Imagine City Hall bracing for a group of unhappy citizens, ready to speak their minds at a council meeting. Council members, trembling at the prospect, announce at the start of the meeting, “We’re going to have the mayor say a few words!” and then proceed to crouch like little birds behind Mr. Ness’s protective wingspan. Perhaps I’m just the odd one out (wouldn’t be the first time), but an unelected administrative official mucking about in the middle of an elected body’s deliberations strikes me as being antithetical to the very concept of representative government. On this night, we didn’t even have to wait for the “Superintendent’s Report,” which generally follows the public comment period, to hear from the chief administrative officer of ISD 709. The superintendent stole the spotlight from the very start of the meeting, with the happy news that Denfeld High was now going to be able to offer Spanish 5 to its students next year.

What’s the big ruckus about Spanish 5?
I wish I could write “Red Plan” in Spanish. Wonderful Big Red ($480,000,000, with bond interest) was supposed to deliver “equitable education across the city,” a promise some disgruntled Duluth citizens are discovering has about as much real-world currency value as the red dust of Mars. Five citizens showed up at the May meeting to let the School Board know they were less than impressed. The first speaker was particularly notable because she was a teacher. Usually teachers appear in front of the School Board to conduct cheery, team-spirited pep talks for school activities. This teacher, however, Linda Puglisi, laid out some hard-hitting points in a no-nonsense tone:
“The difference in enrollment [between the two high schools] makes it impossible for Denfeld to offer a comprehensive and equal curriculum… In the Duluth School District’s Think Kids initiative, it states, ‘All children have the right to a quality education delivered by highly qualified educators.’” Ms. Puglisi pointed out that she’d voted “yes” for the operating levy last fall (an act of trust mimicked by many others in this community). “I ask that you [the Board] keep your promises made to the taxpayers and make necessary changes to better serve all the students in the Duluth Public Schools.”
Another Puglisi followed Linda to the podium, her daughter Maria. Maria is the Denfeld student who broke this controversy wide open by publicly protesting the loss of Spanish 5. In a gesture that would have made the Mahatma smile, she protested the inequity between the two high schools by beautifully singing an entire song in Spanish during a Denfeld talent show. She received a standing ovation, and her stature as a young heroine accompanied her to the public microphone. She began by thanking the Board for reinstating Spanish 5 at Denfeld, then cautioned, “The problem isn’t solved yet.” Imploring the school district to try “more creative opportunities for educating, rather than cutting classes,” she suggested Skyping as one way for students (including students in eastern schools) to gain more access to courses.
The Puglisis were followed up by another parent/child combo, the Slades. Andrew Slade declared that he’d come to the Board “as the father of a Denfeld student who next year has potentially lost… over half the classes he would have enrolled in.” Mr. Slade said the problem was “obviously a bigger picture” than just the difference in enrollment numbers between the high schools. “It bothers me,” he continued, “that just because I happen to live on Park Point instead of somewhere east of Sixth Avenue East, those options are wiped off the table for my child. That’s not fair. That’s not equity.” His son Hans (a Denfeld senior) followed him to the podium and said, “Over the past three or four years… I’ve seen more and more of these opportunities dwindle from my peers.” The younger Mr. Slade also argued that there’s actually more interest at Denfeld (on a percentage basis) for some advanced classes than there is at East, but the lower overall enrollment number sometimes artificially suppresses the number of enrollees in a class to the point where it isn’t offered.
The most eloquent citizen of all, though, was Denfeld junior Lucy Billings. I wish I could quote the young woman’s entire speech. If Hillary doesn’t break through the gender ceiling, I’m betting on Lucy Billings a few decades down the road. As it is, I can only quote one short line that said it all: “My address should not determine the quality of my education.”
After we’ve poured enough cash into lavish facilities to make an oil sheik blush, the West Enders think they deserve classes and teachers, too? Some people are never happy.
The next few paragraphs won’t lighten their mood. The mission of the School Board’s half-billion-dollar (Red) scheme was to balance student enrollment and demographics in this city, but actual results are a real downer. Big Red was supposed to leave all schools levitating on a perfect plane of equality. Instead we have a steep downhill gradient from east to west. Schools like Congdon, the eastern middle school, and East High touch the sun-sparkling sky, while schools like Piedmont, the western middle school, and Denfeld High have been left to tough it out in the swamp.
Fewer than a thousand students are enrolled in Denfeld; East’s enrollment is more than 1500. Nearly 6 out of 10 Denfeld students are poor enough to qualify for free and reduced lunches; East’s student population in that unfortunate category barely cracks 2 out of 10. Despite highfaluting promises wrapped in bright red, the rich end of town is still the rich end of town and the poor end of town is still the poor end of town, and that reality is still reflected in educational opportunities and outcomes. East High offers more sections of upper-level classes, has a chamber orchestra, and has a curriculum rich with advanced courses like German 5, Spanish 5, and Advanced Placement History. After a brave girl’s protest, Denfeld now has one item on that list—Spanish 5. Denfeld’s sophomores scored 41.1 on last year’s Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment Tests, compared to 68.3 for their peers at East. Denfeld juniors scored 29.9 in math, compared to 52.3 for East juniors.
I (and my Cassandra cronies) have been repeating for years that the claim of big palatial buildings producing equitable education makes about as much sense as dressing every Duluth kid up in an Armani suit or a Christian Dior fashion gown and declaring everyone rich. Despite fancy new digs, the salient truth is some kids are being treated unfairly. If anything, their plight has gotten worse since we spent all this money on “education.” Even the weak-kneed paper of record declared in an editorial headline that this problem “needs to be fixed.” The School Board ran up a half-billion-dollar bill that only managed to exacerbate our town’s East/West divide. Now we’re going to have to shell out more money to fix a problem that was supposed to be fixed, and given the Swiss-cheese contracts JCI finagled, we may as well start passing the hat.

