I'm trying desperately to connect the dots on this one decipher your political commentary. Perhaps the immigration situation is too complicated to be explained in 4 panels.

Nice Nit Pick Concerned, but.. There is no evidence that the new ways of teaching are improving students learning. Perhaps YOU should do some research.

I've done plenty of research. Just look at what other districts are doing. The point is that Smartboards are very expensive to maintain. The projectors can't even be purchased for the older models, and bulbs need to be replaced at $300 each ear. Newer displays are less than half the cost and don't require bulb replacements. I'm not nit picking. Just pointing out that a lot of equipment that was purchased with "red plan" money will not last forever, and the district needs to invest in newer technology to replace them. Smart boards are just one example; there are plenty of others.

Districts like Edison who manage to do much more with a much smaller budget? I'm happy you didn't mention iPads, then I would have known you went off the deep end. I love when the district wastes my tax dollars on the next technology fad.

The Smart Boards are not being replaced with new technology. According to the administration's memo on the subject, "In light of budget constraints, it has become apparent that we are not able to continue to fund the types of equipment installed during the modernization of our buildings." The Smart Boards will be replaced with "non-interactive display systems," which sounds like a few steps back, technology-wise.

In addition, "The Technology Department will not repair or replace the following systems due to insufficient funding: Panasonic video security systems, classroom/teacher sound amplification systems...250-plus network HP and Dell printers, 40-plus fax systems...Chromebook support outside the core 1,710 systems ... and auditorium and lab projectors."

All of this cost-cutting is directly traceable to the insane amounts of money we spent on the Red Plan. In fact, even as we're dumping this unaffordable technology, we're still paying for the bonds that purchased it. How's that for a kick in the head?

Nevertheless, as Concerned Citizen makes clear with his or her woefully uninformed comments, many in the community will continue to offer up excuses of all kinds to avoid facing the real problem, which is the Red Plan. But who needs printers anyway, right?

Totally agree there's no budget to purchase the best replacements for Smart Boards because they were originally purchased with building money, along with lots of other equipment, with no budget for replacements. Non-interactive displays are the only thing that can be afforded right now, but if that's what it takes, then it has to be done. If there was an increased budget to put a plan in place to put more Chromebooks (or whatever the best technology would be at the time) into the hands of students, then they would have the interactive devices in their hands and would not need the interactive displays. This is what the future holds with many districts, because it is the most cost effective.

No one disputes that the Red Plan hasn't caused problems. How do you propose to move forward and create a better future for the children? There are always lots of complaints about what happened in the past, but I don't see anyone complaining offering any real solutions for the future.

I don't see anyone NOT complaining offering real solutions for the future, either. Everybody just continues to rubber-stamp the raids on School District reserve fund, maintenance fund, etc. Their big solution is "Don't complain anymore." Meanwhile, we have well over $100 million of bond payments rolling inexorably toward us.

I propose that we change the conditions that allowed the Red Plan to happen in the first place.

Number one, no insanely massive building plans without a referendum. I don't see anyone rushing to change that.

Number two, abide by promises. If you remember, the Red Plan was supposed to be "half paid for" with the sale of old buildings within a year or two. Obviously, that never happened. Instead, we spent millions to maintain them, and the school board actively opposed the few chances we had to sell at reasonable prices.

Number three, stop hiding behind the children. If you remember, there was considerable community opposition to the Red Plan. Those opponents were totally demonized by Red Plan supporters, who accused them of not caring about the children. I would argue that by putting us in such a precarious financial position, it was the Red Plan supporters who didn't care about the children. But they and their ilk are still there, nodding like bobbleheads at anything the administration proposes, still accusing the people who were right all along of not caring about children. It must be nice to always have the children on your side. Of course you never ask them if they WANT to be on your side. You just assume that, the way you assumed that everyone in Duluth wanted a half-billion dollars' of shiny new crap without asking them.

I could go on and on. But my article on transparency problems within ISD 709 comes out today, so I'll leave it at that.

I mean, you just blithely acknowledge that we purchased all this stuff "with no budget for replacements," as if that's nothing! Are you kidding me? That's the stupidest thing anybody could do, and we did it with taxpayer money. People NEED to be yelled at and held accountable. This is ridiculous. And it's not old news. As far as I'm concerned, as long as bonds are being paid off, the situation is current. So the Red Plan remains current for at least another 14 years. Do you have any idea how much trouble we're facing here? I don't think you do. And glibly nodding along to the administration is only going to make it worse.

Seriously, why are you attacking me? I agree that it was a mistake to not budget for replacements and that it needs to be fixed. I didn't say it "was nothing". I just think you've been yelling at these people and holding them accountable for a long time and it doesn't fix the situation. Yes, the buildings should have been sold, but they haven't been. Yes, things SHOULD have been done differently, and everyone knows that. I absolutely know how much trouble we are in. It totally needs to be fixed going forward. But if someone comes up with ideas to fix things within the parameters of the current budget, not the budget we hope we will get if the buildings are sold or if the whole red plan had never happened, you're just going to shoot their ideas down anyway. We should be attracting new families with our innovation, not scaring them away by talking about things that SHOULD have happened 10 years ago and didn't.

Nobody wants to change the underlying structure that allowed all this crap to happen, nor does anyone want to take responsibility for anything. That's why I'm yelling.

My point is it's almost impossible to fix things within the parameters of the current budget, because the Red Plan has decimated that budget. If we don't get more money from the state, the only solution will be steep levies. That's not even really a solution. It's a panicky response to a situation that the school district put us in 10 years ago. Nobody loves "moving on" more than the people responsible for something. Since they're going to be raiding my pocketbook to pay for a project I never consented to or supported, you better believe I'm going to remind them of that.

What John is saying without saying (maybe) is that the local democrats on the board, supported by the local ISD union thugs, can't see anyway forward that doesn't involve taxing us more and spending more. I'm hoping the damn thing collapses before too long so the state is forced to take over. (We should have a republican governor by then, since everyone else in the state is sick of similar things.)

Elanne, where is your vitriol for Klobuchar? Was she not a co-sponsor?

So you're taking up valuable resources (employee time) that ISD 709 doesn't have to look for emails that contain your name so that you can write an article about it. Sounds like you are adding to the debt problem.

Transparency laws are in place for a reason. More people should use them.

Did you even read the article, “Juan”?

Just pointing out that her name was left out of your toxic title.

"Hello?" Must be a member of the Duluth School Board.

And not mentioned here is Smith's involvement in the shameful "Wilfare" football stadium scam. Dayton's appointment of her was an insult to us all. But I keep reading that Klobuchar, who is surely as special-interest-serving as Smith, it the most popular politician in Minnesota. Can this be?? And the disgraceful Pawlenty running again. What a mess!

@Hello?: First: Have the courage of your convictions/opinions-What is your real name? Secondly: It doesn’t sound like ANY “valuable resources” or “ employee time” are being wasted, as the district continues to ignore the law and Democratic transparency. Based on the financial dumpster fire being tended by this Superintendent, EVERYONE should be demanding data and answers.