Mother: It is time for Joplin R-8 parents to take a stand

(The following essay about the current conditions at Joplin High School and in the Joplin R-8 School District was written by Erin Turner (no relation), the mother of students attending Joplin High School and a graduate, as well as being a Joplin High School graduate herself. She was kind enough to allow me to reprint it.)

I have always been a proud Joplin High School graduate and supporter. My daughter was a third generation graduate from JHS. I have supported Joplin schools through many fundraisers, purchasing vast amounts of Eagle t-shirts and suffered from bleacher booty at countless sporting events.

My family can sing the fight song and can cheer along with nearly all of the Eagle cheers, "cah-caw.: I most definitely have no problem giving accolades to Alan Hass, who is credited with the ribbon-cutting idea (after administration wanted the opening of JHS to be a record-breaking event0.


I do, however, refuse to show support for something that I disagree with. I do believe a grand opening should be grand! It should have also been an option and done on an evening, or a Saturday or Sunday. I disagree with the fact that students who attended got an excused absence, but those who didn't and chose to avoid the event, did not. Just like everything else in our district right now, nothing is across the board or equal.

Another parent and I were promised by C. J. Huff, in a face-to-face meeting, that he would not allow another student to be overlooked in the same way that our children were regarding middle school honor society guidelines. From what I understand, so far, that promise has not been kept.

Some schools give out letter grades, some do not. Some school permitting is allowed, some is not. Some schools can have backpacks, some cannot. Some Joplin schools have textbooks and some do not. There is no consistency whatsoever throughout the district.

Let me make this clear- my children and I have received amazing instruction from many great people employed by the Joplin School District. Teachers and administrators who touched our lives in immeasurable ways- Julie Munn, Polly Greer, Kolette Bartley, Karen Evans, Jason Riddle, Barbara Long, Anna Brock, Zach Holden, Breana Clark, Samantha Buckridge, Kate Brinks, Ron Mitchell, Jarrett Cook, Gala Moss, Dr. Warren, Mr. Zeka, Mr. Drouin, Jeff Gloshen, Steve Gilbreath, Mrs. Potter, Carlie Brown, Larry Masters, Brenda Phipps, Kit-T Haynes, Ms. Stamper, Randy Turner, Mr. and Mrs. Wallace, Ms. Lundien, Coach Garritson, Stephanie Jones Reither, Brandi Landis, Evan Mense, Dr. Sachetta, Coach Adams, Mr. Sandborn, Miss Smith, Mrs. Thornberry, Mrs. Adkins, Mrs. McClary, Miss Goosetree, Mr. Parker, Jeff Williams, and Jeff Hafer. (I am sure I have forgotten many.)

My frustration with what is currently happening throughout our district is certainly no reflection on them or of my appreciation for their loyalty and service to our students. It never crossed my mind that any of them were just doing their jobs; their passion for education was/is evident. (Our district has lost many of these teachers over the past few years to retirement, other districts and termination.) I would simply like for our school administration to focus on what should be the most important thing- our kids' education.

It needs to become evident that a computer is a tool for education, not the only source of it. Higher educational institutions demand textbooks, note taking and hand written assignments to be turned in. Heck, JHS has a coffee shop, a handful of sitting areas good for making out in, and completed (or usable) sporting facilities, but can't offer my book-learning students a textbook or two and won't have an onsite place for music and theater performances this year.

My sons attend state-of-the-art facilities surrounded by gorgeous soccer, baseball, softball, and football fields,,,and dirt, cranes, backhoes, dump trucks, construction equipment and unfinished buildings. Even that I can accept because it signifies growth and development, but the size and architecture of the buildings cannot overcome what is lacking within the walls.

All of my children have attended schools these past three years that have had teachers who have spent more time out of the classroom in training than they spent in them getting to know their students. I have heard teachers tell students and parents that they hate their jobs, that they wish they could just teach, that they had just given up and couldn't wait for the year to be over, and that they were counting the months until retirement. I have heard of bullying, sexual activity, and unacceptable behavior going on within the walls of our schools, while educators have been made powerless to discipline and are not allowed to hold these students accountable. Teachers are no longer allowed to take cell phones away. Teachers are told they shouldn't send kids to the office and when they do, the students are handed a lollipop and sent back to class- classes that are also filled with students who want to learn, who want to make good grades, who don't cause trouble and who are just as disgusted with what is is being allowed.

Teachers are being asked to deal with every student equally, even when their behavior is not. It doesn't take rocket science to know that kids are all different. Even my own children, who came from the same two parents, cannot be disciplined or rewarded with the same things.

Assignments aren't required to be turned in in a timely manner, just as long as they are in before grades are due. At least that is what I have experienced with my children's teachers. I believe my child deserves a failing grade if he does not do his work. He should NOT be allowed to turn it in months later.

The idea of natural and/or hard consequences for bad behavior or lack of effort has been forgotten so that everybody can feel good, pass classes, and ensure a high graduation rate.

I won't apologize for loving my children too much to allow them to not be held accountable for unacceptable behavior. They get in trouble because I love them and I want to make sure that they are functioning, socially adept, hard-working citizens- people that other people want to spend time with. I have been hard pressed to find an employer that would tolerate the kind of work ethic that is being tolerated in JHS.

My daughter, now a freshman in college, is a book learner. She is extremely smart and is maintaining a high GPA in college, but she is struggling. Thank goodness for Barbara Long and her strict Communication Arts curriculum. My daughter was a 4.0 student from third grade until the tornado, that's eight years of nothing but A's.

After trying to solely use the laptop, she begged me to get her textbooks. I pleaded with her instructors, only to be told that there were no textbooks. I offered to buy them myself and was told that they didn't get their information from specific textbooks, that it was pulled from many different sources. I watched her confidence and her GPA drop.

Her grades and her education  suffered from the lack of resources that should have been freely available to her as a student in a public school, from the lack of being able to highlight her hand-written notes, from using her rote memory by writing and rewriting things she was supposed to know for tests, from reading along with text that was read about in class and then reread aloud at home in her bedroom (I use a laptop everyday for my job, but I still print out press releases and other typed documents in order to proof them.) I overheard her tell her 11-year-old brother that she feels dumber from having graduated from JHS.

And I feel like I let her down as her mom, that I didn't fight enough. I spoke up once, just before her senior year and was labeled a troublemaker. School board members were told that I was in cahoots with other troublemakers. (By the way, I was in support of the laptops, I just asked for textbooks to be an option, too.) I am so concerned because we are sending our students off to schools after graduation that will demand they use skills that they are not being given any longer at JHS. I can bet that these kids would be able to pass Social Media, Text Abbreviation, and Procrastination if such classes were offered.

I honestly believe that teaching is THE hardest career choice. My parents are teachers and I know that it takes a special person to spend eight hours a day with a room full of children that are not their own.

I believe that a person is a teacher long after they have left the classroom. (My mother still gets her red pen out when I ask her to edit my writing.) Teaching is certainly harder without the support of parents and administrative staff.

I applaud those who spend their days trying to teach in the types of environments I have described, who spend their evenings grading papers, who love my children enough to hold them accountable for their lack of effort in class and who simply choose to get up every morning and return to a classroom or gym because they made a commitment to their students and their district and they are determined to make a difference despite the obstacles they are faced with.

Now parents, if these men and women can show that kind of dedication to your children, you need to not be afraid to take a stand and demand what your children not only deserve, but NEED in order to be successful in college and in life.

It is more than obvious that our administration needs to be more focused on our students, EVERY student, and less on fanfare and public relational notoriety.
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