Then the new superintendent arrived. About 40'ish. His first actions were a little controversial. The older secretary that everyone knew and loved was fired. In her place came a young blond, beautiful adminstrative assistant. Even though she did not know shorthand, she had a lot of nice qualities. I thought she was just fine. Did I say she was beautiful? O.K.
John Kennedy had just taken office and there was a burst of fresh optimism everywhere. My dad got so enthusiastic he even bought a new car--a very unusual thing for him to do. Had to get the economy moving again. Anyway.
At one of the first Mahtomedi School Board meetings of the new superintendent, he made a bold annoucement. He showed the school board a graph of live births from 1940 to 1960 and announced that there was a crisis of epic proportions right here in our small town. We had to take action immediately. At the current rate of live births, we would be needing one new school immediately and possibly another in five years.
He went on to explain that the data was firm. There was no need for outside consultants. Why hire a man to read your watch when he might just tell you the time and then steal the watch. We could do the job right here in Mahtomedi. It was real clear.
So they built BIG.
Sometime after the christening of the new school, a new report came out. It seems that a new development had occured. It was called "birth control." That one small detail had changed everything.
Now Mahtomedi had a chance to lead. It went to the very top, TOP of the list of highest taxed municipalities in Minnesota-----and remained at the top for 20 years at least.
The new superintendent was discredited. Everyone in town said, "Surely he could have done an "impact study" and learned that his data was flawed for the future."
So---as a very young man I learned about two very powerful things----birth control and impact studies. Make a note of it.
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