‘Drink baby drink,’ before the party’s over

By RON BROCHU

In the simplistic doll parts world of Sarah Palin, let’s “drink baby drink” on New Year’s Eve. We’re about to board the pain train, and our sensibilities best be numb when Robin Washington and Ken Buehler stoke it toward 2009 at 130 miles per hour.

So far, a trillion-dollar bailout hasn’t derailed the Hell-Bound Express. Even the confidence that accompanies a new president hasn’t generated much hope. So grim is the approaching crash that grown men lay awake at night fearing their snow machines might be repossessed by gun-toting bankers just before a long winter weekend. Even worse, a growing number of jobless households can no longer afford Viagara, thrusting America into a future bereft of drug- induced pleasure – as if the loss of fake wealth wasn’t bad enough.

Sans a miracle, there’s nothing “Happy” to be associated with the coming “New Year,” not even in Lake Wobegon. With the threat of ED constantly blasted into our ears by flaccid television hucksters, including athletes we had envisioned as macho, we haven’t noticed that foreign pawn brokers are buying America for pennies on the dollar, launching a bloodless coup more dangerous than anything al-Qaida has fired our way.

But that’s not a concern in Duluth. The local fear is that neither Asian nor Arab entrepreneurs are stepping forward to deconstruct Great Lakes Aquarium. Their cash is badly needed to recast the sad rubble into wide boulevards on which East Enders can more-recklessly speed through Duluth Heights en route to the mall. After all, we wouldn’t want to blemish Lakeside with hideous commercial development, particularly stores that sell fermented beverages. Better to quarantine such trade in neighborhoods occupied by winos and other blue-collar rummies.

The horror! The horror!

Yes, this will be a challenging year in the Great White North.

• The city of Duluth will struggle from state funding cuts. Union employees will continue to whine about the loss of “work,” a refined way of saying “we want our stinking money!” and we don't give a damn if it thrusts Duluth into bankruptcy. They’ll refuse to acknowledge the revenue shortfall or accept any responsibility to formulate a solution, but instead will blame Mayor Don Ness, his predecessors, successors, friends and relatives. Taxpayers, however, will remain unsympathetic.
  
  
• School Board members will continue to ignore constituents and build Cadillac schools in a Chevy district. Mindlessly following constructionist Keith Dixon, just as they mindlessly followed Julio Almanza’s inert agenda, they will mimic bobbleheads every time the superintendent sentences taxpayers to fund expensive capital experiments and other poorly studied schemes that even teachers deem ridiculous.
  
  
• If the stars align, cash-strapped Duluthians might start listening when Gov. Tim Pawlenty waxes indignant about excessive local spending. Finally hit in the pocketbook, taxpayers may finally begin to question why so much municipal money is spent on non-essential services while their neighborhoods become more dangerous by the day and streets crumble underfoot.
  
  
• An unprofessional core of St. Louis County commissioners will continue to behave like pubescent boys. To demonstrate their power, they’ll hand the county administrator job to interim honcho Alan Mitchell, who will permanently oversee the area’s largest tax sinkhole and let boys act like boys. Local reporters, who think the mil rate is a new appetizer at the Green Mill, won’t cover the story until an irreversible vote has already been taken.
  
  
• Even as the OmniMax Theatre and Great Lakes Aquarium bleed dry, consultants will continue to paint a rosy picture of the proposed high-speed Duluth-Twin Cities train. Like weather forecasters and computer techs, consultants will draw bloated paychecks even if their work is flawed -- even if it’s pure nonsense designed only to endorse what promoters and politicians want to hear. When the venture fails miserably, nobody will be held accountable, just as nobody has been outed for the theater and aquarium failures. Again, taxpayers will eat the tab, and again, they’ll re-elect the same Democrats who repeatedly secure federal grants for doomed ventures, using it to leverage state loans, which in turn leverages local bonds in a gamble better suited for a casino. All the while, experienced private sector businessmen remain silent for fear of endangering their own sweetheart TIF deals.