Whew! Rolling on!
After a rough beginning, the Board tried to slide the meeting into cruise control. The Education Committee Report sailed by with only Member Welty bringing up one item for debate, the same debate that had started the evening. He lamented that the town hadn’t opted to build one high school. He said we should still “think of ourselves as not having two [high] schools, but rather [as having] two campuses of the same school.” He agreed that Skyping might help even things out. He also suggested the district more actively pursue transporting students from campus to campus for classes. The Board didn’t have much more taste for the whole subject, though, and his words barely ruffled the waters.
The Human Resources Report also glided along like a sailboat on a glassy lake with a perfect breeze. Member Johnston brought up the sole discussion item. Every year dozens of non-contract teachers are fired, then rehired again a few months later. While the human resources manager teased out the logic of this bureaucratic maneuvering for Member Johnston and the rest of the Board, my mind wandered a bit. I found myself staring up at a row of arched windows above the ornate balcony of venerable Old Central’s auditorium. Beautiful oak moldings around the windows were kissed softly by whimsical evening light. I could see puffy white clouds against a grey-blue sky. The way things were cruising along, I let myself think I might just escape before sunset.

Some fools never learn.
From this height, we all descended down into the monthly mud-pie slinging contest called the Business Committee Report. Committee chair Rosie Loeffler-Kemp started things off by living up to the full potential of her first name. She drew attention to the district’s WADM (student enrollment) number, with a rosy assessment: “Our projections of student enrollment were very accurate and this is significant because when you look at those, it’s showing enrollment stability in the district…”
Member Johnston noted every word. During discussion of the report, he ruffled the chair’s roses: “The statement was made that our enrollment projections were very accurate… I guess [being] eight [students] off is pretty accurate. But that’s a pretty dismal projection. This is the lowest number of students we’ve ever had in Duluth…”
The real scuffle, however, again centered on the issue of fairness. Some members of the Board voiced complaints about two policy changes that were on the agenda. Administration had recommended changes be made to these policies, which would require raising the number of Board members needed to request a special meeting from (the current) two members to three. Administration claimed the recommendation was only intended to align Board policy with State Statute 123B.09, which governs boards of independent school districts and does specifically mention three board members in subdivision 6.
Member Welty argued that the language in the statute “does not deny [the Board] a chance to have a smaller number of people put in a request [for a meeting]. It does not forbid it… [and] our policies for a great many years have allowed two members to request… a meeting.”
Member Johnston took the floor and said, “We had a very short, unpleasant discussion about this [at the Business Committee meeting]… I’ve got a request in to the Minnesota School Board Association, asking for a legal interpretation. Since we haven’t had much discussion, I ask this Board to table this, so we can have a thorough discussion at the next committee meeting.”
Member Seliga-Punkyo took the floor to state that the whole issue came up in order to accommodate a request “by Member Johnston to keep all of our meetings, the extra ones, to Tuesday.”
Member Welty disagreed with Member S.-P.’s reasoning. “This language has nothing to do with the day of the week a meeting would be held… [What] we are changing is that we are going to require three Board members to request special meetings… this Board does have a minority of two…”
Member Welty made a motion (seconded by Johnston) to amend the resolution, “to go back to two Board members, rather than three.” Welty added that as a minority member of the Board he felt “targeted by this particular change. We should not be sending out strong signals that two of our members may not be trusted…”
