"The School Board, in its effort to
thwart me, has given up everything they sought to protect last year,''
Welty said.
DULUTH SCHOOLS
Having contributed three days last fall to plan the Duluth school
district's future, Andy Holak is disheartened at the cost-cutting
measures the School Board will consider Tuesday as part of a budget
plan due for consideration next month.
"Neighborhood schools were a big issue'' at three long-range
planning sessions, he said, "yet they're closing Birchwood and
talking about closing another school.''
That's contrary to recommendations made by 175 citizen planners,
said the Chester Park parent, whose elementary school is on a short
list of potential 2003 closures.
The group's final report recommended that small neighborhood
schools be retained. Underutilized buildings, it said, should be
shared with other organizations, such as clinics, social service
organizations and governmental agencies, to help defray costs.
But school officials knew the decisions would be heartbreaking when
they reviewed their options Dec. 11, Superintendent Julio Almanza said
at the time.
"I don't think any superintendent in the state is looking
forward to what we face. This list wasn't easy to come up with. It's
not what we want and not what the long-term committee asked for,'' he
said, adding, "This will still allow us to maintain quality
education in Duluth.''
A ROCKY START
Just three weeks after the planning group outlined its priorities,
voters rejected a property tax that would have added $6 million to the
school district's annual budget.
"Had the excess levy passed, things would be much different,''
said planning group member Ken Loeffler-Kemp. Instead, the district
was forced to reduce 2002-03 spending by $2.6 million.
That could have been avoided if the School Board took decisive
cost-cutting action last year, School Board member Robert S. Mars Jr.
argued last fall, but controversial decisions were delayed until this
year. For that reason, he declined to endorse the levy. Without the
added revenue, the tough decisions were merely postponed for a year.
Board members on Tuesday will consider three measures integral to
that cost-cutting plan, and more than $1 million of additional cuts
will be considered at the board's May budget meeting.
The items to be considered Tuesday are:
Closing
Birchwood will save up to $238,000 annually, according to a district
analysis.
Converting
to a six-period day will cut $400,000 per year.
Trimming
the all-day kindergarten staff will save $434,000 each year.
Board members also will consider a fourth change, adjusting middle
and high school boundaries, which will have no effect on spending.
It's needed, Almanza said, to equalize the number of students, and
thus courses, available at each school, providing equal opportunity.
Loeffler-Kemp conceded the board's challenge has been difficult.
Nonetheless, he considers its current direction shortsighted.
"It doesn't seem they have any goals or objectives you could
define as long term,'' he said. "People feel disempowered because
their recommendations are not taken seriously.''
Board member Garry Krause, who represents the Birchwood
neighborhood, tends to agree. When a Duluth Heights housing
development was announced in January, he distributed a map to the
board showing that 40 new homes will be constructed just blocks from
Birchwood.
"These are the style of homes that kids end up in,'' he wrote.
Billman Realty Co. Inc., the housing developer, sent a similar
letter. Co-owner Gregg Billman said the viability of housing
development "is inextricably linked to the accessibility of
educational facilities.''
Other concerns are overblown, according to Mars. He found that the
six-period curriculum is being successfully used in all but two
Minneapolis high schools, along with those in Moundsview, St. Paul and
Edina. Others have noted the six-period day previously was used in the
Duluth school district for decades.
DELAYS EXCESSIVE
The School Board's cost-cutting plan incorporates several concepts
advanced by citizen planners, but it stops short of following a
long-term plan, said Barb Sederski, who helped to write the final
report.
"I think they're trying to work this information into their
decisions, but we're right where we were last year at this time,'' she
said.
That's especially disappointing because planners were rushed when
compiling their final report last December, she said. Wanting to begin
budget deliberations, School Board members sought the report earlier
than scheduled. Yet in the months that followed, Sederski said, few
decisions were made.
"They've had two years now. Enough is enough. The community
needs to know what's going on,'' she said.
Unsure where his children will attend elementary school, Holak
agrees.
"Parents are just being held up in the air,'' he said, not
knowing whether Chester Park Elementary School or some other school
will be closed.
DISAGREEMENT
Recommendations in the final planning report represent a consensus,
but they don't represent all of the cost-cutting suggestions voiced by
participants. School Board member Harry Welty is among those who
promote minority findings.
In particular, he supports the conversion of one high school into a
middle school and the conversion of one middle school into an
elementary school. Those suggestions appeared in a preliminary
planning report. It proposed that Woodland Middle School replace
Chester Park Elementary School, less than a block away, but did not
identify which high school should be converted.
While planners ultimately rejected those suggestions, Welty's plan
would save $1.2 million, according to a 2001 school district analysis.
That's enough money to retain the seven-period day, maintain current
kindergarten staffing and keep Birchwood open.
"The School Board, in its effort to thwart me, has given up
everything they sought to protect last year,'' Welty said.
Board members have argued the change might require remaining high
schools to drop one grade level in order to make room for all
students. Reverting to a grade 10-12 configuration would violate the
board's intent to gradually adopt the grade 6-8 middle school
curriculum being tested at Morgan Park, according to Almanza. Offering
more contact among students, teachers, guidance counselors and
parents, it assists students during the vulnerable years from ages 9
to 14, a district goal.
Board members rejected another significant cost-cutting measures
advanced by citizen planners, said participant Aaron Bransky. While he
praised them for tackling difficult problems, he disagreed with their
busing position.
"The planning group recommended the district follow state
transportation guidelines,'' rather than a more liberal local busing
plan. "That would have saved many hundreds of thousands of
dollars. This is a far better way to save money than closing
elementary schools, which hurts kids educationally and probably chases
kids from the district.''
Board member Laura Condon disagreed when the plan received
tentative approval Dec. 11.
"I don't want kindergartners walking a mile to school in the
dead of winter,'' she said.
PLANNING RESUMES
School Board members will resume the long-range planning process
April 24, eight days after the Tuesday vote.
"It's unfortunate they couldn't make their way through these
short-term problems without making decisions that will affect us in
the long term,'' said Loeffler-Kemp. "This will be the first time
since the long-term planning event that they've engaged in long-term
planning. At best, this has been reactionary. At worst, it's
exclusionary.''
But state legislators, who allocate school funding, take a
different view, according to Rep. Alice Seagren, R-Bloomington.
"I've been told the Duluth district has buildings that are not
filled to capacity,'' said Seagren, who chairs the House K-12
Education Finance Committee. "You've got to make those hard
choices. If you don't, that will be perceived negatively when you ask
the Legislature for money.''
RON BROCHU writes about education issues. He
can be reached weekdays at (218) 723-5340, (800) 456-8282 or by e-mail
at rbrochu@duluthnews.com.