That’s the dire picture in a city where financial and political incompetence has become institutionalized. Those of us who stay here obviously support this brand of ineffective hocus pocus, even as Duluth gasps for air. Rather than speak up, opponents flee to Hermantown, Proctor, Esko, Carlton, Wrenshall and Cloquet, where there’s less of an appetite for sure failure.

It’s a recipe for disaster that could bear an abundance of fruit as the economy degenerates during 2009.

Writer Ron Brochu barks like a rabid dog during lapses when he can’t afford professional therapy. He archives his goofy ramblings at www.ronbrochublog.com and invites others to join the rant, even though most people, including outright misfits, have better things to do.

Published in the Dec. 26 Northland Reader.

Mindlessly groping for fat, daily rags eat the seed corn

By RON BROCHU

Most people won’t buy a crappy car, and few automakers would survive if their vehicles offered less and less each year. Same goes for every other product on the market. Who would buy a new smaller model that offered fewer features than the last one? Customers want more and better, and they sure won’t pay more to receive less. Imagine the reaction if Wal-Mart adopted a new slogan: “Pay More, Get Less.”

Ironically, that’s the direction daily newspapers are heading. Fewer local stories. Subscriptions that cost more. Higher advertising rates. It’s a fatal business plan that publishers refresh each time profits droop.

As if that’s not bad enough, editors pen columns about the fantastic bargain newspapers offer customers, who they obviously regard as money-burning idiots. It raises an obvious question: How can readers trust anything the publication says when its top dog utters such nonsense?

Pure and simple, fear and desperation are gripping the industry as it’s being weaned from a fat hog. For decades, daily newspaper publishers have sought profits in the range of 20-40 percent, raising advertising rates to support their tremendous appetites. With bellies bulging past their brows, they’ve not noticed the inability of advertisers to pay their growing rates – from local retailers to the average Joe selling his Chivvy.

Which brings us to last Monday, when one of America’s largest newspaper firms became the first to declare bankruptcy. Tribune Co., publisher of the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and numerous smaller newspapers, sought court protection from its creditors. Tribune won’t be the last. Since midyear, the Minneapolis Star Tribune has been unable to repay its debt and is high on the list of Chapter 11 candidates.

Losing readers to the Internet is a growing problem in the forlorn world of daily rags. But for many newspapers, debt is the bigger issue. Acquisition frenzy erupted following the senseless breakup of Knight Ridder Inc., former owner of the Duluth News Tribune, St. Paul Pioneer Press and about 30 other dailies. By and by, a series of America’s biggest newspapers were acquired by companies that borrowed heavily just before the economy fell into freefall. Declines in auto and real estate advertising have left publishers unable to repay their ridiculous debt loads, and the credit crisis has prevented restructuring.

Duluthians have witnessed it before (with devastating results) when Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc. followed a poisoned pill strategy to avoid hostile takeover by Robert Maxwell. In the aftermath, William Jovanovich put his publications division for sale to secure a quick cash influx. A local acquisition group led by Robert Edgell bought the property in a highly leveraged deal that closed shortly before the economy tanked. As failure became unavoidable, Edgell leaped to his death during a Thanksgiving dinner.

Desperation has a troubling rhythm that triggers wrongheaded decisions. For instance, newspaper owners today believe they can cut their way to profitability, even though they’ve already sliced through muscle into the bone. Nervous editors are sacking anyone who earns too much money – in other words, their most experienced reporters and middle managers. They’re also dumping their most interesting content – the features that competitors lack the time and/or staff to duplicate – along with high-demand add-ons such as TV listings.

