Not Eudora
By Harry Welty
Published July 25, 2003
Be Careful What You Wish For
For four years the school board members from western Duluth, Dorothy Neumann,
Laura Condon, Mike Akervik and Mary Glass-LeBlanc have labored over the
District's long range plan secure in the knowledge that no matter how many
schools the District had to close western schools, at least, were safe. As a
result they all confidently pushed a school configuration in which elementary
schools would contain grades K-5, middle schools grades 6-8, and senior highs
grades 9-12. Some of us in Eastern Duluth were very unhappy with this
configuration because it meant the unnecessary closing of some of our eastern
schools. The tug of war between us and the Board's indecision has gotten
desperate. Because most of us want to offer an excess levy
referendum in the coming election we pressured the Administration to give us a
blueprint for school closings. We understand that voters will not pass a
referendum until we make a decision to close schools. The Administration bravely
did what we demanded at last Tuesday's Committee of the Whole. Bowing to
Duluth's population shift from west to east they laid out a plan to close Morgan
Park and Denfeld. Our western board members left the meeting in a state of
shock.
Our western school board members have been quite willing, even insistent that we
close eastern schools to achieve their perfect plan. Well, we've got a perfect
plan now. It gets rid of our excess building capacity, it closes eastern and
western schools but most importantly, it preserves their precious grade
configuration. No Board member from western Duluth who wants to be reelected
will ever vote for it. It brings to mind the old saw, "be careful what you
wish for." I don't feel very sympathetic.
At our June meeting these same western representatives, along with Chairman
Mars, voted to spend an additional quarter-million dollars for a fourth year
extension to Morgan Park's three-year Middle School pilot. They did this despite
the fact that the District faced a five million dollar deficit next year. But
that was before the meeting. During the meeting it was announced, that a new
budget analysis had revealed that the deficit would jump by an additional
$400,000. The quarter million dollars for Morgan Park plus this $400,000 was
going to push next year's budget shortfall from 5 to 5.65 million dollars. Not
wanting the voters to think that they were going to increase the deficit just
for the sake of a western school they handed a plum to eastern schools. They
also voted to spend another quarter-million dollars for full-time seventh grade
science classes. This generosity pushed next year's deficit to 5.9 million
dollars.
What will a 5.9 million deficit mean for the district next year? Well, that's
easy enough to show because we have a five million dollar deficit this year. To
keep our books balanced this year we laid off 75 teachers. Next year we'll lay
off additional teachers. We'll be lucky if it's only 75.
I am a little frustrated. Ever since I've been on the Board our District has
been trimming its budget. Our administrative costs are the lowest in the state
per student because our policy has always been to keep budget cuts as far away
from the classroom as possible. Our teachers have worked assiduously to make
sure our children, especially those in the elementary grades, keep up in math
and reading. We were a "no child left behind" district long before
President Bush came up with the slogan. Good student test results for the past
several years have demonstrated that our efforts have paid off. If only we could
just close some schools.
Our success did not come easy. Every one of our schools carefully built an
educational safety net for their students to make sure their progress wasn't
taken for granted. These safety nets are teams of teachers who work with
students much like a medical triage unit. Unfortunately, these educational teams
are under assault. Laying off 75 teachers, nearly ten percent of our staff, will
undermine these teams. And the upheaval doesn't stop here. Another 100 or so
teachers are stampeding to hold onto their seniority and their jobs by switching
to new schools and long unused licenses. Layoffs and "bumping" will
end up affecting nearly twenty percent of our teachers. It will be even worse
next year. Thank goodness we will still have that middle school pilot and
full-time seventh grade science.
For the past six years the Duluth School Board has labored mightily to design a
long-range plan for its buildings. Unfortunately, every two years our long range
planning is interrupted by a school board election which
results in a new School Board and we start the process all over from scratch.
I'll bet we could come up with a politically acceptable plan to close schools if
some Board members stopped insisting on a K-5, 6-8, 9-12 grade configuration.
The possibility of closing Morgan Park and Denfeld might
change some people's priorities. The western Board members should be hearing
from their constituents over the next few days. One just called me.
Welty is a small time politician who lets it all hang out at: www.snowbizz.com
The Duluth News
Tribune wrote an editorial telling its readers to "embrace" a one high
school plan.
I wrote a reply
