As I listened to Joplin R-8 Superintendent C. J. Huff on this report by KODE's Gtetchen Bolander, I am reminded that the salaries that Huff has taken care of have not been those of the teachers he has been driving off over the past three years.
While Huff's salary is among the top for superintendents in the state, several area districts have seen teacher salaries pass Joplin's. I remember when Jim Simpson was superintendent he said his goal was to make Joplin teachers the best paid in southwest Missouri.
Not only has C. J. Huff abandoned that goal, but keeping teachers in the district doesn't seem to be much of a priority for him either.
12 comments:
I will be very interested in knowing how many teachers leave the district after this year. Should be interesting.
6:04--
Even with Besendorfer gone, there are at least as many leaving as there were the last two years. It is too easy to go to a neighboring district and get a huge raise, plus some discipline expectations and something to work with.
Huff doesn't take care of his teachers because they bring nothing to him for media purposes. Every district has teachers. They are totally expendable. You'll notice the only person in the district he's come to defend is that idiot ass, Sexson. I'm sure Sexson had ways to "encourage" CJ to "protect" his reputation. Teachers are too far down the ladder to gain his notice. Stick another warm body in the front of the room and go on. He has his coaching staff to help ensure learning, right?
Since the recession, Joplin teachers have had a total raise amount around 5%. But there are endless numbers of nonteaching, administrative staff hired who, like Huff, make a disproportionate income compared to the people who are shouldering the load.
Is it no wonder little Napoleon gets no respect? Why would he? Bad management in every regard. Enough of Huff. Time to go back to Toto Land, Christopher.
Interesting point, Mr. Turner. When Simpson was in Joplin, scores went up at a rate commensurate to salaries. And the staff wasn't micromanaged by a team of handlers, either. They were supported and encouraged and had what they needed to work with. That's a heck of a lot cheaper than Huff's paid supporters.
The new school board needs to act fast. We are tired of losing our teachers. Don't wait for Huff to change. It won't happen. The board has to make the changes, and quick.
I can't speak for teachers, but the kids and the parents are sick of technology and ready for reality.
Unfortunately the Joplin school district has such a poor reputation at the moment that Huff is going to have a hard time finding anyone outside the district to hire him. The mere fact that he was trying to get away by applying elsewhere tells you where his heart is.
A lot of people don't have a clue as to how to go about getting rid of HUFF N PUFF! Give us the steps that need to be taken and we'll see what happens. I would be willing to terminate his contract pay the penalty and send him on his merry way!! The cost which would be less than what we're headed for with his "BLANK CHECK ATTITUDE"! We could say we're DOING IT FOR THE KIDS Quote unQuote
Some of you are writing revisionist history. It is funny that people in this blog hold Simpson up as a shining example of educational excellence. The Joplin district had a simply awful reputation in the area even back then as well. People didn't like him either and he made it apparent that he did like turner either. He disapproved of him but chose to allow his principal at the time to run his own show. Things really haven't changed all that much.
8:22, the only one writing revisionist history here is you. The test scores were better during the Simpson era and would have undoubtedly continued to improve. Simpson invested in people, not a publicity machine. Simpson also was not going to fire a teacher simply because there were a few powerful people in Joplin who wanted him gone. He asked Ron Mitchell about Turner and Mitchell told him the only thing that mattered. Turner was an excellent teacher and brought credit to the school district. Simpson's faith in Ron Mitchell and Mitchell's faith in Turner were rewarded with many years of excellent teaching. What still needs to be explained is what in the world Turner wrote that offended these people, some of whom are the same ones who tried to get Simpson to fire him, then cheered on Huff when he fired Turner and ended up turning Turner into a hero and Huff into a buffoon. These are the same people who have conducted a whispering campaign in the city of Joplin that has prevented some interested people from putting money into Turner's news project. You would think they would have learned by now. I would sure like to know what would make people hate someone so much. Anyone have any thoughts on that?
11:50 you are clueless. I have lived here over 20 years and the district has always had the reputation of being a second rate mess, at best. When I was a new graduate over 20 years ago we were all warned that Joplin was a jungle and not to apply there. And, scores were behind most all others in the area on a yearly basis.
Simpson was no prize. He didn't have an education background and looked at school as a business with numbers, not minds and hearts. He changed the rules for how things worked in the middle of whatever was happening and required that EVERYTHING be tied to the MAP test. Nothing was to have the word 'fun' associated with it since that must mean that no good learning could possibly happen. He had his own spies who would report things they over heard and then they would get into trouble. He didn't listen to teachers but he knew they were what makes school happen. He also played people against each other using scores and rumors. Did scores go up? Yes. Were people happy? Not all. Were employees terrified? Only when test scores came out or it was time for some form of competition. We don't need Simpson back but we do need someone who knows about learning and how to bring out the best in people.
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