When Dobelle was a young Rockefeller Republican, he came to Delaware to work on the campaign of former Gov. Russell Peterson. After Peterson won, Dobelle stuck around Wilmington for a few years before returning to Massachusetts to become the mayor of his hometown, Pittsfield. He switched to Democrat and become an early supporter of Jimmy Carter. He went on to become Carter's White House chief of protocol and later treasurer of the Democratic National Committee. Dobelle is now president of Trinity College in Hartford.
Trinity is in a depressed neighborhood.
One of his early ideas was acquiring several depressed blocks adjacent to the college and developing a new public school complex on them. The completed Learning Corridor opened in September. One is a math and science academy and the other is an academy of the arts. These share a commons building containing athletic facilities and a swimming pool. All the new schools are inter-district magnets, designed to serve both city and suburban kids.