To be kind, let’s call it “shortsighted” rather than something more appropriate, like “suicidal.” How long can shortsightedness survive during a lengthy downturn? Hard to tell, but its shelf life certainly is shorter for companies having significant debt. That includes Forum Communications, which borrowed from a consortium of lenders to buy the DNT, its affiliated area publications, and the Grand Forks Herald. Because the company is privately held, its financial strength is a closely held secret. Its aggressive local cuts, however, suggest finances are a concern. Perhaps losses are not an issue. Maybe the concern is just to ensure the Trib remains a cash cow, an admirable goal in the self-infatuated publishers’ club.
There are historical certainties.

• The Trib and other dailies won’t grow back to their former physical size, even if newsprint prices decline. While editors often blame their woes on paper prices, they’re silent when prices drop, which is a certainty. Excess manufacturing capacity prevents paper firms from sustaining higher prices.
  
  
• Former features won’t return. Once they disappear, they’re gone for good. Even if those features were popular, editors hate to admit they acted in error. It’s an ego thing. Most believe they were ordained, not hired, into the profession.
  
  
• Efforts to mimic gossip tabloids will fail at the local level. People love a screaming headline trashing Britney Spears; they cancel subscriptions when the venom is directed toward Aunt Millie.

Former Superior Daily Telegram Editor Ron Brochu saw the light after being booted from the ranks. He archives his articles at www.ronbrochublog.com and invites your silly comments.

Published in the Dec. 12 Northland Reader.

Sickos fuel the need for drastic action

By RON BROCHU

Denial? Lack of knowledge? Neither justify the lack of strong policies to prevent sexual impropriety in a school system, or any other institution – especially where children are present. So it’s troubling that the Superior School district again finds itself grappling with such allegations.

In 2006, a Superior student accused music instructor Brian MacDonnell of conducting himself inappropriately during a lesson in which the teacher and student were alone in a classroom. To its credit, the district refused to renew MacDonnell’s contract, and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction in September declined to renew his teaching license.

But in recent weeks, allegations of another incident have emerged. And again, a student and adult were alone – a circumstance that gives the older person a disproportionate ability to manipulate a child and to deny any accusations that might arise. This time, a former school teacher faces a charge of third degree sexual assault. Hennepin County investigators say retired instructor William Rehnstrand assaulted a Superior High School student while mentoring the boy with his senior project. According to a criminal complaint, the incident occurred in Eden Prairie, Minn. Rehnstrand, who is credited with founding the mock trial program in Wisconsin, served on the Superior School Board when the incident allegedly occurred. He resigned that post without explanation on Sept. 22.

Those familiar with child sexual abuse know it typically occurs within the family – or the extended family. Court documents typically paint a situation in which a relative or domestic partner, a person the child usually trusts, initiates abuse while providing care in the absence of parents. Overall, a minority of abuse occurs in other settings, although it tends to receive the most attention, particularly when clergy are involved.

Although the minority of abuse occurs within institutions, they must work harder to ensure sexual abuse is not facilitated through their policies, or lack thereof, and that’s the issue in Superior. In fact, it’s an issue nationwide, having emerged during the presidential campaign, when Republicans took the wrong position for the wrong reason.

GOP operatives purchased ads stating Barack Obama wanted to initiate sex education in kindergarten. Trying to paint Obama as intruding on parental rights, they didn’t explain he was merely advocating a “good-touch-bad touch” program – which already exists for older kids in many communities. It’s inconceivable that a problem as insidious as child sexual abuse would be politicized in this way, but there’s always an element of society that puts its own interests above those of others – including society’s most vulnerable members.

Outside of the political realm, however, some other groups have learned the value of abuse education, including Boy Scouts of America. In Duluth, PAVSA provides an excellent program in which Scouts and their leaders receive instruction in separate rooms. Boys are told how to recognize abuse and urged to report it. Leaders are told to never be alone with boys, and to avoid any type of contact that might be interpreted as suspicious. The Scouting program forbids its leaders from leading boys in the absence of another adult. There always must be at least two leaders present.

And that’s the program flaw that must be addressed by the Superior School district. It’s not a simple one, because students often must seek after-class homework assistance. Both students and staff, however, must understand that such contact can’t be allowed in a society that has lost so much innocence.

