My last post short changed Joe Hill. Joe has been the nice guy I described. I had heard from others that he was also a fellow that the principals trusted to talk to. In a District suffering as much trauma as Duluth I’m sure this has been a God send. This was not the kind of Assistant Superintendent Dr. Dixon wanted. He wanted an enforcer.
As in Faribault before where Dr. Dixon cut down whole swaths of administrators who did not fall in line Dr. Dixon has chased out some of Duluth’s better administrators. A couple of them who have left to work for JCI have praised Dixon to high heaven but I take their testimonials with a grain of salt.
I am a hopeless believer in trust. Dr. Dixon has damaged the trust of so many in Duluth that it will take the death of the oldest generation before it can be restored. It will not matter if most of his new schools come eventually to be regarded as a success. People don’t like being forced to do the right thing at the point of a gun. And it remains to be seen if spending half a billion on schools at the expense of teachers has been the right thing.
Joe Hill had no idea what he was stepping into when he arrived in Duluth. He was not willing to play the goon and this earned him his walking papers. I can think of few things that more highly recommend Joe for a Superintendency…….for any District that places trust and decency high on its list of desirable attributes.
