McGrew breaks with C. J. Facebook posts not a positive message for our kids

One of C. J. Huff's most stalwart supporters on the Joplin R-8 Board of Education is not pleased with the superintendent's decision to publicly attack board candidate Jennifer Martucci in Facebook posts over the weekend.

In a story published online a short while ago, Shawn McGrew, who was appointed to serve on the board following Dawn Sticklen's resignation last summer, made it clear that he thought Huff's decision was a poor one.

Personally, my standpoint is that I think it is better, when we have differences, to reach out to invididuals instead of utilizing social platforms to do that. Our students have access to that and it doesn't seem to send a positive message that we want for our kids with how to deal with conflict and personal communication.

In the Globe article, board members Jim Kimbrough and Debbie Fort also criticized the posts. The Globe was unable to reach Annie Sharp, Lynda Banwart, or Mike Landis for comment.

Board member Randy Steele refused to comment, noting that it was a personnel issue and might be brought up later. For some reason, he neglected to tell the Globe reporter that he might have a problem of his own with Huff's post since at one point he had "liked" it on Facebook, but then later removed his stamp of approval.