Letter to the Editor

Duane Lund is also Mr. NJPA

I read with great pleasure last week’s article on Dr. Lund. He certainly was “Mr. Staples.” But did you know that among his many great accomplishments was also the birthing of NJPA! 

The 1976 Minnesota Legislature passed enabling legislation calling for 50 percent of the eligible public school districts in each Governor’s Development Region to sign a petition requesting that an Educational Cooperative Service Unit (ECSU) be allowed to form in their region. The deadline to sign the petition was Sept. 1, 1977. 

With only seven weeks to go and only 13 of the potential 28 school districts in Region Five signed on, Dr. Lund sent a letter to his fellow superintendents. He told them that one more district was needed or this opportunity would be lost. As a result, Little Falls Public Schools became the 14th district to sign the petition on July 12, 1977.

Even though Staples was no where near the largest public school district in Governor’s Development Region Five, Dr. Lund was instrumental in organizing the first Board of Directors and hosting the Organizational Meeting on Jan. 12, 1978. The Bylaws were adopted for ECSU-5 that night and Richard Hegre was hired as the first Executive Director. The Staples School District became the fiscal host and ECSU-5, later to be known as the National Joint Powers Alliance (NJPA) was born. 

Today we read good things about NJPA every week. Annual sales on behalf of member school districts, cities, counties, states, other governmental agencies and non-profit organizations throughout the country are fast approaching $2 billion. Without Dr. Lund’s efforts, there possibly would be no NJPA, and if there was, it certainly would not be located in Staples.

Ever ask yourself why this huge new building with all of its employees is located in Staples? Now you know.

Gary Nytes

Staples, Minn.