2013 in Review: Crackup imminent for C. J. Huff, Joplin Administration

(From September 8, 2013)

Paranoia has become rampant at the Joplin R-8 Administration Building, sources have told The Turner Report.

A source from within the administration said that Superintendent C. J. Huff has spent nearly as much time dealing with his "enemies" as he has with the school's business, likening it to an obsession.

Part of that obsession, the source said, came after I had been removed from my job as an eighth grade communication arts teacher at East Middle School. Huff was caught totally off guard by the revelation that I had recorded my "interrogation" by HR manager Tina Smith and has determined that no one is going to record anything he says unless it is something designed to promote him and the school district.




That has led him to require some of the people who have visited his office or attending meetings to remove their phones and turn them off before he will speak to them, including the district's principals and, in at least one instance, a parent Huff considered to be an enemy.

The Huff situation has led to a bunker mentality at 32nd and Duquesne as employees wonder not only from day to day which C. J. Huff will be in their midst, but also from minute to minute.

On more than one occasion, two sources inside the building told the Turner Report, Huff has tearfully related how he told his daughter when they moved to Joplin that it would be the last time they would move and how he could not understand why people were out to get him.

Huff has also become preoccupied with knowing who is for him and who is against him, the sources said. At the rally at College Heights Christian Church opening the 2013-2014 school year, administration spies were watching to see which employees were applauding during Huff's speech.

Huff and the top administrators have kept a close eye on the Turner Report and on Inside Joplin and have been watching to see if any district employees "like" the Inside Joplin Facebook page. (None have and I would recommend that they continue to follow that course.)

My writing has not been the only outside news source that has brought tears to Huff, according to the source. This summer, two of my former students, whose names I am not going to mention on this blog, started a blog of their own, which began with a story revealing that Huff was making $8,000 a speech relating the story of how he and the Joplin School District dealt with the Joplin Tornado. Huff automatically assumed, since the two students were supporters of mine and organized the rally on May 23, the day of my termination hearing, that I was the mastermind behind that blog.

I wasn't. In fact, though I admired the two young people for their efforts, I advised against the blog. I was afraid of exactly what ended up happening- the students ended up being targeted and have had their every move watched by administration.

Nothing is too minute to get past the watchful eyes of C. J. Huff and his staff. A few weeks ago, I received a message from a former colleague of mine, who does not work in the Joplin School District, but who has a relative who does. He told me he could no longer leave comments on my Facebook page.

This teacher has a relative who teaches in one of the Joplin middle schools and that relative was called in by the principal, reportedly at the behest of upper administration, who wanted to give this teacher a warning not to be too friendly with me.

This teacher was not a Facebook friend of mine; in fact, to this day, I have never met him.

My former colleague sent me a personal message on Facebook.

The teacher, he said, was genuinely concerned about losing his job and feared he was being "watched by Joplin's Big Brother."
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Administration source: Turner targeted for firing before No Child Left Alive was published