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I think I’ve met my waterloo. I admit I can’t even begin to do justice to this monstrous, meaty meeting in two pages. My aplogies to any participant who feels he or she gets short shrift in this article. To cover this meeting adequately would require the entire Reader. I recommend that interested citizens view it on youTube, but doing so will require tossing nearly four hours of much more pleasant things from your life: Board meeting 12/20/16.

I can’t resist highlighting, right from the start, some comments made at the end of a long, rancorous Board fight over extending Superintendent Gronseth’s contract. The outcome was no surprise, of course. The four DFL-endorsed majority members rubberstamped the contract. Their intentions had been very clear since the deal was negotiated between Chair Harala, HR Manager Tim Sworsky and Mr. Gronseth, back in October.

The divide in the room (and in Duluth) was evident not only from the Board debate, but from the concerns raised from the public during this meeting. All these issues, which are definitely going to play out in the upcoming election, were reflected on by Chair Harala, this way: “What has come forward from our community members and parents tonight is not new. It didn’t start with Superintendent Gronseth (looking at the district’s top administrator with a pleased, approving expression.) It has continued with--it goes back to when we had three high schools, and it continues this way, and I would say that looking at--if we’re looking at a need for leadership--that much of the comments made by my colleagues today were about Board conversation, not about the Superintendent…And so, it’s concerning that members that have a lot of experience on the Board (yet remain very obstreperous and ignorant,) and continue to say the same (stupid and pointless) things over and over and over again with nothing changing--well, ahhhhhh, maybe there’s a need for a change in leadership in those (Board) positions, as well…”

Take it to the people! A shakeup of the status quo is definitely needed; the question for voters next year will be: who should stay, and who should go? The Superintendent is the Prince of a very divided kingdom. He has four sentries posted around him. Should one of those four fall…
After his loyal coterie--the four DFL-endorsed members--granted him three years of job security and gave him the raise he wanted, the Superintendent said: “I understand that it’s a 3-4 vote. I’m thankful that it (my contract) was approved, and I’m hopeful that the three declining votes are willing to work together to address the district’s challenges in the future.”

What he should have said was: “I understand that there is division in this room, and in this city. Tonight’s discussion has once again made that very apparent. I intend to make a good-faith effort to reach across the aisle to the three Board members who declined to approve this contract, so we can work together to address the district’s challenges in the future.”

 Back to the beginning

These meetings invariably start off on a pleasant note. Tonight, community recognition was given to two ISD 709 students--Conor Reindl and Jada Guthrie--for earning officer positions in the organization: Minnesota Health Occupations of America. The audience applauded and wished these two ambitious young people well in their future careers trying to prevent illness and assist the ailing and injured of the world.

After the community recognition ceremony, 21 citizens stepped up, one by one, to speak from the public podium. 21 x 3 minutes adds up to more than an hour, and of course not every one of these passionate people could wrap things up precisely in three minutes. The only way I can conceivably cover this meeting’s Public Comment period is to separate out the themes expressed by the citizens who spoke, rather than trying to cover every remark individually and chronologically.

In keeping with this strategy, I’ll begin with another positive theme, by mentioning that a few earnest students told the Board how much being in the Duluth East High Drama Club had affected their lives in positive ways, and then Al Chelpelnik, Chairperson of the Teacher of the Year Recognition Committee, stepped up to announce this year’s recipients of what could easily be renamed the “On Your Way to Sainthood Award.” ISD 709’s “Teachers of the Year” this year are: Annette Petersmeyer and Sheila Shusterich.

Ms. Shusterich was unable to attend, but Ms. Petersmeyer, who works with at-risk youth, gave a very heart-warming and inspiring speech about how her students tell her she not only helps them deal with academics, but with “ways to cope with the things that bother us.”
The next few speakers I will mention were slightly less sunny. They took issue with some specific incidences that had occurred in the buildings of ISD 709.
Henry Banks spoke about a troubling episode regarding a recent guest speaker at Denfeld High. The guest who had been invited to speak for the evening was Dr. El-Kati, Professor Emeritus of History/American Studies at Macallister College and author of the book: “The Myth of Race/The Reality of Racism.” Denfeld High School apparently cancelled Dr. El-Kati’s first appearance with students at the campus because he was six minutes late. “He’s an elder. He’s 81 years old, and was due much more respect than he was given at that campus.” Mr. Banks told the Board. “Instead, (Denfeld) cancelled his first appearance, and I was also informed that Superintendent Gronseth attempted to cancel the contract simply because (Dr. El-Kati) mentioned the name, ‘Donald Trump.’ (at some other appearances.) You cannot control or subvert freedom of speech in America…We are a republic; we are not a dictatorship…I believe the school district needs to apologize for (this) behavior.”

