Wednesday, November 27, 2013

An offer you can't refuse: The empire that C. J. and Angie created- Part II

The work day began early and ended late for one of the best principals in the Joplin R-8 School District.

Beloved by parents and staff, she had every reason to believe that she would be staying in her current position until the day, far in the future, when she retired.

As far as this principal knew, she was still on the good side of Assistant Superintendent Angie Besendorfer, something that was not easy. She, like the rest of the principals in the district, spent much of her time attending a series of never-ending, totally scripted meetings called by Besendorfer.

They always began with celebrations, though many of those seemed to be forced, just because she required them to have something to celebrate.

On this particular day, the principal received an unexpected visitor from the central administration office.

The greeting was friendly, but the principal sensed something was wrong. That was confirmed moments later, when the visitor said, "We want your resignation effective at the end of the school year."

The principal asked why, what had she done wrong? It wasn't anything she had done, the principal was told. Room had to be made for someone else and she was the one who had to go.

"And if I don't resign?"

"Then we will make sure you never work again."

Suddenly, resignation became an offer the principal couldn't refuse.

For a brief time, the principal thought about fighting, but she had heard one horror story after another about those who got in the way of what Angie Besendorfer wanted.

She submitted her resignation.

Things did not quite turn out the way Besendorfer expected. People were upset about what had happened to the principal and the chosen replacement would have been walking into a buzz saw. So someone new was brought in at that school, while Besendorfer promoted another principal, Jennifer Doshier of McKinley Elementary to central office, and saw to it that the person she wanted as a principal, former director of curriculum and instruction Terri Hart was the new principal at McKinley, despite not having a principal's certificate.

This principal is not the only one who received the Besendorfer treatment. Two others reported that after they were ushered out of the R-8 School District through no fault of their own, potential employers received calls from Besendorfer suggesting that hiring them might not be a good idea.

In one of those cases, the school board, being familiar with Angie Besendorfer, immediately hired the former principal.

When Besendorfer decided she wanted someone out of the way, she had no problem with putting the people in the technology department to work digging up dirt on those people. She worked hand in hand during the past couple of years with the technology director and human relations director Tina Smith to usher out one teacher after another. Others, tired of dealing with a school district that held little value for teachers or staff, left on their own. Not many of them left because their spouses had found work in another community, as Superintendent C. J. Huff said, or because of lingering after-effects from the tornado.

By the time Besendorfer was done, more than 200 teachers had left the district in less than 13 months, or nearly a third of the teaching staff.

I was one of those people. In March 2012, I was called in to East Middle School Principal Bud Sexson's office after I had written a Turner Report post about Missouri Southern State University President Bruce Speck. I was told that H. R. Director Tina Smith (at the time I did not know who that was) had said I was not to write about Missouri Southern or Bruce Speck any more because Bruce Speck was a friend of the district and a "lunch buddy" at East. Furthermore, Sexson said "they" did not want me to write any more about politics or politicians because they wanted to get money from them. He did not say who they were.

At approximately the same time, I have since found out, Besendorfer ordered tech workers in the Administration office to "find something on Randy Turner."

This was four months before the book that supposedly got me fired, No Child Left Alive, was published, and a full year before the publication of Scars from the Tornado, the book that supposedly stirred the administration's effort and began the research that uncovered No Child Left Alive.

When something was found on me, it was taken to Besendorfer and miraculously at about the same time, Besendorfer's friend, Lisa Orem, the administrator who, according to DESE, is only qualified to be a K-8 teacher, began her own research on me and uncovered a little known website that I had used for classroom purposes three years earlier and had put a post on it offering free downloads of No Child Left Alive.

After that, someone in upper administration slipped word to the Joplin Globe about No Child Left Alive, virtually ending my chances of being hired by a school district and forcing me into the May 23 hearing, where Tina Smith referred to my students showing signs of "grooming," Technology Director Klista Rader said I tagged more photos of school girls than boys (though I have never "tagged" anyone), Bud Sexson called me a liar who had never told him about the tornado book, and of course C. J. Huff cried and said he couldn't sleep at night if I stayed in the school district.

These are just a handful of the lives Angie Besendorfer, with the look-the-other-way consent of Huff and the members of the Joplin R-8 Board of Education, have attempted to ruin. There are many, many more stories and with Besendorfer finally announcing her departure today, I have a feeling that finally, at long last, the truth about the last few years and the horrors that teachers and staff in the school district have had to live through, will finally be revealed.

The empire that C. J. and Angie created, was built on fear, and that kind of power never lasts long.

(More to come)

Bleeding the taxpayers dry: The empire that C. J. and Angie created- Part I

23 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:28 AM

    Lets hope we can return to something that isn't evil like Besendorfer has perpetuated in Joplin Schools. Good riddance, I hope Jay Nixon and everybody else involved is happy with you! We aren't!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous11:38 AM

    She has hurt so many people. And no one stopped her. The Board knew. They were told. But they let it go on. How can they be so cruel to their staff? It's a step, but only a small step, toward the real healing that must take place if the district is to survive. The game is over and all of her little mercenaries need to be looking at Plan B.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous11:40 AM

    I'm torn between sending Nixon a thank you card or dropping any support I might have given him. Hard call..

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous12:16 PM

    Bad news. Many of the good employess have left. Many of the Besendorfer/Huff crew have risen to power.

