Mike Landis: The election doesn't matter

It was one of those exchanges that tells a lot about how board members think and what they think of the people who gave them the privilege of serving

During the discussion that followed interviews of the four candidates for the vacant Joplin R-8 Board of Education seat Wednesday afternoon, the board made a decision, one that appeared to have been made before the meeting, that a preference would be given to those who had run for school board in April.

Maybe they should have told Jennifer Martucci and Lane Roberts earlier, so they could have saved themselves some trouble, but that decision left two candidates- Jeff Koch and Shawn McGrew. Both men had put themselves forward for elective office for the first time with Koch finishing fourth, barely out of the running, approximately 900 votes ahead of McGrew, who placed sixth in a field of seven candidates.

It was obvious from the beginning that the fix was in for Shawn McGrew.

Board member Jim Kimbrough noted that Koch had received considerably more votes than McGrew in the election.

Mike Landis, a board member since 2001, had a quick, curt response.

"The election doesn't matter."

For people who supported Jeff Koch last night, Landis' words were particularly upsetting.

Elections do matter.

To put it in perspective, 900 votes is 20 times the number of votes by which the bond issue that brought us a new Joplin High School, East Middle School, Irving Elementary, and Soaring Heights Elementary passed in 2012.

That election mattered to Mike Landis. This last election, probably less so. Consider that it brought him a fellow board member, Debbie Fort, who he and other board members, including Board President Anne Sharp and the departed Dawn Sticklen, have treated with contempt during televised board meetings.

Fort received the most votes of any candidate in that race and knocked out Landis' buddy, Jeff Flowers, another reason he probably didn't think this election mattered.

And consider that Jeff Koch garnered more votes than McGrew, who had been one of the Slumber Party Four, moved up to the top of the ballot through a manipulation of taxpayer facilities designed to benefit board members Randy Steele and Lynda Banwart, Flowers and McGrew.

I thoroughly expected going into last night's meeting that the board would play it safe and pick Martucci or Roberts, either one a choice that would have been welcomed. That would have kept Shawn McGrew off the board, but it would have also kept Jeff Koch, someone who actually understands finances and whose record of involvement in school functions and community and civic activities is just as admirable as the one recorded by McGrew, which so impressed the board members who cast their votes for him.

What has become increasingly clear through the recent actions of Sharp and Landis is a resentment and contempt for the people they are supposed to be serving. At the August board meeting, Sharp rudely cut off Fort when she relayed a parent's question about the parking fees at the new Joplin High School.

She said anyone who wanted to know could call the principal.

The meeting was televised, the topic has been widely discussed in the community. In one fell swoop, since the people who could answer the question were at the meeting, Sharp could have provided a public service. Instead, she sent the message that people were not important. If there were 20 people who wanted to know the reason for the parking fees, she had no problem telling all of them to take their valuable time, take a few moments of a secretary's valuable time, and take a few moments of a busy high school principal's valuable time (and with all of the challenges facing him at the hastily opened JHS building, Kerry Sachetta needs every minute he can get), so that she would not have to deal with the people who are supposed to be her bosses.

At the previous meeting, Fort asked why employees could not wear jeans on Friday as they do at Missouri Southern State University where she works. Sharp said that when teachers wear jeans they act less professional. She did not have an answer when Kimbrough asked why they allowed teachers to wear them once a month if they were going to be less professional when they wore them.

On April 11, 2012, I had my life extended when a doctor implanted a pacemaker. It did not bother me a bit that he wore jeans while he conducted the operation or that he has worn jeans at every checkup I have had since that time.

I will take a true professional in jeans over a self-righteous board president in a pant suit any day.

Elections do matter, and considering the behavior that veteran board members have exhibited over the past few years and the attitudes that they have shown since they have been challenged for the first time, that is a message that Mike Landis, Annie Sharp, and the other members of the Joplin R-8 Board of Education should remember.

Last April, Debbie Fort was elected with the highest number of votes and Jeff Koch was nearly elected and this was long before we learned about the six-and-a-half-mile ribbon and the "might-as-well' spending, and the district's dire financial situation. Plus, we have an audit, which no one thinks is going to make the board or the C. J. Huff Administration look good.

Three seats will be available in April.

Elections do matter.