After destructive comments that precipitated heart-stopping anxieties and after ignoring voters, the Duluth School Board will pay for a vote on something not described to date and which seems absurd ("School district to pay for Plan B election," Jan. 21).
Voters were not asked if the district could spend $300 million on a long-range plan and petitions asking for the right to vote were ignored. A group of Duluthians developed an alternative B plan that was rejected by the board. But, by law, it had to be reviewed by the state Department of Education, and that resulted in a determination the plan could work. Therefore, Duluth should vote on it.
Another group of concerned residents has presented "red plan plus" as an alternative, with discussion and rejection at the board level.
A typical resident would ask, "What are we voting on?" We won't be voting on red plan plus or on whether $300 million should be spent on the red plan? The vote will address only the merits of the B plan -- and most of us don't know a thing about that plan except that the district said it is more costly, doesn't produce the needed savings, and student placement is discriminatory. But shouldn't the district prove, not just state these claims?
It is absolutely necessary the board, on behalf of constituents who have been ignored in the past, demand consultants, in concert with the developers of alternative plans, present an understandable, truthful, transparent report to inform all of us before November about the positives and negatives of all plans. The board also should unveil the ballot question, as wording is wide open, so we voters can make a thoughtful decision, even rejecting all plans. We would expect the results of the vote would truly be advisory and not just another exercise in futility.
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Tony Stauber
Duluth