The task isn’t impossible. Many schools already are equipped with cameras. It’s time some of them are pointed at instructors. Teachers probably would find the practice invasive and demeaning, but when fighting crimes against children, it’s not fair to monitor some perpetrators while exempting others.

Sadly, the latest incident, if the allegation proves true, occurred within Superior’s senior project program, which challenges kids to firmly demonstrate their mettle before receiving a diploma. It’s a program that deserves to be continued. But without question, one-on-one student-mentor gatherings should be prohibited. This point should be driven home strongly and clearly to students, teachers, parents and the community.

The need for such vigilance is unfortunate, because the overwhelming number of educators are hard-working, intelligent, dedicated individuals who never would harm a student in any way. The number of bad apples nationally is exceedingly low, but their crimes cast a large shadow that can’t be ignored.

Author Ron Brochu welcomes your comments.

Published in the Nov. 21, 2008 Reader Weekly

Campaigns play cruel joke on Northland

By RON BROCHU

Politicians promised much during their recent campaigns, particularly in terms of a stronger economy and plentiful jobs. Sandwiched among accusations of immoral character, socialistic tendencies and financial impropriety, voters were told shiny, happy people will hold hands from Seattle to Miami, Fond du Lac to East End, during the rebound that explodes once we imprison investment bankers, renounce NAFTA, slash corporate taxes and stop redistributing wealth, depending on your silly beliefs.

Despite good intentions, nobody can guarantee communal prosperity, particularly not through partisan economics. At best, such commitments are wishful thinking. At worst, they’re outright lies – right up there with digital phones offering crystal-clear audio quality. Say what?

To pepper the Twin Ports with such off-handed campaign jive is a cruel joke. The current recession is just the latest among several downturns to spotlight that our economy sags worse than Salvador Dali’s vision of life. Forty years in search of recovery, Duluth and Superior are on an economic roller coaster, with job gains typically offset by job losses, new investment by consolidation, decent wages replaced by subsistence pay. Living here requires patience and continuous sacrifice. Patience is essential because it could take a lifetime to find that one perfect job. Continuous sacrifice because your perfect Duluth job probably will never pay on par with the same position in a stronger market. And God help the poor sot who loses that perfect job.

We all thought conditions were improving, with a $6 billion Superior refinery expansion – a dream disseminated more by local reporters than Murphy Oil – and extensive new Iron Range mining investment. Then we learned that pro-business, pro-jobs politicians of every stripe rendered those developments virtually impossible by facilitating the credit crisis and market collapse. Even the stealthiest investors lost their fortunes in a greedy extravaganza fit for Caligula. Today, thanks to Congress, the near-term prospect for multi-billion-dollar investment is slimmer than the potential for expanding a refinery with oil prices in free fall.

For area job holders, many of whom are underemployed, the credit crisis represents another dark day after an age of darkness. Placing investment on hold reiterates the fact that Tommy Toad, the high school idiot who moved to Colorado, is making more money selling truck tires than Don Ness earns trying to unravel Duluth’s municipal catastrophe. It just ain’t fair.

The scenario is much worse for jobless individuals. A quick look at employment sites reveals a stark reality: Few people qualify for those long-promised high-paying industrial jobs. Wanna work on the Range? Hope you can weld, drive a 40-ton truck and swing a crane. By itself, a high school degree won’t open the gate, much less the hiring manager’s door – not even for a sympathy interview with cousin Bob. Even a college degree in the wrong specialty can be worthless.

At best, heavy industry might employ our children or grandchildren, but only if they’ve secured the proper credentials – a two-year technical degree at minimum, with four-year engineering credentials preferred. The rest of us better hone our telemarketing skills, head back to school or hope the Food Shelf opens a store within walking distance.

