Civil debate

Star Tribune Mon, 12 May 2008 03:49:26 GMT
Duluth at war over future of its schools

The $300 million effort to close buildings and renovate or replace others has divided the city, mostly because taxpayers never got to vote. A bill at the Legislature may change that. ... As school districts across Minnesota struggle with finances, the Duluth School District is using a little-known clause in state integration law to undertake an eye-popping $300 million plan to close, renovate or replace all of its schools without going to the community for a vote. In the year since the school board approved the plan, fights over its cost, the lack of a vote, decaying schools and the possibility that the plan could divide the city between rich and poor have created a civil war in the community. At meeting after meeting, hundreds of voters have inundated the school board. Superintendent Keith Dixon has been publicly compared to Adolf Hitler. Opponents of the plan have been called bitter, closed-minded and stuck in the past. "Duluth has a long history of never passing up an opportunity to pass up an opportunity," said resident Nick Lansing. "Our community's nature is to fight louder and harder and meaner after a decision has been made."

[[keywords: Schools;Metro;]]