[Speed Gibson,
Sunday October 3, 2004 at 2:01pm]
The Robbinsdale School District
When I was in high school, if you asked people to name the top school districts in the Twin Cities, you always got Edina, and nearly as often, District 281, the "Robbinsdale" school district. This district is actually quite large, serving Robbinsdale, Crystal, New Hope, plus portions of Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Golden Valley and Plymouth. Total enrollment is about 13,500 students this year.
Robbinsdale is no longer an elite school system in Minnesota. In fact, it is now among the most problematic, compounded by escalating costs and declining enrollment. What happened?
There are all sorts of reasons offered, many valid to a degree, but missing the real point: forty years ago, the parents (our parents) were in charge. Education Minnesota is clearly in charge now. Just ask Cheri Pierson Yecke. Without the old restraints, the public schools, like all hierarchies tend to ultimately support themselves, not their causes, and that is what has happened here, especially the larger districts like 281.
What has happened to Robbinsdale and other large districts like Osseo will happen to the others eventually, for the same reason: lack of parental (customer) control. It happened first to the larger districts because they could afford more experts to accelerate the decline. One of the reasons for Wal-Mart's success was that its founder Sam Walton was ever wary of adding "experts" to the corporate staff. He wanted decisions made at the lower levels by those affected by them, not experts at headquarters with one-size-fits-all solutions.
The best thing Robbinsdale could do now is to break itself up into two or three smaller districts, to get closer to its customers. Close and sell the Administration building and release all of its employees.
Robbinsdale is no longer an elite school system in Minnesota. In fact, it is now among the most problematic, compounded by escalating costs and declining enrollment. What happened?
There are all sorts of reasons offered, many valid to a degree, but missing the real point: forty years ago, the parents (our parents) were in charge. Education Minnesota is clearly in charge now. Just ask Cheri Pierson Yecke. Without the old restraints, the public schools, like all hierarchies tend to ultimately support themselves, not their causes, and that is what has happened here, especially the larger districts like 281.
What has happened to Robbinsdale and other large districts like Osseo will happen to the others eventually, for the same reason: lack of parental (customer) control. It happened first to the larger districts because they could afford more experts to accelerate the decline. One of the reasons for Wal-Mart's success was that its founder Sam Walton was ever wary of adding "experts" to the corporate staff. He wanted decisions made at the lower levels by those affected by them, not experts at headquarters with one-size-fits-all solutions.
The best thing Robbinsdale could do now is to break itself up into two or three smaller districts, to get closer to its customers. Close and sell the Administration building and release all of its employees.