Lowering the bar

The U.S. Senate campaign featuring Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken set new lows for both parties in Minnesota, if not the nation. Rivaling a cage match between Dr. X and Mad Dog Vachon, their faceoff redefined rude politics, although both will claim the worst ads were sponsored by outside groups. Note, however, that neither candidate asked their supporters to hold off from making third-party, stomach-turning accusations.

On a brighter note, however, they collectively hastened the demise of America’s two-party system. Unfortunately, it won’t happen fast enough. Independent Dean Barkley was unable to profit from the banal Coleman-Franken diatribe, which is difficult to comprehend. If Barkley had the pizzazz of Jesse Ventura, he might have pulled it off, but his personality and reputation weren’t sufficiently audacious to rally the nauseated, disenfranchised folks who simply stayed home Tuesday.

Apparently, it has come to that – a political system that depends upon the groin shot, rabbit bunch and show biz personalities. And may the richest, sickest candidate win.

Author Ron Brochu invites your feedback.

Published in the Nov. 7, 2008 Reader Weekly

Voters won't spare the rod Nov. 4

By RON BROCHU

The desire for revenge will grip Duluth and America Nov. 4 as voters respond to a decade of wrongheaded and arrogant public policy decisions.

In Duluth, voters will spank School Board members by defeating an excess levy that would bolster needed operating funds. Residents will be expressing anger at being denied a vote on the district’s $293 million long-range facilities plan, which they undoubtably would have rejected.

Nationally, voters will smack Republicans for leadership lapses that have crippled the financial system and saddled future generations with trillions in debt. Although Democrats were complicit in the collapse, people will target conservatives for defeat, blaming them for the sins of President George W. Bush, who led the country into a costly and needless war while failing to capture Osama bin Laden, the terrorist responsible for 9-11.

If this prediction proves correct, it will reflect wide scale frustration. Some may even question democracy’s inherent ability to best serve the masses.

It’s difficult to feel sorry for the school board, an ineffectual body that, when it acts at all, generally acts in error. In 2002, members ignored a citizen-led long-range planning initiative developed when Julio Almanza was superintendent. Months of work vaporized as parental recommendations were filed on a shelf to collect dust. The board also rejected numerous school consolidation proposals that were needed to reduce costs. Simultaneously, Almanza refused to close a high school, and he successfully manipulated the passive board to drift aimlessly for years.

After Almanza’s departure, the board hired Keith Dixon. It’s unclear whether they truly sought an administrator who snuffed problems with money bombs or vicariously lusted for his backbone. Either way, their governance swiftly drifted from ineffectual to arrogant.

Many will pay the price.

• Students will lose programs and activities when voters loudly proclaim their disdain for board members.


• Teachers and school staff will suffer as resources decline and class sizes grow.


• Duluth’s reputation will suffer as outsiders learn of the expensive capital improvement costs paired with lack of program support.

This, of course, festers atop municipal sores planted during the terms of Mayors John Fedo and Gary Doty, who held the line on taxes while streets and sewers crumbled and labor contracts grew fat with provisions Duluthians can’t afford. The city’s craggy face screams of the visionary dearth prevalent for 20 years in city hall. Don Ness and future mayors will struggle for decades to restore infrastructure and integrity.

For sure, help is unlikely to descend from Washington or St. Paul.
Even with an infusion of new federal leaders, $10 trillion of debt will leave them with fewer tools than Ness, not to mention bigger problems. As they take office, Americans will be filing tax returns that reflect record investment losses, greatly reducing revenue at a time when it’s desperately needed for healthcare initiatives.
That factor will further reduce Minnesota’s revenue, already eroded by sales tax declines.

Meanwhile, inflation will steadily increase. With Bush and Congress spending money like drunken journalists, simultaneously freezing income taxes, money will be worth less and less. Although the federal bailout is designed to loosen business credit, devalued currency will fuel the problem from the other direction. Higher interest rates will plague real estate brokers, auto dealers, Cirrus Design and other employers whose success depends upon affordable consumer credit.

