Friday, February 13, 2015

Kimbrough endorses Jennifer Martucci for R-8 Board of Education

Joplin R-8 Board of Education member Jim Kimbrough, who is not running for re-election, has endorsed Jennifer Martucci for the one-year position on the board.

In a message on Martucci's Facebook campaign page, Kimbrough writes the following:

Joplin Parents, Patrons and Students,

We have a very important school board election coming up on Tuesday, April 7th. After careful consideration I am endorsing the candidacy of Jennifer Martucci.


I’ve served as a Joplin classroom teacher and coach for 20 years; a junior high & high school assistant principal for 12 years and served 9 years as a member of the Joplin Board of Education. Through the past 40+ years I have developed an understanding of how the district operates; what has worked and what has not. I’ve seen our district move up Mount Joplin and become Accredited with Distinction for six consecutive years (2004-2010). The impetus behind that success was higher academic expectations for our students and an unwavering focus on academic performance. Jennifer has pledged to work tirelessly, in a collaborative manner, to refocus the district on improving student academic achievement.

In addition to being a wife and mother, Jennifer has the academic credentials (Bachelor’s Degree) and K-12 educational experience that will allow her to be an invaluable advocate for Joplin parents, patrons and students. Secondly, she has demonstrated her commitment and support of our community by serving on both city and school district committees. Finally, Jennifer has the integrity, the common sense and the tenacity that will be needed to move Joplin Schools up the academic ladder towards excellence. Therefore, I am supporting Jennifer Martucci for School Board.

I would encourage you to contact Jennifer with any and all questions you might have regarding her candidacy.

Respectfully,

Jim Kimbrough

Kimbrough and Debbie Fort have been asking probing questions during recent Board of Education meetings and have broken away from what had been a recent Board of Education tradition of blindly following the recommendations of Superintendent C. J. Huff with 7-0 votes.

Martucci is one of three candidates for the one-year position, which was added to this year's ballot after Dawn Sticklen resigned following her decision to enroll her daughter at Webb City High School. The board appointed Shawn McGrew to serve until April. McGrew is not running for election. The other candidates are McGrew's former campaign treasurer Nancy Good, who is the president of the not-for-profit Bright Futures USA, and Melinda Campbell.

Voters will also select two of three candidates for three-year terms on the board. Those running are current Board President Ann Sharp, Jeff Koch, who barely missed out in last year's board race, and former Joplin Police Chief Lane Roberts.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not Good or Campbell

Anonymous said...

Amen!

Anonymous said...

We need Fort, Martucci, Koch, and Roberts on that board. The sooner the better. The destruction must be stopped.

Anonymous said...

5;09
I am in complete agreement with you. It is the only way we are going to get our school district back!
QUESTION FOR WHOEVER KNOWS
What is the board member ratio to fire Huff?

Anonymous said...

When the schools were re districting what elementary schools fed into the three middle schools, Martucci was a vocal challenger. She said many things about North Middle School that were untrue. Her comments were driven by emotion, and not facts. Her comments were irresponsible. I know many of the educators who were offended and outraged by her allegations. Because of this, I do not think she will be a good School Board member. I will not vote for her.