Former Royal Heights Principal Larry Masters says recently departed Assistant Superintendent Angie Besendorfer's lies cost him his job, even after he had already been offered a contract the following school year.
Masters sued Besendorfer and a deposition had been scheduled with board member Jim Kimbrough.
Thanks to a ruling issued February 14 by Judge David Dally any questions about closed sessions were off limits.
Dally was responding to a letter issued by R-8 Board Attorney John Nicholas, who asked for an emergency response.
John Nicholas, attorney for Joplin School Board and on behalf of the Joplin School Board, requests that he be allowed to participate in the depositions in this matter on behalf of the Joplin School Board and enjoin questioning or disclosure by either party or witnesses of information related to closed session discussions.
Plaintiff's petition alleges allegations including assertions of certain facts and statements that may have been made during closed meetings of the Joplin School Board. As a result, any deposition testimony that may illicit (sic) responses as they relate to discussions or information held in closed meetings of the Joplin School Board or on behalf of the board should be closed to the public.
It is not clear when or if the board authorized Nicholas' intervention (or if the board even knew about it). The law firm representing Besendorfer is the same one that is representing the district and Buildings Project Manager Mike Johnson in an ongoing lawsuit filed by former Custodial Supervisor George Morris. No board meetings were held between February 5 when the deposition notices were issued and February 12 when Nicholas wrote his letter to Judge Dally. But someone authorized Nicholas to step in and protect the interests of the C. J. Huff/Angie Besendorfer Administration.
The Nicholas approach was also followed by Besendorfer's attorney, Karl Blanchard, in her answers to Masters' interrogatories. She refused to answer two of the questions and Blanchard filed objections to those questions.
If you were present at the above meeting, did you make any statements to the Joplin Schools Board of Education concerning Plaintiff Masters? If so, what statement or statements did you make?
The following answer was given:
Defendant objects to interrogatory for the reason that it seeks information relating to a closed meeting which means any discussions were confidential.
The second question to which Besendorfer objected:
If you were present at the closed meeting, did anybody else make any statements to the Joplin Schools Board of Education at that meeting concerning Plaintiff Masters? If yes, identify the person and identify what statement or statements said person made concerning Plaintiff Masters.
Besendorfer's attorney provided the following answer:
Defendant objects to interrogatory for the reason that it seeks privileged and confidential information in that the meeting described above was a closed meeting.
Masters' attorney, Raymond Lampert, Springfield, has asked the Missouri Court of Appeals for a writ of prohibition against Judge Dally, which would allow testimony to be given on events that occurred during closed session.
The background on Masters' lawsuit against Besendorfer was featured in the January 13 Turner Report:
Masters is one of many Joplin R-8 principals who have lost their jobs since the C. J. Huff-Angie Besendorfer regime took over the Joplin Schools. While the two top officials have stayed the same (until Ms. Besendorfer's resignation to become Western Governors University chancellor takes effect at the end of this month) and six of the seven Board of Education members have remained the same since C. J. Huff became superintendent in 2008 and allowed Ms. Besendorfer to handle the principals and teachers, only three principals remain and as noted earlier on the Turner Report, hundreds of teachers have either left or been shown the door, including more than 200 in the past two years.
According to the lawsuit, Masters, who had been Royal Heights principal since 2004, had already been offered a contract for the 2010-2011 school year when Ms. Besendorfer stepped in.
"Defendant intentionally interfered in Plaintiff's expectancy by making false representations about Plaintiff to the Joplin Schools Board of Education. Said representations included, but were not limited to, accusations that Plaintiff had violated the regulations governing administration of the MAP test."
Because of those "misrepresentations," the petition says, "The Board of Education voted on or about April 15, 2010, to rescind its motion to offer the contract of employment to the plaintiff."
The lawsuit lists no defendant other than Ms. Besendorfer. "There was no justification for (her) actions," the petition says.
"As a result of Defendant's actions, Plaintiff has suffered damages, including lost wages, mental and emotional distress."
Besendorfer's actions are referred to as "willful, wanton, and made with the knowledge that they would cause damage to Plaintiff."
Masters' attorney, Raymond Lampert of Springfield, is asking that Masters receive "lost wages, mental and emotional damage, punitive damages, the costs of this action, and to grant such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper."
16 comments:
if the suit is against Besendorfer and not the Board, why is the Board lawyer intervening? Do all employees get this privilege, or just the top dogs? Does the public pick up the tab for her? Maybe this information was given in a closed session, but it was given by a non-board member who is no longer employed by the district. If the information in that meeting is not available to the Master's side, then it should also not be available for Besendorfer in her defense.
All of this could have been avoided if the Board had done its job years ago when it became obvious to the rest of the world that CJ Huff and Angie Besendorfer were not honest and were not working in the best interest of the students. It is shameful that it boils down to this.
