Nov. 4, 2010
Duluth News Tribune

Duluth athletic directors selected

Tom Pearson will be in a familiar place next school year.

Pearson, Duluth Denfeld’s activities director since 2008 and a former AD, teacher and student at Duluth Central, will be back at his alma mater in the 2010-11 school year after being selected Friday as one of the two ADs in the Duluth school district’s two-high school facilities plan.

Denfeld students are expected to be housed at Central for at least one year, starting next fall, as Denfeld receives a facelift. Central will then close under the district’s long-range facilities plan.

“I’ll be back at my old stomping grounds for a year or two or however long it will take,” Pearson said. “It’ll certainly be different, but I’ll be back in familiar territory.”

Current East AD Shawn Roed also was retained in that role, leaving Central AD Sue Lehna out of the running. Candidates were interviewed Wednesday by administration officials.

“All the ADs have been anxiously awaiting this, with the uncertainty of it, and now we get to move forward,” Pearson said. “We’re going to be running against the clock; we have a lot of work to do in the next four, five months of school to get ready for the transition. This is just the first step.”

Going from three to two high schools is sure to present its challenges and cause hard feelings.

“It doesn’t matter where the kids are from, we have to find a way to make them feel welcome,” Roed said. “That’s one of the big tasks we have in front of us, and I think we’re going to come through in a real positive way.”