Thursday, September 19, 2013

Day Eight: Joplin Globe still has no story on porn photos of Joplin students

I suppose I could start a countdown on how long it takes before the Joplin Globe runs a story on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) investigation into the Joplin R-8 School District, but one countdown is probably one too many, so I won't.

As you can tell from the headline, the Joplin Globe, the alleged area newspaper of record, has now gone eight days without following up on the Turner Report story taken from public records that the former Joplin School District Technology Department employee who was arrested in February on child sex charges admitted to law enforcement at that time that he had pornographic photos of 10 Joplin students on his laptop.

Why is this story important?

Not for shock value, though it certainly has that in abundance. It is important for the following reasons:

-It is a story about a violation of student privacy by a pedophile whose job included the monitoring of the student laptops.

-What privacy do students have on those laptops now? Is this a case of an employee hacking or is this involve software that any employee could use?

-Why were parents told by Superintendent C. J. Huff that Ronny Justin Myers had no access to students, when he clearly did have access to at least 10 students?

-Why weren't parents told about what had happened and hopefully reassured by administrators that this would never happen again?

-Why was the Joplin R-8 Board of Education never told about this?

Privacy, safety, and the judgment of the people who are in charge of the Joplin R-8 School District. Those are the three reasons why this story is so important.

Eight days and the Joplin Globe has still shown no inclination toward touching this story.

Thankfully, the Globe is not the only news source the patrons of the Joplin R-8 School District have.


14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't receive a call concerning their suspicions of you. Should they have called every parent of an EMS student and give us a heads up??

Anonymous said...

All excellent questions that deserve to be addressed and investigated by a community newspaper. One would think that Candide, before his reality check, were the editor of the Joplin Globe: In Joplin, "it's the best of all possible worlds!"

Anonymous said...

Thankfully, you're no longer an employee of the Joplin R8 School District.
Something tells me the Globe is not exactly spooked that you're calling them out on this.
Your thankful the Globe is not the only source of news for the patrons of the R8, I'm sure your credibility is such that everything you post is 100 percent God honest truth without bias or agenda.
Carthage Press, Diamond, Joplin R8 ... who's next? Or did everyone finally wise up.

Anonymous said...

I am not commenting about why the Globe hasn't reported on this (I don't get that). I am questioning Randy's outrage over the lack of communication with the parents by the admin about this pervert. Perhaps the parents of the girls who were on his computer HAVE been contacted. Perhaps there is a confidentiality issue. Remember Randy is the one who had a voice recorder hidden on his body so that he could be ready to record the meeting he had with someone in the admin. (Clearly breaking the rules set by his bosses) The meeting he wasn't aware was coming? Then why was he fitted with a recording device? Either he is lying about not knowing or he was recording the kids for some reason. Either way it paints a picture that is unflattering. I don't believe ONE word he writes about ANYTHING concerning Joplin R-8. He is obsessed.

Randy said...

Anonymous 2:00- There is so much wrong with your comment, it is hard to know where to start. In the first place, it does not matter whether the school district contacted the parents of those whose photos were on the computer. There were four of the 10 who were identified. That would indicate there are six others who were not identified and on telling how many others Myers watched at one point or another. There is no confidentiality issue involved in telling parents about that possibility, an embarrassment factor, an outrage factor, a lawsuit factor, perhaps, but not a confidentiality factor.
You obviously did not follow my case very well either. Right before spring break, my computer was confiscated. I was never given any reason why. Since I already did not trust the people who were running the school district, when I was called into the meeting, you had better bet I made sure it was recorded. Yes, I was told by Tina Smith that it was against board policy to record the meeting and that was one reason I was fired. Remarkably, the board policy that she cited makes no mention whatsoever of recording that type of meeting, only meetings involving students. It was the kind of bullying tactic that Ms. Smith and her superiors have been using ever since they arrived. All of that came out during my hearing. And there has been no mention whatsoever of me recording kids. Now come on, C. J., surely you can find people who are more intelligent than this to fight your battles for you.

Anonymous said...

As a parent, I want to know if my child has been spied on by a pedophile. I want to know if he had her pictures. Are they on the Internet? He had access to her address and personal information. And that doesn't worry the Globe or administration? It worries me. I have a right to know, and that right was denied me in order to protect Joplin administrators and their beloved computers.

Anonymous said...

Obsessed, you bet...when you are falsely accused you either give up or fight back...I gave up ..thank you Randy for continuing your pursuit ...any negative comments you know are coming from the Admin Building & their henchmen...this has got to stop somehow & just may happen sooner than they smugly think...Coach purses, Mercedes cars, $600,000 mansions, trios, ....KARMA guys better spend the money while you are still employed & not in prison...:-)

Anonymous said...

Obsessed, you bet...when you are falsely accused you either give up or fight back...I gave up ..thank you Randy for continuing your pursuit ...any negative comments you know are coming from the Admin Building & their henchmen...this has got to stop somehow & just may happen sooner than they smugly think...Coach purses, Mercedes cars, $600,000 mansions, trios, ....KARMA guys better spend the money while you are still employed & not in prison...:-)

Anonymous said...

I find it amusing that the personal attacks on Mr. Turner have fired up since the investigation into the district began. Do you all think those attacks will help the situation? I believe we call that misdirected anger. Get a grip people and own up to your misdeeds. It's too late now for this kind of thing.

Anonymous said...

I will tell you what, I would have hired a lawyer ASAP to confront this & I have the background & $ to turn you all into dust...Klista is such a mess...Angie , admit it, you screwed up, Tina get a life & go back to your Gestapo job you must have had before, Huff remember you are the boss.,,..,I am pulling for you because I think you are surrounded by a cobra & her den..,..,please stop crying back & fight back...I think you would be surprised t the number of supporters...

Anonymous said...

Huff is the boss and therefore ultimately responsible. If he couldn't control his staff then he was a failure as a boss. And he is not innocent. Stop deluding yourself. Just wait and see. If he is "crying back" then why on earth would you want him? You negate yourself. He is obviously not in control of anything, including himself.

Anonymous said...

If CJ had any brains, we wouldn't be watching this spectacle unfold.

Anonymous said...

3:42--
If you have the background and the dollars to do something about this mess, then why didn't you? It would be your civic duty, it would seem to me. As for Klista Lawyer Reynolds Rader, she got a promotion out of this deal, so I wouldn't look for her to be telling anything about what was on those computers. She's really just an expert at digging through other people's Facebook accounts so she can give false witness. Everyone in that building is corrupt. If they weren't, they would leave. An honest person wouldn't be able to stand it.

Anonymous said...

--Why were parents told by Superintendent C. J. Huff that Ronny Justin Myers had no access to students, when he clearly did have access to at least 10 students?

I can't speak with certainty about a computer system I haven't seen, but there is no reason he had to have access to students, or even the laptops to get pictures off of them. If they are networked he'd just need admin passwords. Of course the man is clearly dangerous and might have been able to find them, but he could have done that even if he had never worked for the school.