{"id":15976,"date":"2016-04-04T15:33:12","date_gmt":"2016-04-04T20:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/?p=15976"},"modified":"2016-04-04T15:37:53","modified_gmt":"2016-04-04T20:37:53","slug":"using-cash-to-solve-our-mulch-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/?p=15976","title":{"rendered":"Using cash to solve our Mulch problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

Loren Martell, the chronicler of the Duluth School Board, is always a little behind the curve in reporting Board meetings what with the once-a-week publishing schedule of the Duluth Reader. This April Fools print edition of the Reader has none of his coverage of Board but their online site does have Loren’s coverage of the March meeting <\/a>which took place on March 22nd or twelve days ago. It was a quiet meeting and I was so well behaved that my name only appears once in Loren’s coverage. Art Johnson had several mentions but he is as saintly as I. On the often difficult questions related to the Budget Art is quoted as saying, \u201cI\u2019d like to thank administration, I think this was a good start. I think this was the most information we got in this time of the budget cycle since I\u2019ve been on the Board\u2026”
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

But the truly interesting stories to look forward to are those covering the Community forum last Monday on the sale of Central to the Duluth Public Schools Academy or rather its leasing authority the Tischer Creek Building Company and the following meeting on Thursday slamming shut any further consideration of the same.<\/p>\n

However, I picked up the Reader today and giddily read John Ramos’s coverage of the vexing issue of playground mulch. I hope the Reader will forgive me for sharing this portion of his column in its entirety:<\/p>\n

School board considers new playground mulch<\/strong><\/p>\n

After hearing from parents who were concerned about the safety of the shredded tire mulch currently in use on playgrounds, the Duluth school board considered a proposal to replace the tire mulch with dollar bills generated by Red Plan savings.
\n\u201cWe have more than enough to cover all the playgrounds,\u201d said superintendent Bill Gronseth. \u201cTo tell you the truth, storage is becoming an issue with all our extra money. We\u2019ve tried everything\u2014doubling everyone\u2019s salaries, reducing class sizes to eight students per, offering lobster and caviar for lunch, but the money just keeps pouring in. We\u2019re filling up the clock tower at Old Central now, but that\u2019s only a temporary solution.\u201d
\n\u201cWho knew, when we embarked on the half-billion-dollar adventure called the Red Plan, that it would give us so much so fast?\u201d squealed board chair Rosie Loeffler-Kemp, clapping her hands. \u201cI doubt we\u2019ll have to raise taxes again for two or three decades.\u201d
\n\u201cAnd some people thought we\u2019d see double-digit increases every year!\u201d laughed Annie Harala. \u201cThe sillies just didn\u2019t believe the promises that were made.\u201d \u201cImagine falling into a nice soft pile of cash,\u201d sighed David Kirby. \u201cUsing this money for our children\u2019s safety is really the best thing we could do.\u201d
\nThe board will vote on the playground proposal next week, along with a resolution to purchase a fleet of helicopters. Both measures are expected to pass unanimously.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Loren Martell, the chronicler of the Duluth School Board, is always a little behind the curve in reporting Board meetings what with the once-a-week…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-duluth-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15976"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15979,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15976\/revisions\/15979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lincolndemocrat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}