Parent warns ALC placement at former DNT building lacks space, safety and amenities

At the Duluth School Board listening session, citizen and parent Chris Vold urged board members to reconsider plans to house the Alternative Learning Center (ALC) and other district programs in the former DNT building downtown, saying the site lacks basic amenities and could harm students’ learning environment.

Vold described the space in stark terms: students would be placed in “a single undersized classroom with 2 windows facing a parking ramp in the alley” and the building would have “no gym, without any green space or recess, without a single space large enough to hold a student body.” He said the ALC classrooms would be “on a dark and crowded second floor shared with adult education students.”

Vold urged board members to imagine the perspective of the most vulnerable students who would attend the ALC. “Is that a school or detention center?” he asked. He said the setting could be especially damaging for students referred to the ALC because they had not succeeded in traditional schools, and worried students might spend years in cramped conditions with no identity or autonomy for their school experience.

Vold said parents and community members had concerns about safety and the downtown environment outside the building, including the presence of people experiencing homelessness and sanitation issues on adjacent sidewalks. He said the board members’ decisions will be recorded and urged them to consider whether they would accept such conditions for their own children.

The board did not take formal action on the ALC site during the listening session. Vold called for board members to consider alternatives and to remember students’ needs when approving sites for specialized programs.