Though there have been school board races in the past, no such reminders were issued during the past decade when I worked as a teacher in the district:
We would like to take this opportunity to remind employees that District resources, including, but not limited to, copiers, fax machines, phones and the Joplin Schools' email system are not to be used to urge a vote for or against any candidate, group of candidates or ballot issue. You should not include any information in your publications or materials sent to parents urging people to support or oppose candidates or ballot issues.
Additionally, in regard to School Board Elections, State law prohibits teachers from participating in the management of a campaign for the election or defeat of a member of the Board of Education that employs such teacher.
We encourage our staff members to review the Missouri Revised Statutes and the Board of Education Policies listed at the top of this page.
The following constitute summary guidelines related to campaigns. "Work hours" generally means any time an employee is engaged in the performance of his or her duties as an employee of the district, whether during or outside of regular school hours.
While state law only prohibits teachers from holding management roles in school board campaigns, teachers who talked to the Turner Report said they took Ms. Smith's message as a not-so-subtle warning not to get involved at all or to say anything about the election to anyone.
Interestingly enough, state law does not prohibit superintendents or other administrators from participating in or even managing board of education campaigns.
4 comments:
I wish you would use the energy you invest in "reporting" on the school district and put it to something more productive - the city council. Why in the world are we paying top dollar for city lots PLUS a commission? There is something so fishy here it makes me sick. Also the investigator charging us close to $67k? If we pay him a dollar more than the $40k plus the $5k expenses allowed in the contract (this itself is ridiculous waste of taxpayer money) we have to face the fact that we can't trust anyone on the council or the mayor. That may be the case anyway but this is a no brainer.
Ms. Turner will be sending the staff a weekly lesson in Board policy, which is probably a good idea. However, at the rate of adoption of new threatening policies for staff, she better send about five a week or no one will ever understand them in time to save themselves. Truly, the Board has adopted many new staff policies lately. The only way to know this is to read Board minutes. They certainly aren't telling the staff upfront.
I think you are referring to Ms. Smith. She is never going to get that lucky.
It is ironic that teachers cannot participate in the Board election, but at the last bond election Bright Futures could not shower them with enough goodies in an attempt to get them to forget how poorly they had been treated by the district after the tornado. Of course, the teachers have long since been forgotten now that the dream schools have opened, and in fact were treated shabbily during that process at some schools. They are purely pawns in this district.
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