Wednesday, March 04, 2015

Joplin R-8 to elementary teachers: If you weren't at school today, you will pay for it

The following message was sent to Joplin elementary principals today by Jennifer Doshier, who holds the lofty title of executive director of elementary education:


From: Jennifer Doshier
Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2015 11:41 AM
To: Elementary Principals
Subject: Information for today
 
If you have teachers who did not come in today due to weather or you sent home due to weather conditions worsening, please send that list in an email to me, Tina and Erin Parrigon.  
 
Teachers may choose to take a personal day rather than add a contract day at the end.  Please let us know as soon as possible if they want to use a personal day.
 
In the future, it is important to remember that if school is in session, these are contracted days that teachers need to be present, rather than choosing to stay home or go home due to poor weather.  Please emphasize that this is not a precedence we are setting moving forward. 
 
Jennifer Doshier wrote:
Elementary is in attendance the entire school day.
 
Attendance:
 
1.  Please take attendance
2.  Absence will be excused for any that are not there or who were picked up early.  
3.  Do not count this against perfect attendance, referrals for truancy, etc.
 
Staff:
1.  If staff were unable to come in due to the weather, they will make up an extra contract day at the end of the school year.
2.  If staff needs to be sent home due to weather and where they live, you may send them home if it does not impede the need you have with students.  They will make up the rest of their day at the end of the school year if they choose to head home.  
 
Daycare Question:
 
We are not a daycare.  We will continue our school day as usual with the students you have in attendance.  That means learning will take place.
 
PLC:
 
PLC is cancelled today
 
Gifted:
 
Gifted is cancelled today
 
Thank you for your patience and flexibility this morning.  You are each appreciated more than you know!!
 
Jennifer

***

(I would hate to see what she would do if they did not appreciate teachers.)

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

But Randy! That wasn't sent to teachers, it was sent to principals. She appreciates principals, not teachers.

Anonymous said...

So...did the gifted teachers have the day off? What a cluster.

Anonymous said...

I can't imagine why moral is low. Do you have any ideas??

Anonymous said...

I have marked Joplin R8 off a list of districts to look for a job in. Too hateful and low pay. I feel sorry for all of you who work for these people.

Anonymous said...

"In the future...this is not a precedence we are setting to move forward."

You mean this bullshit could become part of the regular chaos? Will we get PD in our opening days next year so we will know what to do?

I hate this place. Not the kids, just the admin. Hag.

Anonymous said...

Is this part of the Standards of Excellence to attract and retain highly qualified teachers and personnel? Between the hateful attitudes, the nonstop changes, and the low pay, I'm thinking they're just not too serious about this standard. Of course, Excellence is subjective. Maybe President Sharp can figure out a way to fix this too.

Anonymous said...

Doshier? More like a doucher...

Anonymous said...

Of course she's a bitch. She was handpicked by Angie Besendorfer as a reward for pushing other people out of their jobs. The majority of the principals that she so appreciates got their jobs the same way. One of them was one of those people mentioned in the audit who didn't even have a principal's certificate yet. Joplin R8 is a lost cause if that board doesn't turn over.

Anonymous said...

While we're all guilty of this, might as well make fun of the English of an educator, of sorts: when she said "precedence", I'm sure she meant precedent.

And, yeah, a very ugly attitude.

Anonymous said...

But I thought Big Daddy loved his personnel. Why, he and President Sharp just told us a few weeks ago that they don't thank us enough (still waiting) and then they gave us a water glass and a cookie with a heart on it. That surely makes up for the fact that we haven't had any raises of significance since Big Daddy got here, but his own salary and benefits have nearly doubled.

Priorities, I guess. And teachers and staff are not their priorities. Thanks, Jennifer, for reminding us where we belong in the grand scheme of things here. The bottom of the barrel. Always good to know these things. Makes leaving so much easier.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of jobs, why are they not posting any certified positions? Before I sign that contract again I want to know if we are going to be losing teachers and my day will be even harder than it has been. You know, more work for less money. Will we have stipends? If I mentor new teachers, will I have 4 or 5 for the same money we used to get for 1 or 2? That kind of information would be useful, now that we know that CJ has had his fingers in the teacher fund.