What better time to bounce the well-dressed vermin who stink up Washington?
Sadly, targeting the true urchins is akin to explaining Keynesian economics at a preschool. Republicans, perceived as favoring deregulation, likely will get the boot. Yet Democrats including Rep. Barney Frank, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, and Sen. Chris Dodd, chair of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, rightly deserve voter disdain. Both fell asleep on the job. Even worse, both hypocrites are blaming “regulators” for ignoring the financial crisis. Not only are both Congressmen regulators, they are the nation’s top regulators. Their arrogance is only exceeded by their guile.

And there’s plenty of that floating around – all the way to the School Board. While nobody expected a chance to vote on the $850 billion Wall Street bailout, everyone expected the chance to vote on the $293 million facilities plan. It was denied only because elected officials manipulated the system to their advantage.

Yet it’s fair to question whether election booth revenge is the answer. It settles a score, but doesn’t necessarily solve the problem. When politicians ignore the electorate, it’s time to put apathy aside and participate in government. That means attending meetings, writing letters and demonstrating who’s in charge. When elected officials fail to act responsibly, responsible citizens get off the couch, and not just on election day.

Author Ron Brochu thinks its time for people to take control of their collective futures.

Published in the Oct. 24, 2008 Reader Weekly

Some kids have ‘goals’ beyond hockey

By RON BROCHU

If hockey jive was money, Duluth would have streets paved with gold. This time of year, there’s never a shortage of puck chat – so much so that it begs a question: Is hockey a sport or an obsession?

Whoa! Are we going to tread on holy turf? Yep.

That thought came to mind Sunday when a Duluth News Tribune cover story lamented the drop in local youth hockey participation. The player count has declined 36 percent compared with 1998, the article said. What has this world come to?

Given the public and private money being invested in Duluth hockey facilities, including those for youth and college, the decline obviously is a big deal – at least in some circles. After all, some hockey enthusiasts have described the sport and new indoor rinks as the savior of youth – the community’s outreach effort to save kids from a life of crime, dope and a plethora of negative influences that range all the way to public skateboarding.

That argument sounds great until you add up the numbers. Enrollment in local schools – including District 709, charter and private facilities – adds up to roughly 11,500 kids. With 680 kids participating in Duluth hockey league programs, the sport serves just 5.9 percent of the young community. Even if the program had retained its former strength, it would serve just one out of every 10 kids, which doesn’t exactly christen it as the generation’s last great hope – not even up here in the Great White North.

By now, some of you think this is an exercise in bashing hockey. That, however, is not so. It’s a keen game of skill that’s actually much more fun to play than to watch. Those who do it well deserve respect.

But as a youth sport, hockey has advanced far beyond its status as a game, becoming an overly competitive endeavor promoted more by parents than students. One key point not mentioned in the weekend article, perhaps because it borders on blasphemy, is the burnout among players. Some are chucking the whole routine despite, and because of, the massive personal investment.

League hockey involves years of early practices, late practices, week night and weekend games, local travel, regional travel, summer camps – all sandwiched between classes, homework and summer jobs. Does this sound like a youth sport, or is it closer to a semi-pro recruiting mechanism that ultimately filters out 99.9 percent of all participants. Truth be told, very few kids advance to the pros – or even Division 1.

This seldom-addressed phenomenon was first brought to my attention about 15 ago by a hockey dad who spent years carting his son’s traveling team throughout the area. Out of nowhere, the boy quit the sport as a high school junior, providing a simple explanation: It was too much. He was tired of the grind. He had other “goals” in life including, of all the weird things, education. Although the kid was relieved, the father was crushed. What now?

He wasn’t the first dad to share that scenario over the years, including some who were coaches. A few actually confessed the game is far too demanding of young persons, at least as a league sport.

