Then and Now

Here’s a little background on Greg R which has little to do with whether the construction of the Red Plan is merited but which sheds some light on one of the prices being paid for its implementation by the employees of the District.

When I served on the School Board I paid a lot of attention to treating people with respect. Considering all the recent allegations of my slandering Red Plan supporters this may be hard to believe. I know how timid people can be about airing their grievances and I was a great believer in letting people speak their mind without fearing retaliation. I’m pleased to say that my last superintendent felt this way too.

Certainly when I was on the Board a number of teachers felt free enough to criticize me when I ran for reelection in 1999. Many were old friends but their union loyalties required them to take me to task and try to defeat me. My only retaliation was to defend myself in print which I’m pretty good at. After the election I sought no payback. They had a right to their opinions and a right to express them publicly.

Supt. Almanza felt the same way and I was never aware of any teacher feeling that he or she faced retaliation for speaking their minds. Perhaps the most remarkable thing I saw during my years on the Board came in my last year when a controversy arose over the East High School Hockey coach. When Julio Almanza accepted a recommendation not to renew the coach all hell broke lose. As a storm of angry folks beat on the doors of Old Central to have him reinstated we had three or more meetings with rhetoric that put the May protest by pro vote supporters to shame. The general view was that hockey was so sacrosanct in Duluth that his decision might be enough to get the Superintendent kicked out of Dodge.

During one of the meetings two ISD 709 principals lined up to vilify the Superintendent for his decision (which I came to view as politically unwise but completely warranted) Greg R’s peroration was by far the most abusive and vehement. I’d never seen such a thing. It was as unlikely as an employee in the private sector writing a letter to the editor spouting off that his boss was a jerk.

Afterward I asked Julio about this and he told me that both principals were probably angry with him because they had both suffered some sort of administrative reprimands. He wouldn’t, couldn’t by law, tell me what they were.

Neither the reprimands or the public tongue lashing they gave Julio cost either man his job.

Today the Duluth School District is riddled with fear of retribution (although Frank “I’m about to retire” Wanner disputes this) As early as two years ago dozens of teachers who were on the early Let Duluth Vote email list begged us to remove their names so that they would not be discovered. The paranoia has not improved. Evidently the cordiality that Dr. Dixon can muster when he meets a foe he can not fire fades when facing subordinates.

I posted a few comments from anonymous Faribault school employees last year which shed light on Dr. Dixon’s charms as an administrator. You can read them here here and here

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