Anonymous said...

"Cancelled" is usually spelled "canceled." But that's okay. We quit teaching anything but technology a long time ago around here. As Angie said, "They'll pick that stuff up as they go." How's that working for you, R8?

Anonymous said...

Jennifer Dozier: "not a precedence we are setting "

The definition of PRECEDENCE is - "the condition of being considered more important than someone or something else; priority in importance, order, or rank."

Perhaps, she meant PRECEDENT: "an earlier event or action that is regarded as an example or guide to be considered in subsequent similar circumstances."

Methinks she could use a bit more of the education about which she strongly admonishes her teachers.

Anonymous said...

They will pick it up from the bathroom wall of the local fast food joint.,.as they are cleaning it.

Anonymous said...

Priceless (:

Anonymous said...

Hahaha she tried to pull rank on me once too, until she found out I have a degree in the very subject In which she was trying to educate me. I've never seen someone backpedal so fast. She tries to be the great intimidator, but your intelligence is your best defense against her. It backs her into a corner she doesn't know how to get out of without showing her ineptitude, so she clams up and avoids you like the plague. To me, this shows true u professionalism. But then, isn't that how the R-8 is operated... unprofessionally?

Anonymous said...

Take it from a parent of a kid that had her as a principal before she had gastric bypass so she could have the job she has now. She is a b@#&- and a cj huff and Angie butt kisser. Dont think for a min she cares about our teachers remember her last school was McKinley where they cleaned out almost all the teachers because she said so.

Kenen Martinez said...

No wonder why Joplin Schools are so terrible. Maybe R-8 should fold and let Webb City take over

Anonymous said...

It is so sad to watch Joplin School go down the drain. I will never understand how we have gotten where we are! We are an embarrassment to all the other districts around us! Has for Doshier she was a teacher at our child's school and she was a bully! Bullied the kids! Everybody that sits on the school board now needs to be wiped out and we need a clean slate. The taxpayers need to move foawrd together and make this change for our children! Joplin has lost all their good teachers because of the bullying! The change starts with us taxpayers making it happen!

Anonymous said...

Spellcheck and grammar are lacking here. If you're going to ridicule this regime at least try to sound intelligent while doing it. Sounding uneducated minimizes the effect you can have while trying to point out how bad the district is at this point.

Anonymous said...

You should all be ashamed. I've know Jennifer for at least 15 years. Not close friends, but I've worked with her (not for her) and worshiped with her. If there is a person who clearly loves God, people and kids, its Jennifer. None of you know what she has gone through to be in the position she's in now, but you are all quick to cast your stones based on an email suggesting teachers should be in attendance to care for the kids that will be in the elementary schools. She would be very hurt to read the comments on here and I pray she never does.

I am sure you all feel better about yourselves for a moment to cut these people down. Randy Turner was clearly in the wrong and deserved his termination. Now, he spends all of his time trying to cause havoc and harm. Dr Huff has continued to hire and promote some of the most reputible and admirable people you will find in education. That speaks volumes! Don't let Randy Turner suck you into his dimented world of revenge and destruction. I've remained silent a long time, but you have gone way too far.

Anonymous said...

She's awful!! She treated my daughter and I like shit!! She doesn't care about the students or teachers! Not sure how she got a promotion!

Anonymous said...

Amen and thank you so much! I was ridiculed for pointing that out to someone today. Good grammar, spelling and punctuation goes a long way when making your case!

Anonymous said...

First of all, don't end a sentence with a preposition... "does"
Second, ...."demented".
Lastly, the most reputable and admirable people in education went to the wayside (you remember those 300+ teachers that left these past 3 years?) because of the bullying and hostile work environment provided by CJ Huff and his band of bullies. Yes, that includes your apparent idol Jennifer. I've seen her bullying first hand. As one that does not take well to being bullied, I pushed back, she now lowers her eyes when she sees me and scurries away quickly. I don't have to worry about losing my job, therefore she does not intimidate me. Just goes to show, she's only tough when she has something to hold over your head!