A couple decades back, a Milwaukee Journal columnist, whose name I can’t remember, addressed the stark change he had observed while covering youth sports over the years. He experienced an epiphany one day while taking a short walk past a sandlot baseball game. He noticed the kids were cheering, laughing and visibly having fun. Their behavior represented a stark difference from what he saw when covering league sports. During league games, aggressive coaches and parents constantly barked orders at the players – demanding they win. And the players’ demeanor mimicked that of their mentors. They were not laughing, not smiling. There was no clear indication they were having a good time.

This raises the question of whether we need to worry because participation has declined in Duluth youth hockey. If kids are worried, maybe it’s a big deal.
Notably, the weekend DNT story did not include any player input. But if the concern is only among parents, as it appears, then it’s time to review who the program really serves. Is it a game that kids truly crave, or are parents molding their offspring into clones through which they vicariously relive their own past?

Ron Brochu occasionally plays a game of hockey with geezers who thereafter require lots of physical therapy.

Published in the Oct. 10, 2008 Reader Weekly

Duluth’s east-west divide challenges traditional school loyalties

By RON BROCHU

Booze and blasphemy often go hand in hand, but nobody was expecting such depraved talk at a class reunion. After all, we were Denfeld grads.

It was nearly 1 a.m. a year ago when the conversation began to drift away from old hockey games, gags and drunken hill parties.

“The old neighborhood isn’t what it used to be,” someone said, suggesting West End and West Duluth were looking shabby compared with 35 years ago. Further shifting the focus to sociology, as tends to happen as the spirits flow after midnight, classmates lamented the demise of Diamond Tool, the U.S. Steel plant and other good-paying employers. Western Duluth, one pronounced with slurred confidence, had morphed from an upper middle class neighborhood to lower middle class. The current generation has less spendable income, and it’s beginning to show in some quarters, the Class of 72 lamented.

Then came the shocker.

“My children went to Denfeld, but if I had kids today, I’d probably move to some other part of the city,” a classmate uttered, and several others silently nodded with obvious reluctance.

Back when we graduated, such talk would have drawn an ugly response. But times have changed, as illustrated by recent Duluth School District data. In recent Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) tests, local schools that scored in the top 25 percent statewide were largely clustered in eastern or hilltop neighborhoods.

• Among elementary public schools, Lakewood, Lester Park and Congdon Park ranked highest in reading and math, followed by Lowell, Homecroft and Piedmont.


• At the middle school level, Ordean and Woodland stood out.


• East was the only public high school that ranked highly.

Of course, a few stats don’t tell the whole story. At many Duluth schools, students who receive “free or reduced-price meals” (the poor kids) struggled to make adequate yearly progress. A close look reveals those students largely reside in western, hillside and rural neighborhoods.

The district’s “Red Plan” will only worsen Duluth’s unhealthy east-west, rich-poor dilemma, which district officials prefer to ignore. Beyond education, it will steer housing development and existing home sales away from areas of the city perceived to have schools of lesser quality. Even more likely, it will steer families to suburbs such as Hermantown, Esko and Proctor, where they can avoid costs of the massive Duluth school bond and the school board’s reputation for dragging its feet as problems fester for years.

This all came to mind Tuesday when Gov. Tim Pawlenty said Minnesota could improve public education by raising teacher effectiveness – repeating a tired GOP argument that blames teacher for most of America’s education ills. But he’s correct about one thing: Public education could be improved.

Last week, the 2007-08 MCA math test results arrived at my doorstep. Findings for this mandated assessment are classified in four ways. Students either exceed the standards, meets the standards, partially meets the standards or don’t meet the standards. The report wasn’t encouraging. Central High School was on the border line of not meeting the standards. The cumulative school district fared better, but not by much. On a positive note, Duluth students scored slightly better than those statewide. Throughout Minnesota, however, 11th grade students only partially met the math standard.

Ironically, Duluth students fare worse as they grow older. In the city’s public schools, 82 percent scored “proficient” in third grade. By grade 5, that portion of students dropped to 70. In grade 11, only 35 percent of Duluth students (34 percent statewide) are proficient. And we wonder why America faces a financial crisis. Talk to owners of fast food joints and they’ll tell you many young workers can’t make simple change. That’s why some franchises have designed cash registers that basically replace numbers with pictures of the food they serve. Simple solutions for simple minds.

