As Huff, Besendorfer hopscotch the globe, you can kiss your tax money goodbye

Earlier this year, the Joplin R-8 Board of Education approved a strategic plan which acknowledged that the school's reserve balance would dip as low as eight percent before things start getting better.

 Despite that, district officials have continued to hopscotch the United States, attending seminars, making presentations on how well things are going in Joplin, and almost two and a half years after the Joplin Tornado, offering in-person thank-yous to those that help.

 The spending has also taken place in Joplin, according to Board of Education records, as Superintendent C. J. Huff's August 8 banquet at the Holiday Inn announcing that the district's graduation rates had improved dramatically, resulted in a bill of $2,783.88.

 And tonight, Huff continues his thank-you tour in Weslaco, Texas, where he will thank those in that community who helped Joplin after the tornado and speak on the topic "From the Front: The Joplin Story."

  San Antonio

At least 10 district employees attended the National Career Pathways Network Conference at the Grant Hyatt Hotel in San Antonio where the overriding topic was "Linking Education and Economic Prosperity."

 Topics discussed at the conference included the following:

 "Building a Talent Pipeline That Connects Business with Future Employees"
 "Testing and Common Core Statements vs. the Classroom Environment."
 "Using the Internet and Social Media to Collect Data."

 The district's representatives reportedly made a presentation on career pathways. The cost for registration for the conference (expenses not included) was $5,690.

Next year's conference will be held at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

  Phoenix

Six district officials presented at the National Career Academy Coalition Conference Oct. 24-27 in Phoenix on the subject of "Designing School As Unusual," which reportedly featured another explanation of how the district, to use a phrase that has been used often by Assistant Superintendent Angie Besendorfer, has found a "silver lining in a funnel cloud" and built the kind of schools that they had always dreamed of creating.

 At this point, the records on the cost of that trip do not appear to be in the board documentation.

  Santa Rosa, Calif.

Superintendent C. J. Huff was scheduled to serve as a keynote speaker at the California Emergency Services Association Conference October 17, at the Hyatt Vineyard Creek Hotel in Santa Rosa, Calif., according to the organization's website.

 The following description is given of Huff: Leading in Crisis:

 After one of the most devastating tornadoes on record destroyed a third of the town, Dr. C.J. Huff, Superintendent of Schools in Joplin, Missouri, led his community in an amazing effort to rebuild—transforming this disastrous tragedy into the town’s finest hour. Huff’s demonstrated leadership helped Joplin schools and the community literally emerge from the rubble in what has been called “A model for those who study resilience” by U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad Allen. Named one of People magazine’s 2011 heroes.

That is the same description used about Huff when he was the keynote speaker at the first Bright Futures USA Conference held earlier this month at Missouri Southern State University. It is unlikely that taxpayer dollars were used on this trip.

  Dallas

On Dec. 10, Dr. Besendorfer, Sarah Stevens, Jennifer Doshier, and Jill White will make a presentation at the annual Learning Forward Conference at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in Dallas, about the district's use of teaching/learning coaches.

 Earlier this month. the R-8 Board of Education approved payment of $2,316 for registration for the conference, a savings of $600 because district officials are making a presentation.

 The presentation is described in this fashion on the conference's website:

  Engage in the leadership journey of two high-poverty elementary schools to make teaching visible, student learning viable, and the process replicable. Collaborate around the idea of choosing a focus to drive results, using learning communities, and uncovering the powerful practices of peer observations and data teams. Evaluate the effectiveness and impact an instructional coach can have.

That topic will include information about coaching and school coaches, effective teaching and instruction learning communities/teams and Title I School Improvement

  Washington. D. C.

Just a few days after the Joplin R-8 Board of Education adopted a deficit budget due to construction costs, at least 27 administrators and TLCs learning coaches were staying in Washington's four-star Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center attending the 21st annual Model Schools Conference.

 The 27 listed for the convention did not include Dr. Besendorfer, who also attended.

 The cost for registering for the four-day event, which began on a Sunday and lasted through Wednesday, was $14,310, and the website for the Model Schools Conference indicated that amount did not include the cost of lodging.

If the Joplin contingent stayed at the Gaylord, where prices start at $179 a night, the cost for the junket, not including food was likely somewhere between $20,000 and $30,000.

 The registration fees for the 27 were included in the list of bills approved by the R-8 Board of Education during its June 25 meeting.

 The Model School Conference was sponsored by the International Center for Leadership in Education and was advertised as "Doing More with Less: Common Core, Next Generation Assessments, Teacher Evaluations." The advertising for the event indicated that it was "not just a conference, it is a four-day, intensive professional learning event."

 This was at least the third straight year Joplin has sent a contingent to the conference.

  Joplin

R-8 Board bills indicate that the district paid $2,783.88 to the Holiday Inn in Joplin for the August 8 banquet where Huff announced to an audience primarily made up of Joplin area business and faith-based leaders that the district's graduation rate had improved dramatically.

 The board also paid $2,116 of taxpayers' money for Kimberling City motivational speaker Terri Tucker to run its retreat in June- a meeting which was highlighted by Ms. Tucker's message that the board should ignore those same taxpayers and trust its administrators.

 What the board received from the retreat was noted in a Joplin Globe article:

  Among things that they said the district could have improved upon were the approach of school officials to the redistricting proposal, policy awareness among staff members, and that the district has relatively few counselors and nurses.Other items listed included not dealing with individual parent concerns and not intervening between parents and children, and not becoming involved in the district’s day-to-day operations.

As noted in the September 26 Turner Report, Ms. Tucker at one time was a member of the Reeds Spring Board of Education, where the voters turned her out of office for her support for the district's superintendent at the time- Angie Besendorfer.

 When new board members were elected and Mrs. Besendorfer had left for Joplin, one of the first introductions to the new R-8 assistant superintendent came in the form of a letter to the Globe:

  Only once in a while does a person meet someone who has so perfectly chosen their profession. There are very few “called” to heal people, to comfort people, to protect people, and to teach people. The new assistant superintendent of the Joplin R-8 School District is one of those people who was meant to serve children, make clear their paths and shine the light of possibilities on their horizons. Angie Besendorfer is leaving the superintendent role at Reeds Spring School District and is heading to the Joplin district with anticipation of positively affecting nearly four times the number of students and their families. We thank Angie for her contributions in our community and applaud the people of Joplin for their wise choice. If you open your arms and welcome this wonderful lady, you will find a truly eager servant. Angie taught us to keep focused on what is truly best for children and how our actions attach lessons to them. We will not forget.

Two people signed the letter. One was a woman named Cindy Morris.

 The other is now the go-to consultant/facilitator for the Joplin R-8 School District- Terri Tucker.

 Joplin R-8's Bleak Financial Condition The continued spending comes even after the Board of Education approved a five-year plan which notes that the school is in for deep financial problems and it comes at a time when the board has just held a special meeting in an effort to trim costs from the building projects.

 The plan noted that district's reserves are rapidly vanishing and would likely go as low as eight percent. Meanwhile, in addition to the expenses listed above, over the past few months, the district has added six Career Pathway cioordinators and seven 21st Century learning coaches, put Wi-Fi on trip buses, agreed to pay $15,000 for teachers to update Facebook pages.

 And the list goes on.