproportionate compared to the Duluth District’s spending.
First thought – I am not at all surprised that I was given slanted information from our superintendent instead of a fair and dispassionate appraisal. Ah, but I’m gone now so a new crop of School Board members will have to decide for themselves whether this is a problem or not.
I will continue to offer up my thoughts about the Duluth School District as compulsion dictates but I much prefer writing about my other eccentric thoughts. I’ve got to start a column for the Duluth Reader shortly. Deadline is 6 o’clock, today. Six hours……gotta hustle.
Oh, and Loren Martell, Duluth’s most thorough reporter on the Duluth School District, was a little injured that I wrote about ISD 709 in my first Not Eudora column. It is his beat and I have no great desire to horn in on it. He’s been busy.
