Sometimes it's his staff. But when things really get rough, he invariably says his family is being attacked. That's what he did this morning after he was swamped with his criticism for his Saturday night Facebook posting attacking board candidate Jennifer Martucci.
Martucci responded a short while later to Huff's latest posting. Her response is printed below:
Dr. Huff has misrepresented who my email was sent to. The email of 2/7/13 was addressed and sent solely to Dr. Huff, not any member of the School Board. A picture of the header to that email, which I also saved, can be seen at Jennifer Martucci for Joplin School Jennifer Martucci For Joplin School Board since I cannot post it here.
Dr. Huff then chose to forward the email to the School Board. Because it was a private email sent directly from a concerned parent to the superintendent of schools, Dr. Huff is mistaken that the email falls under the Sunshine law. The Sunshine Law applies only to “public meetings” and “public records” -- not private emails. Private emails fall under FERPA, particularly where, as here, they contain personal identifiable information about a child. A private email does not become a public record simply because a superintendent decides to forward it on to board members. Dr. Huff has even gone further by placing the email in the school mail box of teachers without removing my children’s names and schools of attendance.
Our exchange on this topic ends with this reply. I will not go back and forth with Dr. Huff as I do not believe it promotes the welfare of our School District. If elected to the School Board, I am willing to work with Dr. Huff in a respectful and professional manner to promote the best interests of our children and teachers. Our School District deserves nothing less. At the same time, I will not be intimidated or bullied. I felt I needed to reply to Dr. Huff’s comments because I have told the public that I will stand up when others sit down. This means that I will stand up for what is right for our School District, all parents and kids in the District, and all the teachers and staff. If no one will stand up then it will not stop, and no one is safe.
Lastly, I have never spoken to Dr. Huff’s children. The last communication I had with his wife was 3 years ago when she asked me to make a donation to the Lafayette House fundraiser, which I was happy to do.
I will continue to take the high road about this or any other topic any member of the public wishes to discuss. I regret that this exchange has distracted attention from the important issues our District faces and that we will have to decide in the April 7th election. I welcome any citizen to contact me to find out where I truly stand and feel. Here is my number: 417-483-8104 and my email address is martucci4schoolboard@gmail.com.
Respectfully,
Jennifer Martucci
Good for you! I can't wait until you and Jeff Koch join Dr. Fort on the Board and start the difficult work of turning this district around. I hope that one of the other Board members, at least, will join you. There is much to be done and no time for the back stabbing, mud slinging, distracting mess that Dr. Huff began today. Taking the high road is always the way to go.
ReplyDeleteSure looks like that email was only addressed to one person. How many lies does Huff have to be caught telling before he is seen for what he really is?
ReplyDeleteThank you for handling this situation with grace! Dr Huff wanted to start a side-show to direct attention away from the real story of how important this election is. He loves smoke and mirrors and I am proud that you didn't fall for it!
ReplyDeleteBCC line recipients would not show on a printed header. The picture is proof of nothing. That, however, is a completely separate issue from Dr Huff's behavior over the past days with his bully pulpit routine.
ReplyDeleteOnce Martucci and Koch join the Board, let's please encourage the new Board to pass guidelines that regulate the superintendent's political involvement in school board races, the Joplin Progress PAC, and any other entities or practices that affect school board races. It's for his own good and those who follow him. Look what happened to Mark Rohr after he crossed the line in the 2012 city council elections.
ReplyDeleteBCC lines would absolutely show on the printed copy from the sender's mailbox.
ReplyDeleteSource: I processed e-discovery requests professionally for several years and work in computer forensics.
7:35...That's not true.
ReplyDelete@8:29 very, very easy to mask, and doesn't appear by default sometimes. Not picking a fight, but I'm familiar with computer forensics myself. Here's an example for illustration. As a verifiable source:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.msoutlook.info/question/5
And another for other email clients:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.slipstick.com/outlook/email/view-the-bcc-field-on-sent-messages/
More important to any of the above is how cj huff has used his social media presence and also the, possibly elitist, comments made by Jennifer martucci. Neither parties actions are above reproach.
ReplyDeleteI personally do not care if it was addressed to Huff and/or the Board of Education, this was a personal email addressing her children. It was appalling and unprofessional that he would put that out there on public social media. The board needs to take issue with this, it breaks all TRUST that a parent can feel comfortable to email or have a meeting concerning their children. This shows very little class and no confidence in the administration. I was pleased to see Mrs. Martucci take the high road, dealing with someone as abhorrent as he- leads nowhere.
