The Joplin Globe coverage of the R-8 School District has served as an enabler of C. J. Huff and Angie Besendorfer the past few years, but occasionally a ray of truth shines through in its letters to the editor.
One occasional writer who nearly always hits the nail on the head is my former professor at Missouri Southern, Bob Steere, who criticized the school district's decision to push ahead with the idea of selling naming rights to everything connected with its new buildings and anything else that can be monetized.
Steere quite correctly notes that the prostitution of our school district (my word, not his) should not take place since there are "venerable places not to be denigrated by advertisement nor to be used in stroking the wealthy."
Steere ends his letter with a solid blow that is completely fair, noting that improving academic achievement "will prove to be positively correlated with college readiness, attendance, and the graduation rate.
"Adopt plans to ensure that our schools' test scores become one of the highest in the state rather than being one of the two lowest in our 17 area school districts."
5 comments:
Seriously! I am the first to leave comment, where are the Huff lovers...you should be on here making stuff up about how our R-8 isnt scoring way below any taxpayer expectation. Ipads, Laptops, brand new teachers in every building, and in some buildings, every classroom. Tell us how amazing he is for leading our teachers away from free thinking, not teaching spelling, cursive. Tell me how your so satisfied with all the admins wasteful spending.
Sadly, the people who have bankrupted the district will be gone when the shoe finally falls. Those of us who have been warning this would happen for some time have been called Huff Haters and Turner Tards, when all we truly are is realists. Anyone with sense, which would seem to exclude the Board and the Globe, could see that the spending was way out of control. The size of the mess has yet to be released. The patrons and children will pay the price of the greed of administration and the irresponsible behavior of the Board and the Globe for years to come. Lay the blame squarely where it belongs.
Oohhhhh....a retired MSSU professor. You have certainly reached for the stars when it comes to finding professionals to back you up, huh?
I would call Dr. Bob Steere a credible source. Wasn't he on the Joplin R-8 School Board years ago? At the very least, he is a longtime Joplin resident, a longtime reader of the Joplin Globe, and a longtime local educator.
Okay, 6:18, anything to be hateful. Stooping to the level of insulting a respected citizen is pretty low. If that's all you have to work with, give it up.
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