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My Brief Impresson of Mary Glass LeBlanc Mary has been the Board Chairman for the last year. She is soft spoken but has a West Duluth toughness and grit. In her early years on the board she felt duty bound to advocate for more financial resources for the children in western Duluth. In recent years the state legislature has begun targeting just such children thus vindicating her efforts on their behalf. Until the last two years, when the old members felt an obligation to reinforce each other in the face of a united opposition, Mary voting was always unpredictable. She believes it is improper to so much as hint at how she will vote. Although such a stance has seemed a little naive to me there is no question that she is a shrewd and pragmatic school board member. In a game of cards it would be called keeping her cards close to her vest. In the face of withering criticism of the School Board in this recent election and the early fatalism of the old board members Mary picked up some of the fatalism herself. This despite the fact that as our current Board Chair she got a lot of name recognition. When the election tide began to turn in her side's favor Mary took heart and worked tirelessly. Mary has always been the quickest member of the Board of Education to take me to task for my unorthodoxies, however she has always done so privately. She even told me she wished I would resign from the Board when I was feuding with the DFT union leader. Even the four new members did not express that desire. As long as I'm well behaved Mary should have no problem with me. The election has reinforced our alliance and Mary felt much put upon by the supporters of the new board members although they did not attack her until the last week of the campaign. I'm sure it will be as hard as ever to predict her votes.
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