It seems that Two Harbors request to implement a four-day school week has been denied for a second time by the State. After the first rebuff Supt. Minkininnen (sp) expressed confidence that Two Harbors had satisfied the Dept. of Ed’s demands. Apparently not.
Two Harbors is suffering from reduced state education spending like many other districts. This has been compounded by angry voters who, after ponying up for a big new high school, discovered the District couldn’t afford to run it so that they had to do things like close the swimming pool during the winter. As a consequence they have continued to vote against locally raised operational levies. (An ironic consequence of this was the discontinuation of a contract with Johnson Controls)
Switching to the massively inconvenient (for parents) four day school week was a drastic means of husbanding District resources. Two Harbors is not the first district to gravitate toward a short school week but helping the District save money may no longer be a top priority for the Pawlenty Administration.
I have a hunch that as our Governor stalks the nation looking for support for his Presidential campaign its occurred to him that news of a spate of “underfunded” schools seeking four-day school weeks could prove an embarrassment. It will be interesting to see if Two Harbors attempts to shorten their school week yet again.
