Letter to the editor: Wrenshall has a gem of a school campus

As a 1966 graduate of Morgan Park High School, I befriended many Wrenshall graduates in that era.

Morgan Park was a K-12 school, then a middle and high school, then just a middle school and now it’s gone forever. It was replaced by apartments as a result of Duluth’s consolidation known as the Red Plan, which cost taxpayers upwards of $300 million dollars.

There are only a handful of K-12 school buildings left in the state. It is my belief these are diamonds in the rough. Wrenshall has always been K-12 and now has a trades facility to boot.

When I questioned former superintendent Kim Belcastro, she said more than 50 percent of Wrenshall’s students were open-enrolled. It seems like students looking for a small school experience like Wrenshall are the low hanging fruit, each one bringing over $10,000 a year in school funding. To market the school on television stations KBJR or WDIO could cost $10,000 and might help fill the school, as I suggested to the board.

I’ve read stories in the Pine Knot that suggest Carlton is discouraged by the tone of the Wrenshall school board, as am I. I propose a petition to keep Wrenshall a K-12 and not consolidate with Carlton. Then parents won’t have to drop their kids off at two different schools.

Tim Kaspari, Wrenshall