ReplyDeleteYes, Dr. Huff's posting this close to the election is troubling. Last week there was a candidate's forum. That was the time for this kind of thing to have come out and for her to have the time to respond. But now that the horse is out of the barn, why is there not more outrage for Martucci's comments about the northern portion of our city/district. Both of the parties involved in this should be ashamed of themselves.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, most parents probably do not realize that any correspondence they have with the superintendent or the Board, since it is a public school, is not private. I have spoken with the Missouri Ethics Commission about this. It is up to individual districts to set up policy regarding confidentiality and it is clear by Dr. Huff's actions that the Joplin Schools policy on confidentiality is very lax. Since it is not clearly stated anywhere on their webpage, I'm sure most parents assume that when they send an email to Dr. Huff and/or the board, it is confidential and therefore illegal for the info to be disclosed. Sadly not true. Immoral and reprehensible for a superintendent to break a parent's trust, but not illegal. I'm sure CJ checked that out very carefully before he wrote that post. Also not illegal for him to voice an opinion of who he thinks should win the election(as long as it is not using taxpayer money, which is why he posted it on a public facebook page). Again, disgusting and inappropriate but not illegal.
ReplyDeleteSo, I take this action of Dr. Huff's as a threat against ALL parents in the district. He has very clearly let us ALL know that our privacy, and the privacy of our concerns, can be made public by him whenever he chooses to do so.
I have not spoken to any of the board members, but I would hope that they are horrified our superintendent would demonstrate such lowly behavior. Is it simply enough that his actions aren't illegal?? Is that really good enough for us??
I would suggest to the board, if you are not going to employ a superintendent in whom we can place trust, at the very least revise your webpage so it clearly states that any correspondence we parents have with Dr. Huff and/or the board is NOT PRIVATE and will be used against us at a later time if Dr. Huff sees fit. Just so we know what we're getting into. Transparency, right?
Check the Joplin School Board policies on Staff Conduct and Effective Communications. The Superintendent above all should follow all board policies as they are foundation of how the employees of a school district should conduct themselves. CJ Huff is an employee, that's all. He has the most responsibility within the school district to uphold the policies of the board, that is why his conduct is what needs to be reviewed as it flys in the face of these policies.
ReplyDeleteDear 6:30 AM
ReplyDeleteProbably because everyone that knows Jennifer Martucci knows that she does not feel that way. I have seen Jennifer do some very generous things for all kids regardless of where they live. She has never treated or talked about kids or people differently because of where they live during the time she has volunteered as President of the swim team or while serving on the Joplin Parks and Rec Board, which goes back several years. A person's actions speak louder than their words. While Jennifer may have said some things out of emotion that she has admitted were wrong and that she regretted when saying them, she has shown through her ACTIONS that she loves all kids. If you knew anything about her, you would agree. In fact, why don't you call her and ask her? She left her phone number.
Regardless of how the information got out I finely see what lowlife self absorb vindictive person Martucci is more con cerned about her properity values than the kids. She lives in Arbor Hills !! You can always tell when Martucci is lieing because her mouth is moving and it is Always moving.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Martucci is two faced ! There is no love for Huff here,but,we sure don't need another low immoral person on the school board and the is what Martucci is. At least we now know her tru colors!
ReplyDelete12:12, Huff lives in Arbor Hills. I guess the same thing applies to him too? But wait you are obviously a Huff supporter, so how can that be?
ReplyDelete12:12 you must have attended Joplin schools, your spelling and grammar are atrocious. You might also want to get the facts before you slander and defame someone.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a Huff supporter. And they may both live in Arbor Hills. But,it wasn't Huff that was having a tantrum over property values going down or her children having to be near the children that go to north.
ReplyDeleteHuff is probably on his way out and good ridens .
But people hate Huff so much that they can't see the Forrest for the trees.
Martucci is an arrogant elitist that will be an horrible addition to the school board that THIS school board just can't afford.
Dear 9:16 AM,
ReplyDeleteThanks for replying to my original post. I truly hope you are correct in that Mrs. Martucci regrets her hurtful statements as recounted in recent days. I truly do. No animus exists against her from me. I would expect that the "PC" answer would be for her to apologize. I'm jaded enough and have heard too many apologies from people running for office that I take them with a grain of salt. And I am glad to hear of her philanthropy. It is just a very hard thing to "unhear" or "unread" comments which paint her as an elitist. I so much want you to be right. I have little doubt that she will win this election. If anything, Dr. Huff's actions seem to have swung even more momentum in her direction. I just want to be able to know that she has had a change of heart. I'm guessing she will get her chance to prove that. I hope she does.