Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Board to evaluate Huff during closed special session, no waiting for audit results

A more prudent board of education might wait a few weeks.

That is not the way things are done in the world of "might-as-well" spending. six-and-a-half mile ribbons and $100,000 expenditures for changing the color of gymnasium seats.

President Anne Sharp and the Joplin R-8 Board of Education will evaluate Superintendent C. J. Huff during a special closed session Wednesday night. If things occur as usual. Huff will have his contract extended at the conclusion of that session.

All of this is taking place while the board is awaiting the results of a state audit of the school district, which in all likelihood is going to be extremely critical of the way Huff and the Board have operated the school district in the three and a half years since the Joplin Tornado.

At this point, the fieldwork portion of the audit is over. Auditors returned to Jefferson City in December to work up the first draft. The next step is for them to hold a closed door session with the school board, allowing board members to respond to each item in the audit. After that, the auditors return to their office and write the final report, which will be issued at a public meeting.

There does not appear to be anything forcing the board to hold Huff's evaluation now, other than it has traditionally been done at this time. This is the first time, however, that the district has been in the middle of a state audit when it has come time for the superintendent's evaluation.

The meeting will also include an open session in which Huff will talk to the board about the conversion of the former Memorial Middle School into administration offices. That has apparently already started without board approval.

The meeting is scheduled to start at 5:15 p.m. in the Administration Building at 32nd and Duquesne.

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:09 PM

    Randy, do you know anything about gym seats being stolen from the two new elementary schools then being used at the high school? I have students telling me that siblings are coming home saying that their gym seats are being stolen. I do know that all three gyms at the high school have new seats going in. Do you or your readers know anything about this situation? Is this another smoke and mirrors trick by CJ Huff?

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  2. Anonymous12:24 PM

    No extension. Do not give him that third year....grow a set, people

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  3. Anonymous6:00 PM

    But 12:24, that would be the same as admitting that they're wrong and have done the wrong thing.
    No way will they do that.

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  4. Anonymous7:10 PM

    Why did the Board approve an expenditure of over $100,000 for renovations for the Administration Building to the leased DOT building? What a waste of money and now they have to remodel the old Memorial School...The old Administration Building was fine, until they hired too many people to fit into the office space.

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  5. Anonymous6:56 AM

    This is NOT a school board, but a three ring circus. Why should these audit findings not be public in the beginning. ???? What was the rush to get this contract signed before the audit findings. All the board and Huff do it seems is waste our money over and over. American Greed at it's finest. Shame...Can anybody prove me wrong???I would welcome it.

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  6. I can't prove you wrong, nor would I want to, but the Board of Education is not responsible for the closed session this time. Exit meetings between auditors and governmental bodies are closed by law. Essentially what happens is that the auditors tell the board their findings and the board is allowed to respond or dispute the findings. It won't change the audit. The only difference will be that the board's responses are included as part of the final product.

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