Anonymous said...

6:53,
I admire you for standing up for your friend/acquaintance. You are very fortunate not to have experienced some of the things that Jennifer Doshier has done to others. Mrs. Doshier is included on my list of R8 people I've been very disappointed with.
As for Mr. Turner, he did NOT deserve to be fired.

Anonymous said...

I came here to type the same comment!

Anonymous said...

I laughed at this comment and then the more I thought about it realized this is perhaps the best idea anyone has had.

Anonymous said...

Hi Jennifer!

Anonymous said...

Joplin administration have this annoying habit of telling us that we are appreciated "more than we know." Sadly, it might be the only honest thing they ever say, because if we are appreciated at all, at any level, it is more than we know. I'm not thinking this week's work is going to help them retain us. It's just too bad that they don't care about that. New teachers are cheaper than experienced teachers, and every dollar counts right now in this district who's superintendent simultaneously claims that we have no financial woes, but he is concerned about the general fund.

Anonymous said...

*whose

Anonymous said...

I'm not totally sure why everyone is so upset by this. Was the snow day handled in the best way? Absolutely not. However, there were other districts who canceled late and I don't see anyone complaining about them. I know Joplin has gotten a bad reputation, and deservedly so, but this e-mail simply addresses the fact that elementary was in session, teachers who chose to stay at home would make up a snow day with the rest of the folks who didn't have to come in, or they could choose to use a personal day. As a teacher in another district, last year we had days where teachers had to come in and kids didn't. If we felt it wasn't safe for us to drive, we used a personal day. It was our choice. Other than the horrible timing of this snow day event, I'm not seeing how this is any different.

As Joplin alumnae and an educator, I am disappointed in the path Joplin has taken. However, there are far worse things to complain about than this that are happening every day.

Anonymous said...

It can't be this easy to get into the schools Exchange server to extract emails can it?

Anonymous said...

@4:45

Good for you. I'm happy you can take such a high road, judgmental that it is. As was said before, perhaps if this were just one of very few errors in judgment it wouldn't matter. But what it is one of hundreds of errors in judgment. How would you like to see the district in your community become a place where your colleagues and friends are fired unjustly or bullied until they give up and leave to make room for friends of people like this person? It hasn't happened once. It has happened over and over. How would you like to see all the work that went into "climbing Mt. Joplin" come undone because of the poor judgment of your administration? We were at the point of being unaccredited with Dr. Simpson came here. Within a few years we were accredited with distinction and stayed there for years. In fact, we stayed there until Dr. Huff came. We didn't just slide back down the mountain. We have tunneled under it. Every single day is an effort in frustration.

How would you like to work where the students receive no discipline so that there are no referrals to report? Where you don't have enough materials to use and no hope of getting any? Yet the pressure to attain an ever moving educational target is never ending. One new program after another. How about working where your paycheck has gone in the opposite direction and your stipends are diminishing? How would you like to have to worry every day about saying or doing something inconsequential that could actually get you fired if the wrong person takes it in the wrong way? Suspicion is everywhere. Trust is nowhere.

In this atmosphere little things count, like having to make up a day because the weather played against you, and that call made by an administrator who takes trips around the country continually, while on the district dollar, to make speeches about how heroic he was in saving us all from ourselves and that tornado. He makes up to an extra $8,000 a day that way. How nice for him. And the woman who wrote this email? Threw another administrator under the bus so she could have this job. Being good at your job is not what counts in order to become an administrator here. It's being willing to hurt others in order to promote yourself that counts.

Don't judge us. Why do we stay? Because it's our community and our children have been through enough without every teacher they have ever known getting up and leaving. We shouldn't have to. The Board should be able to look at the evidence around them and dismiss the man, and all his helpers, who made this mess. But since they can't seem to do that, we will protest in the only safe manner we can, and we will vote against them until they are all cleaned out of office. We won't stop until they are all gone. If it offends you, then stay where you are and read something else. We are fighting "for our kids."