    You can't put it back the way it was, but it can be made better.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous1:42 PM

    Forever grateful that we made the decision to spend the money for private education. This district is not heading in a positive direction. In private education the parents are part of decisions and our opinions are valued. I do not know what I would do if we ever had to leave our school, I would work and extra job if I had to.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous1:54 PM

    Oh, Angie won't take any of her crew with her...she used them for own her own steps "up the career path"... They are on their own now & she won't look back ...she finally realized the mess she caused & ran ...before she got fired just as she did in her previous schools...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous3:49 PM

    People bitch, piss, Moan and complain, people get fired, people move on, get run out, people blog about it, ..........who really cares? This is how it has to be or else we would have a Utopian society. Deal with it people, complaining on some obscure blog will not create change.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous4:22 PM

      The irony is, 3:49, is you just did what you said the rest of the world shouldn't. Yes, all of you R8 people should suffer silently. Be meek public servants. Doormats for the superior minded such as 3:49.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous5:36 PM

    4:22....your post is absent of any logic. Read the post again. I complained of absolutely nothing. You amuse me.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous6:01 PM

    You are such a liar. Anyone who treated their boss the way you treated yours would have gotten the boot day 1. Funny I don't know of any teachers that got escorted out of the building other than YOU. I guess it makes you feel better to make others think it happens all the time. Also do you think another school district would ever hire you after the total smear job you have done on your previous employer? Certainly not if they decided to read that book that is filled with bj's, teacher-student relationships, and a school shooting. You have no one to blame but yourself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous4:04 AM

      There is no lie here. There are many people who have been abused by the current administration under the blind eye of the school board. Quit attacking Turner and start worrying about what he's telling you. It's the truth.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous6:21 PM

    Anyone is administration is going to make people mad OR THEY ARE NOT DOING THEIR JOB! Kudos to Dr. Besendorfer!

    You all have a lot of anger built within. It isn't healthy! SEEK COUNSELING .... you desperately need it!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous6:24 PM

    Anyone in administration is going to make people mad OR THEY ARE NOT DOING THEIR JOB! Kuddos to Dr. Besendorfer!

    You all have a lot of anger built within. It isn't healthy! SEEK COUNSELING .... you desperately need it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous4:11 AM

      Most people accept that they will not always agree with their supervisors. The documentation provided by Turner, though, negates that this is just ranting by self-centered, disgruntled employees. Go read the documents. They'll be tough for the R8 drones who are used to not thinking very hard, but once you're enlightened you'll understand how ridiculous your posts are. The people who need counseling, both legal and spiritual, are those who have carried out those illegal and unethical deeds. Their time is short and they know it. And that kind of pressure causes people to do desperate things-like leave their jobs in the middle of the year to take another job that their boss has conveniently found for them. The rats are fleeing the ship they sank. Deal with it.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous7:45 PM

    6:24 must be a Bessie drone! A drone that will left behind & will have anger issues in a few months when they realize they have been left on their own!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous9:17 PM

    And you must be a turner drone. Funny how you can't disagree on this blog with anyone otherwise there is an effort to immediately claim you must work for r8. As if no one could possibly have a dissenting opinion without being affiliatef with the school. I pity your inability to keep an open mind and be thoughtful. For the record, I am not a teacher and have never worked in Joplin...lol.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous6:32 AM

      9:17--
      I don't know about the person you're addressing, but following Turner isn't the worst thing a person can do. He's the only source of true news we have. That it makes some people uncomfortable is unfortunate, but that's what the truth does sometimes.
      Keep up the good work, Mr. Turner. You obviously are striking a nerve.

      Delete
  14. Neither a Bessie-drone nor Turner-tard be12:13 AM

    There are two camps here at The Turner Report:

    1. Bessie-drones a.k.a. those who like the established order;

    2. Turner-tards. Regardless of what Randy Turner does, actually, they will support Turner blindly and be in a rage against the Bessie-drones.

    The rest of the readers are pretty much interested in reading the comments and enjoying the train wreck. The comments are usually more informative and far truer than Randy Turner's articles. Sort as if the viewers who usually look at Fox News (the Dumbya Channel) were allowed to comment on M$NBC (The Obongo Channel). When Randy allows negative comments to be posted, then whines about some of them, now that is what makes it interesting to read Randy's Rants.

    Is there really much of anything to choose between these two camps of moral imbeciles? Nope. Other than that the Bessie-drones go with power and that the Turner-tards are always on the bottom.

    CJ Huff wins again. He always wins.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous5:47 AM

      12:13--
      Once again with the "tards" descriptor. You are a bully and a creep, and sadly proud of it. Please get some help. We'll pray for your soul. You need it.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous4:22 AM

    I wonder how many people they'll try to take down with them as they leave. They can try, but it won't work.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous6:19 AM

    When does the Dream become a Nightmare. It would appear for both the City of Joplin and the Joplin School District, that time is close at hand. The only problem with playing fast and loose with public funds, is that eventually the public gets pissed off when they learn the details of where the money went.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous9:21 AM

    The nightmare began seven years ago and has only gotten worse since then. It will be so good to put this era behind us. Time to move on to better days. Soon. Got some other garbage to kick to the curb first.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous12:54 PM

    One of the biggest reasons Angie is leaving is because she is getting a divorce. BTW! I got to see first hand the power of Angie! I mean 1st hand! The entire Admin building is completely wrought with fear. Everyone there with the exception of a few are scared out of their minds!
    I have been on the inside and have been in on many discussions. I was told I didn't see Angie's "vision" ZAP! Gone! just like the rest!

    ReplyDelete