I’ve been putting up lawnsigns for two days now. It involves knocking on lots of doors and getting lots of different reactions to the plight of the Red Plan School District. Only two people of a few hundred have essentially shut the door on my face refusing my handouts. One told me Minnesota has such low property taxes she couldn’t understand why people were kicking about the cost of new levies…….and she told me her children are moving out of Duluth because of what they heard about the Duluth Schools.
One couldn’t stand Art Johnston. Another stopped his car to tell me Art was the only school board member who spoke for him. He asked me what I thought about the levies and I told him I’ve been telling people to vote for them. He said that meant he wouldn’t be voting for me.
Perhaps the most interest conversation was with a former teacher I taught with in the Duluth District. He told me of the terrible conditions at the new Lincoln Middle School last year. Three teachers had been injured in conflicts with students. One was a teacher who as I recall really took me to task in 2007 because I was not supporting the Red Plan. (It would have taken me hours to pour through my unsorted old clippings to find this op ed piece and confirm its contents so I can’t be sure my recollection is spot on) If my recollection is correct this teacher’s injuries in our new Red Plan facilities is indeed ironic.
The story continued that the principal ordered staff not to talk to the media about their problems. Ignorance is bliss.
Putting up signs has proven more time consuming than I’d bargained on. It requires going door to door, ringing the bell, having a little talk and regularly heading back to the car to replenish lawn sign supplies. Multiply a four minute conversation times the one in three yes responses I get or 12 minutes per sign and then multiply that by my 500 signs. That’s 6,000 minutes or 100 hours. That’s two and a half weeks solid door knocking. No wonder its only idiots, schemers, layabouts, and idealists that campaign for public office. I’m probably a bit of all four categories.
