Panic is overdue

One of my regular old Red Plan allies emailed me a few days ago imploring me to attend the Chamber’s Red Plan program with the new Superintendent. I told my friend I had no intention of wasting my time.

Today she wrote back after reading the Editorial in the Duluth News Tribune and told me its just as well I didn’t go because it would obviously have been “a waste of time.”

This is what I wrote back to my friend:

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I have much to say on this subject. In short I woke up yesterday and had changed my mind. I decided I ought to go to the Chamber’s meeting with the Superintendent. If I hadn’t spent so much time shoveling the new fallen snow I would have gone.

After reading the DNT editorial I’m very glad I didn’t go. I would have felt like a chump. Guess who else feels that way today? The Trib and the Chamber of Commerce.

Gronseth and company did learn from Dixon – all the wrong lessons. Primarily that if you call a meeting and do all the talking then leave ten minutes for questions you can escape without any accountability. The problem for Gronseth is that Dixon’s old sycophants are now on to the tactic. They ignored it when it was Red Plan critics getting the razzle dazzle. Now, however, the District has screwed up our public schools and Dixon’s old pals know it. They also know the City knows they were Dixon’s enablers and the fruits of his labor are the fruits of their support for Dixon. They don’t want to be left holding Dixon’s dirty bag. They are handing it back to Gronseth now with a big “no thank you.”

They want to know how Gronseth will fix the problem. He doesn’t have a clue so he pulled a Dixon special dog and pony show with lots of Post-it notes “for input” to avoid having to answer questions. Finally this tired tactic isn’t good enough for the DNT and the Chamber of Commerce who cut the District so much slack for so long.

I was thinking about how desperate the District’s situation is. Its worse than dire. Up to now the public had given them the base excess levy they’ve requested which they’ve had since before the Red Plan but nothing more. They need a helluva lot more money than this to keep their nose above water. If they don’t even get the base levy approved by voters they’ll be sucked down the drain with our children in the undertow. If they don’t get it……well you ain’t seen nothing yet. The accompanying letter to the editor under their editorial said it all. A kid with four classes with 40 kids in them. In years past the editors would have salted that page with a letter that offered counter arguments to their editorial. Instead they put a letter under their editorial which reinforced its message that “happy talk” isn’t good enough anymore. Sadly, all the superintendent has is hapless talk.

He still doesn’t seem to have a clue how much of what used to be operational money for the District has been siphoned off to pay for Judy Seliga’s swimming pools and the East Stadium that was never part of the Red Plan to begin with.

If I wasn’t so irritated at the Trib and the Chamber I’d say “better late than never.” But I’m so annoyed that even “I told you so,” doesn’t address my contempt for the Trib’s and the Chamber’s complicity in this educational abortion.

It is about time the Trib and the Chamber begin to realize just what they helped to deliver into Keith Dixon’s hands…..the fate of Duluth. Notwithstanding Mayor’ Ness’s unqualified optimism about the reemergence of his City of the First Class, Duluth will never make it with third class schools.

Panic won’t help anything and its a couple years overdue.

Harry

PS. I also told her that I would have to be a fool to run for the School Board this fall.

PPS. I cleaned up this email with a few edits so that its not exactly what I originally emailed out. I’d guess its still about 98% original.

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