Any citizen waiting for the apology is not advised to hold his or her breath.
Carlyle Eckart and Tim Jezierski also raised concerns connected to the name “Donald Trump.” Each man stepped up to the podium and talked about an anti-Trump poster that was affixed to the trophy case directly across from the office of the Ordean East Middle School. An inscription, highlighted under a picture of our President-elect, read: UR4DE4DM4N. If the “4” is replaced with the letter “A,” the coded message reads, “YOU ARE A DEAD MAN.” Beneath the inscription there was a question: “Have you seen this man?” Mr. Eckart and Mr. Jezierski argued that the poster was allowed to remain up for an entire day and that its location made it impossible for school administration not to be aware of it. They believed the episode was swept under the rug, due to an anti-Trump bias in the school district.

Sharon Witherspoon used her three minutes to point out all the educational inequities in the district, especially for students of color. Marcia Stromgren spent her free speech allotment comparing the pending extension of Superintendent Gronseth’s contract to giving a new contract to the CEO of a failing corporation. Henry Helgen advocated for the Board to prioritize preserving and expanding CITS (College in the Schools.) Among other things, Mr. Helgen offered advice about how to make the opportunity to take college courses equal in the two high schools. He wanted classrooms linked via computers on both campuses, so a teacher could “swap (between schools) every other week.”

Mr. Helgen’s comments foreshadowed the primary citizen theme of the evening. The majority of the speakers had come into the boardroom to give voice to an issue that is growing increasingly contentious in Duluth: the unjust disparity of educational opportunity between the East and West ends of our town. To really feel and understand the depth, passion (and, at times, despair) expressed on this issue, you have to view the meeting on youTube. I can only give you a taste of it in this article.

Don’t go west, young man (or woman)

Tim Doyle told the Board he was going to find it difficult to express “three years of frustration in three minutes,” in regard to the district’s “failure to support the western side of town.” He pointed out that he and others were in the boardroom addressing this “failure,” on the same night the Board was “formalizing a three-year contract (for the Superintendent) that will go through.”

A school counselor at Denfeld High, Dianne FitzGerald, stepped up to the podium and said: “I’ve been with the district for 32 years, and this is the first time I’ve felt compelled to even attend a school board meeting, let alone speak at one.” If readers of this column view no other part of this meeting, watch Ms. FitzGerald’s three minutes. I wish I had room to run her speech, word-for-word. The latest round of public discussion on the inequity between Duluth’s East and West high schools was primarily generated by a letter she wrote to local scholarship foundations. Ms. FitzGerald wrote the letter to plead for consideration of the unfair plight facing Denfeld students, when doling out scholarships. She told the Board that a core consideration in determining whether or not a student gets a scholarship is a tally of all the AP, Honors and CITS classes on his or her transcript.

After a recent conversation with a scholarship administrator, Ms. FitzGerald told the Board she got “a sick feeling in (her) stomach, because (she) knew many of the Denfeld seniors--quality seniors--were not going to have a fair shake.” A smaller student body at Denfeld (996, as of last year, compared to 1508 at East,) means only one section of many high-level courses are offered at the school, making it much more difficult for students to fit them into their schedules. Denfeld students “can’t get the classes they are requesting,” Ms. FitzGerald told the Board. “When a school district has more than one high school, it’s obligated to provide equal access and a quality education for all students. That’s not happening! And you need to know that.”

Two more Denfeld school counselors, Jennifer Wellnitz and Geri Saari, and several other speakers echoed Ms. FitzGerald’s concerns from the podium.
 
Something IS happening: a contract extension for the Boss

The Education Committee and Business Reports generated little discussion during this Board meeting. All the real action centered around the Human Resources Report, and the other hot, district 709 issue of late: Superintendent Gronseth’s contract. As expected, the four DFL-endorsed majority members voted to approve the contract that Chair Harala had unilaterally negotiated with the HR Manager and Superintendent Gronseth in October. The contract is a three-year extension of Mr. G.’s position with the district, along with pay raises of 2% in the first year and a 1% hike in each of the two subsequent years. The Superintendent currently makes a base salary of $168,000 a year; his pay increases will raise that annual compensation to $174,800.

