I think the photo of the three men with their grim demeanors is the best indicator of how innovative the District’s latest PR band-aid is.
I’d post it but the Trib would ask that I remove their copyrighted picture. Dr. Dixon will probably get all his Red Plan but I don’t think he’s having much fun any more now that he is a pariah in so much of Duluth. What better than to pose with the reasonably popular Mayor and the innocent new President of the local community college to announce “an unprecedented partnership.” Calling potato soup vichyssoise only hides its primary ingredient.
My daughter took PSEO (Post secondary education) classes at Lake Superior State in 1998 twelve years ago. In fact, two decades ago the college was administrated by the School District. When its relationship was severed the District’s Vocational Ed program got the soon to be abandoned Secondary Technical Center. That was a seven million expense that was doing a very good job but abandoned when a more ambitious building plan caught people’s attention and now it has been eviscerated in the name of brick and mortar.
Funding this with the City’s job training money…..Some may remember former Representative Dale Swapinsky who was paid by these city funds as a “dropout recovery” specialist for the District with the job training funds. Too bad the city has more homeless kids than ever with fewer programs to keep them in schools. Fortunately the District is able to hide this fact probably because even more children have fled to other schools.
The funniest thing I’ve read about this trail blazing proposal is the idea of having students take “online classes” while at Old Central. Online education is intended to free students from school. They can be students wherever they have a computer, in their homes, at the library. Why should they go to school. This falls under the general title of distance learning. So the Schools will put kids on busses and take them to school no doubt frittering money away to have district employees monitor the kids while they are online.
Dr. Dixon has been described as an educational visionary when in fact he’s simply a very successful smooth operator. This well timed publicity strikes me as just the latest “good news” spin to give the Trib cover for endorsing Roger Reinert. But then again maybe I’m just flirting with my old nemesis cynicism.
I note the Trib’s timid editorial informing us that this could be a good idea. Yet again the Trib’s editorial board has good reason for timidity. A couple of the editorial’s sentences do get it about right:
The details are sketchy, a lot of what’s being talked about isn’t really new and the whole thing is at a vague visioning stage
