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Red Plan Chronicles
Part
6, Drawing from the Discard Pile
The new school board elected in 2004 was committed to
rescuing a de-iced hockey coach. Unlike Keith Dixon, who made it clear to
Faribault
that he would stick out the three years of his contract,
Duluth
’s superintendent, Julio Almanza, insisted that his new contract be for a
single year. He would see if there was any possibility of reconciliation. If
not, he would help provide a smooth transition for his successor.
Some members of the new school Board made it clear they
weren’t interested in working with Almanza.
PTSA President, Rosie Loeffler Kemp, was distressed to hear newly elected
board member Tom Hustad criticize Almanza at PTA meetings around the district.
The rehiring of Coach Randolph made it clear how the new Board felt.
Whereas the superintendent search that led to Almanza’s
hiring had been a low budget, in-house, affair the search for his replacement
was conducted by pricey headhunters. It was the beginning of a trend to turn to
consultants to solve the District’s needs. Resumes were reviewed, selected or
discarded. The hiring list would be a short one, just three candidates; two
fewer than the Board that hired Almanza had interviewed.
One of the three dropped out unexpectedly leaving the Board
with a paltry two candidates. After some wrangling, the Board decided to pick a
name from the discard pile to bolster the interviews. Thus Keith Dixon became a
candidate. It was a good thing too. After the interviews another candidate
dropped out. Once again the Board had two candidates to choose from, Dr. Dixon
and the superintendent of a
Twin
City
suburb.
As I read between the lines of the News Tribune’s
coverage at the time it seemed obvious that the suburban superintendent wasn’t
very serious about coming to
Duluth
. His current job paid him more money than I could imagine
Duluth
being willing to exceed. Besides that, the description of him in news stories
suggested an ambitious fellow who was looking for bigger and better things than
the infamously difficult
Duluth
post with its declining student populations and constant financial
difficulties. He looked even less interested when he didn’t bother to bring
his wife up during his interview. Finally, he gave the Board an ultimatum. He
would only take the job if it was offered unanimously by all Board members. The
only kind of candidate who would make such a demand was one who didn’t really
want the job.
The Board had only two options, hire
Dixon
or start the year-long job search all over again. The new Chairman, Tom Hustad,
probably had little stomach for starting over again from scratch. Needing a
replacement for Julio he certainly couldn’t have welcomed hearing that
Dixon
's approval rating in
Faribault
was a meager 34%. Although it couldn’t have been easy to miss hearing that
Faribault
’s new School Board had been elected on the promise to get rid of
Dixon
, somehow Hustad managed it. Perhaps the old board members who still loved
Dixon
warned Tom that he should take care who he talked to.
As
Duluth
’s Chairman Hustad had a special responsibility for investigating the new
superintendent and he really couldn’t avoid calling his opposite in Fairbault.
This could have been awkward because Sue Nelson had been elected to remove
Dixon
. Tom dutifully called her. He had, he told her, just three questions for her.
First, Tom wanted to know how long Sue had served on the Board. The answer was
five months. Tom, who was a veteran of a little over a year, told her, “then
you really don’t know anything.” Next Tom asked Sue if
Dixon
was familiar with the Governor’s teacher merit pay proposal, “Q Comp.”
Sue said he was. Finally, Tom asked whether Keith Dixon had treated her kindly.
Sue, who had no more use for
Dixon
than Tom had had for Julio, told him that
Dixon
had acted professionally. That was all Tom needed to know. He could now safely
report to his fellow school board members that he had heard only good things
about Dr. Dixon.
Certainly there was no hint of any dissatisfaction in the
Duluth News Tribune’s coverage of
Dixon
’s
Faribault
days. Portia Johnson, one of the Duluthians who visited
Faribault
as part of the superintendent search reported to the Trib that
Faribault
’s custodians had all praised
Dixon
’s leadership.
There is one more possibly apocryphal story that is
circulating in
Faribault
. It says that the local business community was so eager to see
Dixon
’s back that they formed an organization to market him. Perhaps, faced with
three more years on
Dixon
’s contract, a great many of his critics held their tongues when
Duluth
came to visit.
Keith Dixon is a very charming fellow. At their January
meeting this year the school board sang him “Happy Birthday.”
Most of them.
More Red Plan
Chronicles in two weeks. Meanwhile, anyone wishing to insure a public vote on a
new building plan can visit: letduluthvote.com or call: 390-7768.
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