Alone in his bunker- the C. J. Huff story

It is  not a problem most of us will ever have to face.

Alone in his bunker at 32nd and Duquesne, C. J. Huff had a serious decision to make- Should he put "hero of the Joplin Tornado" at the top of his resume or should he put it somewhere slightly lower on the first page and show that he has remained a modest man in spite of all of the acclaim that has come his way since May 22, 2011?

People had been telling him for the past two years that he needed to cash in while he was still a hot commodity and they were not just talking about the frequent speeches he has made all across the country.

Other jobs were out there, other school districts, business possibilities, maybe even becoming a full-time motivational speaker. He had enjoyed the interaction with those who attended his presentations and the news clippings, all of which mentioned either that he had been brought to tears or he was at the brink of tears as he related the events of May 22 and the days afterward.

But C. J. Huff stayed in Joplin where he was loved. He had to be loved; his Bright Futures partners told him so.

Little by little, the hero facade that was erected around C. J. Huff after the tornado began fading away as he said things that reminded people of the days before May 22 when he was a mortal just like the rest of us.

-When more than 200 teachers left the district in two years, he said it was because their spouses had found jobs in other communities. That made sense. When the husbands get jobs, the little women have to follow.

-When he spent thousands of dollars of taxpayer money on a thank you tour at a time when district funds were dwindling. The people who helped Joplin would have appreciated phone calls and sincere thank-you letters just as much.

-When he, with the unanimous stamp of approval of the R-8 Board of Education, submitted a five-year strategic plan that called for the district reserves to fall to as low as eight percent, but to miraculously climb back up to 25 percent, even though no efforts were being made to curb spending.

-When he made a call to an employer and suggested it would not be a good idea that if an employee decided to run for Board of Education.

-When he made references to being a conservative and about conservatives having pitchforks and torches.

It has been one thing after another and it has not helped that during the past few months, he has had federal and state officials on his back about nagging paltry little things like proper use of Title I funds and questionable practices that led to higher graduation rates.

How could anyone question the graduation rates? Would the Joplin R-8 School District have spent $3,000 for a party for local businessman to announce an 85 percent graduation rate if it were not so?

C. J. Huff may have missed the best time to leave, but signs that he should be looking have been all around him for the past few months.

Though he was never really that close with Angie Besendorfer, she had been able to take care of the day-to-day management of the school district while Huff busied himself with the herculean tasks of increasing the graduation rates and continuing to build a Bright Futures empire.

When she resigned, all of a sudden Huff found himself surrounded by people whose chief loyalty was to Besendorfer and not to him. Even worse, many of the people were not qualified for the positions they held. Some lacked the proper degrees; most had little, if any experience, and many of the people who were there had not been hired because of any management ability or any outstanding knowledge of education, but because they were willing to do, without question, anything Besendorfer asked them to do. Huff needed a bulldog to do the kinds of things that Besendorfer had done and fortunately, he had one in human resources director Tina Smith. She was not really qualified to be a chief operating officer, but that approach had worked for Besendorfer, and this would enable him to continue to concentrate on graduation rates, Bright Futures and spreading the gospel of the Joplin Tornado across the nation.

Still, despite having someone else to handle the day-to-day operation of the school district, C. J. Huff has been a worried man. There are people running for the board of education who want to change the way he does things, maybe even force him out.
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How can you force out the hero of the Joplin Tornado?

The sunset of C. J. Huff's time with the Joplin R-8 School District seems to be at hand. He sits alone in his bunker, surrounded by people who have never been loyal to him, guiding hundreds of people who have been in fear of Angie Besendorfer, Mike Johnson, or Tina Smith.

The idea that he was a man of the people, who just happened to be surrounded by autocratic administrators who have ruled by keeping the district's employees in fear of losing their jobs, is no longer held. Even those who have been long-time supporters of Huff know that it is he, no one else, who is ultimately responsible for the waves of teachers and staff members who have left the district.

Huff can look out his door and see Bright Futures, but there are no bright futures on his horizon.