C. J. Huff attempted to influence 2014 election by slipping Fort information to Joplin Globe columnist

C. J. Huff's vicious attack on Debbie Fort at Tuesday's Joplin R-8 Board of Education was the first time he has attacked her in such a public forum, but it was not the first time Huff has attempted to smear Fort through the use of carefully selected test scores:

Well folks, look at MAPS scores on the DESE web site for all Joplin schools, alone. Then do the math to figure the changes in such scores, up or down, in Irving Elementary School alone for the last three years. What you will find, in public information is that the proficiency level of performance of 3rd, 4th and 5th grades students in Irving Elementary School have DECLINED by 12.8% in MAPS reading scores, 28.0% in Science MAPS scores and 23.6% in Math MAPS scores in that one school alone, a school under the leadership of, yep, Debbie Fort.

Not only has Debbie Fort failed to improve student achievement as measured by the State of Missouri over the last 3 years of her term as a principal. Nope, her students in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade have DECLINED (by double digit percentages) in terms of student achievement of just proficiency in the areas mentioned over that three year period. Is that the kind of leadership anyone wants on our BOE in Joplin for the next four years?

Improving academic achievement (not to mention behavioral changes for the better on the part of students) is one of three legs of Debbie’s platform. Yet she as a leader in one school achieved a DECLINE of double digit percentages in such achievement. She led her school in the wrong direction.
The three paragraphs above come from an April 2, 2014, post on the personal blog of frequent Joplin Globe guest columnist Anson Burlingame.

It was an unusual column for Burlingame since it is the only time I can recall that he has done any digging into public records to find information for one of his posts.

As he explained:

It has taken me a while to get such numbers. I have been told some wrong numbers as well, but chose not to publish them until I ran the matter to ground. But I am now comfortable that the percentage DECLINE in student achievement during Debbie’s watch at Irving Elementary over the last 3 full years of academic measurement, to publish such information herein and let the fray continue BEFORE the election.

Burlingame's post came six days before the election and, as you might expect, it had the same effect Burlingame's posts usually have- Fort received more votes than any of the seven candidates on the ballot. Burlingame's favorite candidate, C. J. Huff protege Shawn McGrew, finished sixth out of the seven candidates.

The post would not be worth revisiting, except it shows a pattern of C. J. Huff attempting (and failing) to influence elections by leaking carefully selected information about female candidates that he fears.

Of course, Huff took it to a new level Tuesday night, referring to Fort as "the worst principal in the district and making other comments about her performance that Jennifer Martucci, the candidate Huff savaged this year, correctly labeled "inappropriate."

The blowup was not only inappropriate, but appears to be the final straw as it has helped launch a movement to have C. J. Huff fired.

It should also be mentioned that not only have the test scores for the Joplin R-8 School District fallen for each of the seven years he has been here, but that his streak runs into double digits, since his scores fell all four years he was at his previous job as superintendent of the Eldon School District.