No Forum on the First Day of School

There’s an editorial in the StarTribune today about recognizing the importance of school through celebrating the first day. It is based, in part, on a program in St. Louis Park called “Day One”.

Recognizing the importance of education by respecting the first day is also the reason that there is no Monthly Forum for the NDDC today.

If you’ve been following it the past four years or so, you’d have seen that the 1st Tuesday of every month seems to follow a three-day weekend more than once a year. The first day back at work after a long weekend can be a challenging morning to draw a crowd. However, we at the NDDC stuck to our schedule and managed to motivate dozens of people to join us at the Archer House and listen to the month’s topic.

For the past few years, Board Member and Outreach Committee Chair Amy Gage (of St. Olaf College) has questioned our practice of holding Forums on the first day of school. This year she really stressed her opinion, vigorously and repeatedly. The NDDC Executive Committee discussed it, agreed with her, and decided that we wouldn’t have a Forum for September, freeing parents (and grandparents) to participate in the first day of school.

Northfield might not have enough things in place yet to have the mayor greet the buses or a local restaurant donate food but the NDDC has done its little part to get the ball rolling to begin to recognize the importance of education and to celebrate the first day of school.