Saturday, November 22, 2014

Top 10 fun things your Joplin R-8 tax dollars are buying

This is by no means an all-inclusive list of questionable expenditures scheduled to be approved by the Joplin R-8 Board of Education Tuesday night, without any discussion, as part of the consent agenda.

In fact, I will be discussing, some of the more expensive things listed on the district bills in a later post or two, but here is my top 10 list of questionable items that your money is buying.

10. $1,360 for charter bus rental for the Joplin High School grand opening

9. $1,646.95 for Dewey Combs sign for Junge Field

8. $500 to College Heights Christian Church as payment for "lost pipe and drape" during opening day ceremonies

7. $6,667.95 to bring in trainers from Educators for Social Responsibility. The training cost $4,593.95, while an additional $2,104 covered their travel expenses

6. $44.39 to Embassy Embroidery for Bright Futures grey polos

5. $357 for a "large piece of ribbon, listed under "opening celebrations"

4. $164.65 to the Rib Crib to feed the Board of Education before the October 21 meeting

3. $350 Rotary Club dues for Bright Futures coordinator Melissa Winston

2. $18,535 to the Core Collaborative for Common Core training and travel costs (Aren't we supposed to be replacing Common Core with Missouri standards?)

1. $176.29 to College Station Daylight Donuts, for donuts, coffee at the administration building

Any thoughts?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

1. Why are we paying for anything for Bright Futures? Are they paying it back? Is it not enough that they get free rent and utilities? Let them support themselves.
2. For whom was the social responsibility training provided? If it was for upper administration and the board, then that might be acceptable...
3. A lost pipe and drape? Sounds very curious. What kind of pipe? And what would we do with that?
4. CJ can't afford to buy donuts? Oh puhleeeez!

So many questions that will never be addressed. But we will remember come April.

Anonymous said...

I believe pipe and drape are like panels for stage prop or back drop. They are pvc pipes with drapes to provide a backdrop or color to a stage.

Anonymous said...

10. $0.00 for reading teachers.
9. $0.00 for teacher raises
8. $0.00 for support staff
7. $0.00 for getting kids out of trailers
6. $0.00 for sex education other than abstinence
5. $0.00 for asbestos removal
4. $0.00 for mold remediation
3. $0.00 for alternative high school
2. $0.00 for classroom space to alleviate over crowding
1. $0.00 for teachers to alleviate overcrowding


For CJ!

Anonymous said...

It is probably obvious to most Joplinites that all these expenditures of time and money on communication and socal responsibility would be unnecessary if we elected and hired normal people in the first place.

Anonymous said...

I thought they had a alternative school on 20th street just west of 20th and maiden lane just past the mini storage I hired a 17 yr old girl from there to work at my restaurant and she stole money from the till...live and learn I guess this was in 2010

Anonymous said...

If only these statements were totally true. My favorite thing about this blog is how it takes BITS and PIECES of truth and pulls them out of context for the trolls to argue over.

Many of the items on the list are NOT paid for by tax dollars. There are MANY funding streams in a school district. Bright Futures items are paid for by Bright Futures funds that have been raised. The Dewey Combs sign - sponsorship funds. Ribbon - sponsorship funds. Context is king, and if you're not asking questions and just making observations, you're missing much of the context of these expenses (and lots of other things you "report" on).