A School Board member’s view: The Red Plan: Where did the money come from?
November 15, 2012 at 6:00 pm in Duluth News Tribune
We have nearly finished the Red Plan. But rather than hearing about what a great plan it turned out to be, the main discussion from the public is why we have such large class sizes and why we have been cutting curriculum. The News Tribune has done stories on the impact reduced curriculum and increased class sizes have had on our students.
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From a Chamber meeting with Dixon and Wasson promoting Red Plan. (Notice the cost was $257mil, those were the days)
— Cost. The plan, Dixon said, will cost taxpayers $125 million or about half the $257 million cost. The school district expects to sell unused property for $25 million and $100 million to come from efficiencies achieved by the construction, such as fuel savings. Opponents often peg the actual cost at $437 million, a figure the superintendent says is misleading.
— Size of schools. “The bigger the building, the more robust a program we can have and we can have efficiencies,” Dixon said. High schools of 1,500 students can offer more programs at the same cost as schools with 1,000 students, he said.
Big headlines while the film-flam guy was still here stated the district had a $30mil surplus and that was a nice problem to have.
Gary Glass and Art are the heroes in this sad saga. Dixon, JCI, Wasson, Judy and can’t forget turncoat Grover destroyed Duluth schools.
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I appreciate Johnston’s article. We all need to remember how we got here and the promises that were made that have not resulted in any savings. Our District is far worse off then it was 6 years ago when Dixon first came to town promising the moon and with JCI rubbing hands together in anticipation of millions of taxpayer dollars. How do you think this company turned around their car battery business into a fortune 500 company? And where is the accountability? Glass & Johnston spent years trying to alert the public before it was too late. And Sid, thanks for reminding us of Tim Grover who ran a campaign and won by saying he was against the RED PLAN and then did a complete turnaround once he made it into office. Where is he now? Hiding in the shadows with no accountability – just like Dixon.
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The Timberjay newspaper Tower,MN, I believe, is sueing Johnson Controls- for the bungled job they did with the St. Louis School Dist.- or something like that- why can’t someone from Duluth do the same?- hint DNT-
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Are you referring to this story? “Appeals Court rules for Minnesota newspaper in debate over construction records” http://bit.ly/T0sVP2 — Jimmy Bellamy, News Tribune multimedia editor
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yes, thank you
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Looks like they sued for information, not the job itself.
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Thank God for Art Johnson. At the taxpayers have one person on the screwel board who is honest and willing to talk truthfully about the mess the crooks and liars on the screwel board got us into. I would be willing to bet the crooks and liars lined their pockets nicely with payoffs and kickbacks, there could be no other explanation, other than outrageous mindboggling incompetence. Or is that what the problem is? And yet Duluthinans re-elected these crooks and liars.
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should be: At least the taxpayers have one person….
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Your opinions would carry more weight without the “screwel board” references. We get it. You think they are crooks and liars. I’m as much against the Red Plan as anyone, but childish name-calling is useless.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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The school board and JCI go ahead and build a new 50 million middle school high on a hill in Lincoln Park. They plan to dump the now empty Central and the Vocational center. The Central facility would probably have a replacement value of 60-70 million if built new. Mind the fact that these two facilities are 3-4 miles apart. I’m guessing you will never have enough transportation savings to justify spending that kind of money while throwing away a high school. Sure….converting Central to a middle school would not have been a perfect solution…..But hey…having 40-45 kids in a classroom going to help our students? I have some names I would like to call JCI & the school board but they aren’t as mild as the terms ulysses uses. He is being too kind.
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Crooks and liars or outragously mind blowingly incompetent, which is it Deemer? Screwel Board is an appropriate name for that pack of liars, crooks, incompetents because it aptly describes just what that board is doing to the taxpayers of Duluth. We paid 300+ million for monuments to their egos, probably lined their pockets (IMO) and we are left with less options for the kids, less supplies for the kids and teachers, school populations of kids the size of small colleges, daily gang fights at school, and ridiculous overcrowding in the classroom. How do you see that as anything other than a monsterous scr*w-job of the taxpayers?
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I wonder if the screw board reads these I hop so then they might get smarter LOL
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Kris……LOL!! I sure wish you were right about that! The School Board and other’s, like the City Council etc……never talk publicly about these blog’s etc….so, if they do read them ( which I doubt….because they do not want to face critisism like this )…..they will never admit it. But, you are right….they would learn a great deal! In their minds….they are not out to please anyone…..( again, in their minds only )…..they believe that they are doing a public service and to the public’s benefit…….and as we all know……this is in THEIR minds only!
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Would like to know where Dixon is and who else is being screwed wonder if he ever bought a house?
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Kris – When Dixon gave his performance of his teary eyed goodbye in June 2011 – he stated that he wanted to retire and spent time with his grandkids – this is what he told the people of Duluth – what he did was take another Superintendent position in the Centennial School District down by the twin cities. Here’s the link
http://www.isd12.org/staff?keys=keith+dixon&loc=All&field_tax_grade_tid=All&field_tax_dept_tid=All&=Go&listing=0
He re-signed a second year contract last year (retired huh?) – not sure if he bought a home but the fact that he never bought one here should have been a huge clue to his lack of commitment to our community.
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Let us not forget the many families that were forced out of their properties and had to sell their homes to the school board. My former house still stands empty (that would of been three years of rent I could of gladly paid to the school board to just live there until they decide to make another smart move). I took the money (no choice) and and am now paying another state their fair income tax. My former neighbors have just as bad horror stories regarding the real estate firm hired by the school board to take our houses.
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With the baggage the current ISD 709 School Board has created for itself, I truly believe they will never, ever create a positive environment for our public K-12 school system in Duluth. Lack of planning and leadership, a legacy of poor decisions, and a total lack of support from the taxpayers mean the members of this board need to be changed.
At some point we all need to quit bickering and support some type of progress. Finger pointing does little good – squeezing the taxpayer for more money will serve only to foster chaos and continued demise. ISD 709 should get on the State to make the money available that was ‘borrowed’ by Tim Pawlenty to work his budget. Maybe they need to think outside the box, and look a little further than our schools – done so much damage up to this point it’s not safe to have them help us any longer(PS, that was sarcastic at the end…).
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