One year of Mr. G.’s pay would be like hitting the lottery for many Duluth hillside and west-end residents.
Also, as expected, the contract was not approved without considerable Board debate. Members Oswald and Johnston made four motions to change the terms of the contract, all of which failed. Member O. tried to reduce the length of the contract from three years, to one. Member A.J. made three motions. First on Member Johnston’s list was an attempt to limit the “golden parachute” clause. This generous clause guarantees the Superintendent will receive a full year’s salary, plus benefits, if his contract is terminated “without cause” by the Board. Member Johnston tried to reduce the glimmering value of the parachute from gold, to copper: one month’s pay. The ever-enterprising Lone Ranger also tried to erase salary increases from the contract, keeping the Superintendent’s pay at a paltry $168,000, and he attempted to add a contractual stipulation that Mr. G. would have to have a legal residence within ISD 709’s attendance area within one year of the starting date of his contract.

Again, I find myself spatially limited in covering this lengthy debate. Sometimes I think it would be easier covering a NASA space mission in two pages.
As usual, member Oswald supported her motion to limit Mr. G.’s contract to one year with her calm, rational voice of intelligence and reason. She pointed to the East/West inequity issue that had just been passionately addressed by so many citizens, and said she’d been told by a member of a scholarship committee that the Superintendent had done “due diligence in downplaying the actual problem.” When she tried to bring the issue up during the HR Committee meeting, she said “no-one would talk about it…and no-one would talk about what’s in his (Superintendent Gronseth’s) contract, either.”

Member O. said all suggested changes to the contract had been met with “stone-cold silence.” She added, with a note of incredulity: “It’s hard to believe that a CEO of an organization can walk in and hand us a contract, and we get a majority (of the Board) that says: ‘Yeh--looks about right!’” She argued that the Board was not looking out for every aspect of the district’s interest. “I think it’s imperative we give Superintendent Gronseth one year to show us he’s got it--that he can lead us, that he show us the leadership to bring us in the right direction.”

Member Johnston pointed out that it would cost the taxpayers about $200,000 to pay the Superintendent a year’s salary with benefits, if the Board decided to part ways with him without finding a cause of malfeasance defined under State statute. The Lone Ranger said he’d like to have a job with that kind of golden parachute himself, but maintained that including such a clause in the contract was “very irresponsible of this Board or this community or this school district.”

In defense of his motion to keep Mr. Gronseth’s pay at a modest $168,000, member Johnston argued that “the Superintendent is getting paid more than is necessary, already. I went through and queried all the Dept. of Education Superintendent salaries from 2013-14, the last year available when I looked, and of the 35 largest greater Minnesota school districts and neighboring school districts, we are third--almost second--highest of those districts.” Comparative information on Superintendent salaries given to the Board by administration during the October HR committee meeting was based “only on suburban districts,” the Lone Ranger argued, pointing out that “this is Duluth. We’re in greater Minnesota. Salaries are not as high as in suburban areas…if we are going to give (him) this contract, we, at a minimum, should be keeping his salary at its current level--$168,000.”

“I would just like to say,” Tim Sworsky, the district’s HR Manager countered, “that for the most part Superintendents’ salaries are driven more by the annual budget and the student enrollment (of a district.)”
The Lone Ranger’s final motion to alter the contract--an attempt to force the Superintendent to live and pay taxes in Duluth, if he wanted to make a posh living as one of the town’s leaders--was countered by Mr. G., himself, who responded that, though it is true he lives in Hermantown, “it’s in State statute that cities of the first class cannot require a Superintendent to live within a school district.”

Or make him pay any taxes levied by the district.
Tensions between the Board majority and the persistently pesky minority flared when the Chair claimed much of the contract debate was based on “misinformation.” This charge of false “facts” being batted about in the boardroom has been made repeatedly over the past few years, especially by the Board Clerk, Rosie Loeffler-Kemp.

“It’s funny that people always mention ‘misinformation,’ the Lone Ranger observed, his tone more acerbic, than humored, “but they never seem to correct the misinformation. Why? Because they can’t do it. It isn’t misinformation.”
Information, misinformation; the Superintendent is locked in for three years. Chair Harala’s claim to the contrary not withstanding, the evening’s debate had everything to do with the Superintendent. Duluth’s natives are definitely getting restless. Myriad problems and strong dissention surfaced during this four hour meeting, and our highly-paid Super better have a more winning game plan than he’s shown for the past five years, or his next three could be a very tumultuous ride.