I had been operating under the belief that I was the only one who was publishing information that has been available to any reporter who was permitted to look. (I am aware of reporters in this area who have done their best to report on the C. J. Huff Administration and have been rejected so many times they no longer ask.)
I have been aware for a long time that there are people at the Joplin Globe who believe that everything I have written about C. J. Huff has been accurate. They know better than to express that opinion around Editor Carol Stark.
That is why I was stunned over the weekend when I discovered that the first reporting on C. J. Huff's ruthless elimination of anyone who gets in his way and his penchant for surrounding himself with inexperienced, unqualified people was done by the Joplin Globe, and in fact, was done by a reporter who has never been a particular fan of mine.
And it wasn't just that. The Globe was also the first news outlet to warn of C. J. Huff's penchant for wild, irresponsible use of taxpayer money, something Joplin R-8 CFO Paul Barr referred to memorably as "might-as-well spending."
In an April 2008 edition in which new superintendent C. J. Huff was introduced to Joplin, reporter Joe Hadsall wrote the following paragraph:
But Huff is not without his detractors, some of whom say he led with a “my-way-or-the-highway” mentality and stepped on toes to make improvements. Some accuse him of spending money irresponsibly and replacing experienced, established personnel with younger, greener candidates.
Unfortunately for Joplin, the digging did not go any deeper than that.
Perhaps if Hadsall and the Globe had done their job then (or any time within the following years), the district would not be on the brink of financial ruin, with C. J. Huff about to skip town, leaving absolutely no experienced administrators at the upper level, and much of the leadership turned over to people with no educational background, such as Tina Smith and Mike Johnson.
One can only wonder why Carol Stark has allowed the current situation to go unchallenged. Does Huff have something on her, or is she making a profit off our misery, also? It is just beyond reason that she has sat on her butt and allowed the district to be destroyed, and has even championed his efforts. When he is gone, she should be too. It's just hard to believe that a man who is dumber than a box of rocks can have this much power over people.
ReplyDeleteSo, based on pre-Stark Globe reporting, the character or lack thereof of both Huff and Rohr was known at the time they were hired, which means it could have been known by the people who hired them.
ReplyDeleteGranted, I've read there's a very shallow hiring pool for these sorts of jobs compared to the demand (lots and lots of small-medium sized towns and cities), but....
I had the "pleasure" of finally meeting Carol Stark in a social setting. I understand why the Globe is a waste of money under her leadership--she's clueless. Several social issues (not anything complex, but things well-covered by CNN/FOX, Time/People, and blogs) came up in the course of conversation, and she hadn't heard of any of them. What does she do--hide in her office and what for press releases?? Read something, woman, and learn how news and information are really covered.
ReplyDeleteMr.Turner, although I am a fan of your work, I feel as though you have done Mr.Hadsall a disservice. His piece in 2008 was spot on, but played to a blind and uninterested audience. It took several years, millions of dollars and scandal before the general public became interested. In the mean time, Mr.Hadsall's duties with the Globe changed. He was given a different directive and currently writes articles completely unrelated to education. I would imagine that had his job stayed the same over the years, the public may have learned the details sooner than even you would have been able to provide them. I think it goes back to the top and that's Carol Stark. I don't think she's as bad as people like to think she is, but ultimately, the news is filtered through her. I know personally that she does work hard to get facts over rumor. Sometimes that means she has to sit on stories while they play out. That's her job, but let's not throw Mr.Hadsall under the bus for doing his job and doing it well.
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