To be fair, higher percentages of students are proficient in reading and writing, although from 20-30 percent still fall through the cracks.

For those who are curious, it’s possible to make school vs. school and district vs. district comparisons, providing you have the patience of a saint and a computer screen wider than Public School Stadium. The Minnesota Department of Education doesn’t go out of its way to present data in an easy-to-understand fashion. Unless you’ve studied Excel and own a high-power computer, don’t waste your time.

Class reunion chat generally carries little street cred, but in this case, the truth slipped through. Duluth remains a divided community, economically and educationally. The problem is getting worse, and elected officials just don’t get it.

Writer Ron Brochu has resided in Duluth long enough to know where the bones are buried.

Published in the Sept. 22, 2008 Reader Weekly

Obit already written for legacy newspapers

By Ron Brochu

The best time to have been a print journalist was 1976. “All the President’s Men” was dazzling movie goers, romanticizing the tough investigative journalism that exposed the Watergate break-in, unseating a passel of low-life political operatives including President Richard Nixon.

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein inspired a generation of J-school grads to crusade for justice from newspaper bully pulpits. Those who reported accurately and fearlessly stood an excellent chance of advancing within an honorable craft. Daily newspapers and their reporters earned high public respect.

Nothing lasts forever. Over time, newspaper credibility diminished in tandem with circulation as an incoming crop of journalists felt entitled to respect without earning it. Nonetheless, reporters and editors exhibited an indignant swagger that insulted traditional subscribers. Publishers, meanwhile, addicted to 30 percent profits, raised advertising rates and slashed newsrooms to perpetuate an ailing business model .

It was a gambit that only a monopoly could sustain, as demonstrated in the Twin Ports. Unable to satisfy greedy stockholders, the former Knight Ridder Inc. purchased many daily and weekly competitors here and elsewhere in a last ditch effort to raise advertising rates. But they already were too high for retail customers, which typically earn profits ranging from 10 to 20 percent of those mustered by corporate newspapers.

As a Duluth News Tribune city editor and Superior Daily Telegram executive editor, I sat through countless meetings at which managers dutifully endorsed silly corporate initiatives designed to maintain hoggish earnings. At one time, the “Flavor of the Month” was demanding greater employee accountability. Later, our charge was to cultivate “richer” stories, even if they had already been broadcast on TV. Our motto: “We may not be first, but we’ll be best.”

Then we moved our focus to reporting on “core communities” rather than providing regional coverage. Focus soon slid to enhancing Internet products. Gimmicks such as live game coverage offered the technological equivalent of 1950s television. Today, the DNT is constantly revising its design, with each day’s cover looking more clownish that the last. So far, however, pre-Internet profits have refused to rebound.

It happened because reporters and editors held the idealistic tenants of journalism in much higher esteem than doggedly covering the news in every corner. When hiring reporters, editors gave much more credence to college pedigree than local connections and knowledge. Even after years of tenure, some newsrooms represented little more than an upscale monoculture. In Duluth, for example, the vast majority of writers and editors reside east of Lake Avenue, knowing and caring little about West End or West Duluth.

Meanwhile, publishers cared more about meeting corporate profit targets than ensuring their customers could meet their own goals through effective, reasonably priced advertising programs. Relationships with civic and corporate moguls proved more important than aggressive reporting, as the DNT proved with its early aquarium coverage.

At all levels, serving owners and egos became the prevailing goal, having more importance than serving customers and challenging institutions.

After working for 25 years at traditional metro papers, I believe the damage is irreversible. People young and old have lost trust in legacy publications. Once lost, that loyalty is nearly impossible to recover. The obituary has already been written; it needs only to be published.
Published in the Sept. 15, 2008 Reader Weekly