Superintendent’s spin doesn’t change the numbers
By JIM GALEWSKI | Just Jim

Winona Area Public Schools Superintendent Paul Durand gave us a six-figure answer for why the school district spent $133,000 in legal fees the past two years.

It’s an alarming figure and Durand tempered the number by pointing out the district is a $49 million a year business with more than 700 employees, serving thousands of families. In such a large operation Durand says we should expect some legal fees. He’s right, and the news story pointed out the legal fees spent in other school districts.
There are a number of places to put blame if we are looking for a cause. It can also be argued that the board shouldn’t roll over and play dead at every grievance. My question is: Are we winning or losing these grievances?

I don’t think we want to see what the district’s track record is for grievances the district has paid legal fees to defend and lost anyway. Which administrators are causing these grievances and could they have been resolved in a less contentious and less expensive way?

Let’s see how we can achieve some harmony and mutual respect between the administration and its employees. I can almost assure you peaceful resolutions are less costly and not as hurtful. It’s not realistic to think the district wouldn’t ever have a grievance it had to defend. It would be nice if grievances were rare and seldom lost.

We have a choice for school board

Of all the elections coming up this fall, I am most concerned about who would run for the Winona Area Public School Board.

I don’t think our presidential candidates offer us much. Neither will bring about change even though both promise it. Our local school board makes some very important decisions on how we spend about $49 million on our local schools. I was pleased to see we will have a choice in every school board position. Being willing to serve on the school board is a very high degree of public service. The hours are long and the pay is awful. School board members collect $90 a month. That’s barely $1,000 a year for long meetings and dozens of appearances each month. Then there are the phone calls at home from just about anybody. The chairperson of the board gets double that pay, but four times the headache. On top of all that, folks like me criticize your hard work and slam your name around like you just shot the family dog.

We should be thankful we have people willing to work to improve our local schools. It’s not an easy job. Public education has a lot of problems. Just like the auto makers and airlines, public education in Minnesota has a lot of baggage — state mandates, teacher unions and accounting practices that would make a Philadelphia lawyer’s head spin. I’m thankful to every school board candidate who has put her or his name on the ballot. Having a choice can only mean the best for our local schools.

Where were you when the Wilkie was razed?

That’s a question you won’t hear often. We weren’t surprised by the decision of the Winona City Council to vote to tear down the steamboat museum. The council delayed the decision for more than a year.

When it came time to vote to raze the structure, there were only two options to remove the building and leave foundation.

The low bidder for that much work was Winona Mechanical for $43,477. The other option was to take the building and the foundation. That low bid was from Tom Baures Excavating for $80,245. Working from memory, I gave Tim Breza the only credit for saving a little money and removing the building and the foundation. Council member Debbie White directed me to the June 2 minutes where both she and Breza voted against just removing just the building.

Council members Al Thurley, James Kahl, Deb Salyards, George Borzyskowski and Mayor Jerry Miller voted in favor of holding off on removing the foundation. The point I was trying to make was what little good a foundation would be for a fake boat.

By working off memory on the council vote, I proved my memory leaks as badly as the roof of the Wilkie. Neither fact should be much of a surprise.

Galewski is the retired editor and Opinion page editor of the Winona Daily News. His views don’t necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper. If you have an idea or tip about a Winona issue, call Jim at (507) 452-3960. His e-mail is editor@luminet.net.

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