“I think we may be escalating that a little bit,” Chair Miernicki interjected. “We’re not talking about trust at all… I hope you don’t take it personally. I hope you don’t take it as being targeted.”
Besides being a retired school principal, Member Westholme has a law degree. He took the floor and observed, “The plain language [of the statute] does say ‘three,’ and I’m not even sure we [are] able to go to two...”
Not to be outdone by the letter of the law, Member Johnston pointed out the statute being used doesn’t specifically mention Committee of the Whole meetings, and the Board was proposing a change to a policy that refers only to Committee of the Whole meetings. “To say this [change] is somehow predicated on statute is completely wrong,” he stated.
The debate went on for at least another half hour, getting more testy. Member Johnston pressed to know what the “intent” of the change was and called Finance Manager Hanson’s explanation of scheduling issues “irrelevant.” Welty’s amendment failed. Johnston’s attempt to strike the reference to the statute from the resolution failed as well. Member Welty pointed out that “one of the driving forces behind parliamentary procedure is tolerance of the minority.”
Johnston made another motion to table the policy changes, which failed 4-3. Member Harala, in an attempt to mend fences and build Board relationships, joined Welty and Johnston. She stated she felt the Board should wait until Johnston heard back from the MSBA. She also voted against the overall changes to policy 9070. Her votes ironically proved Chair Miernicki’s contention, stated a couple of times during the debate, that “three members would still be a minority.”
4-3 votes have been as rare in the boardroom as above-normal temperatures in Duluth. Normally there are at best two voices of dissent.
Before a vote was taken on policy 9100 (the other policy being considered for changes), Chair Miernicki stated that the actions of the Board’s majority were based on “a recommendation of the MSBA,” an inaccurate statement. Member Welty corrected this error, adding, “The best evidence… that argues [in support of] my assumption… that this [action] is directed at a minority by a hostile majority is that there is an unwillingness by this Board to have consultation offered to us by the MSBA.”
Both Welty and Johnston stated they would be willing to go along with the policy changes if that was the recommendation of the MSBA, but the majority voted against waiting. The resolution passed; a minority of two is now barred from calling meetings.
More than two hours in, a few citizens were still hanging tough in the boardroom. They were rewarded next with another debate about enrollment numbers. Once again Member Johnston found himself up against resistance. “If you’ve got numbers that say my numbers are wrong,” he challenged the other members, “show me. I just want to have a discussion. I’ll be glad to be proven wrong… It was a very difficult discussion at the [Business] Committee meeting. Most of it was spent bashing me.”
“We did not spend it [that meeting] bashing you, Mr. Johnston,” Chair Miernicki countered, dismissing the claim.
Eventually we bashed our way through to this meeting’s final comments, when student representative Kobi Tremble pulled everything back into perspective. In a calm, soft-spoken voice, the solemn-looking youth said, “I hear, confirmed, that Spanish 5 will be here next year. I’m thankful and happy, but there’re still kids right now who want to take German 5 next year. They don’t have the option, even though they put in just as much work as the Spanish kids.”
The meeting was adjourned and the skirmish around education was over for another month. I lingered a moment longer on my pitiless rock of a chair, staring up at the arched windows above the balcony. They’d grown completely dark. I thought about how eloquently Lucy Billings and her peers had spoken. Someone must be teaching them pretty well.
Let’s hope it’s well enough.

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Loren Martell has been involved in Public School District issues for several years.

He wrote the Red Plan report for the State Auditor’s Office and ran for the Board twice.