These people are dangerous. They think nothing of hurting staff members or using intimidation to get their way. There is a reason why 200 teachers left the last two years and why 100 or more will leave this year. There are only three administrators here from before the Huff regime took over. They have put a spy network in place in every building to keep staff intimidated. None of their choices are about learning. All of them are about making the news with something that isn't done anywhere else so they can get more notoriety. It is incredibly hostile.
Just hope this makes it to an actual court date. I will be sick that day and in attendance. I will definitely bring my popcorn to see ole Bessie roasted over the coals.
You know the regime over at the Taj Mahal must be shaking in their $$$ boots over this potential nightmare. They have "closed" door meetings for this very reason. To do the dirty work and not fear retribution . How else do you think they get away with the required 7-0 vote each time.
You have got to be kidding! How in the world do they keep getting away with all this? Evil continues to win. disappointment
So, Jim K was going to provide a deposition for the defense? There's one board member I'll support. Two, including Anne Sharp, who works very hard for the district. The rest of them? They need to go on down the road. I just don't understand the 7-0 votes. What does Huff have on them to get that kind of control? It can't be just the appearance of unity. No reasonable person would vote for things that harm the district for the sake of appearance. I hope the mysteries are all revealed very soon before the district can't be saved.
Huff and Co. can't speak without lying. They aren't in this for anything honorable. They're in it to propel themselves into bigger and better things and will happily sacrifice anyone who gets in their way. Look who he has surrounded himself with: Besendorfer, Smith, Cravens, Johnson. The spies in the buildings. These aren't exactly proven educational leaders. It's time to get to the truth of the matter before any more of the scum get away.
It seems an undeniable pattern of Huff covering up the unethical behaviors of his people has been established. Hello, school board. You can't pretend you don't know now if one of your own was going to be deposed. Do your jobs and fire the jerks.
Just to shift gears here for a moment, I want to remind voters that John Nicholas is running for judge in Div.4 and Judge Dally's son Nate is running for judge in Div.5. I bet that the contributions will come flowing in from board members after this is all said and done. The Good Ole Boys strike again.
Oh, now, don't be going and telling me that Huff and Bessie lied to the board. Gosh. I was enjoying the Huff the Tragic Braggart fairy tale and you went and ruined it for me. Next thing you know you'll tell me Angie didn't really implement all those stupid programs for the kids but instead to make herself look important! The truth is just too painful. I'm sticking my head back in the sand with the board so I don't have to face the truth.
Sure. Dally was a crooked prosecutor who became a crooked judge. And doubtless Dally's son will be a liar and thief and crook as well.
So what to do? Well, maybe God hated Joplin like the Fred Phelps people said, and has allowed the same old criminal Good 'Ol Boy network to make out like bandits here in the Bangladesh of Missouri.
Whose fault is it that these criminals keep on getting elected and re-elected? More to the point, wouldn't it be simply cheaper to move away from this area after the Wrath of God tore Joplin a whole new one?
Oh how I so wish the truth could and would come out.....
However, Missouri Sunshine law covers the School Board as follows:
If a Board of Education goes into closed session to discuss personal information of a particular employee and the Board takes a vote on any final decision to hire, fire, promote, or discipline the employee, the vote and how each Board member voted must be made available to the public within 72 hours. For example, if the Board of Education goes into closed session following a teacher termination hearing to deliberate and then votes to terminate the contract of the tenured teacher, the vote to terminate and the roll call vote of each member must be made available to the public within 72 hours of the vote. The Board is not required to reveal discussions related to that vote which were held in closed session. The Board is also not required to wait a full 72 hours before making that vote available to the public. The rule merely requires that the vote be made available within 72 hours. The Board is required to inform the employee who was the subject of the vote of the Board’s decision before the decision is made available to the public.
And so, They can hide behind the law!!
If you knew anything about Royal Heights and Principal Masters, you know he ran a quality school with the highest test scores in Joplin and some of the best in the State of Missouri. Bessendorfer wanted to take credit for this and the only way she could get her own principal in place was to move Masters out. If he was an unfit Principal, why didn't she use her evidence as basis to let him go instead of re-assigning him?
Mr. Masters still had tenure as a teacher. All they did was take away his principal position.
There were rumors of cheating at Royal Heights for years and the scores bottomed after he left. Sounds suspect but then lots of things do and I really hate basing everyone's life off of tests taken by young children.
I will add Judge Dally to my list of people I'm disappointed in. If this continues as is, he'll be on the list I'm disgusted with along with Huff and Besendorfer & Company.
This just in. The R-8 Board of Intimidation, errr Adminstration has just called a special closed door meeting in anticipation of a special vote of which is to be over an item deeply debated in the office. That item is whether the sky is purple. As ,the votes come in as expected it was a 7-0 vote that the sky is maroonorangebluegreen. Even though that choice was not on the ballot in usual we make the rules fashion they voted unanimously as one.
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